Daytime immersion in lake
25 October, 2017
Question:My husband is taking a work related trip to another country without kosher mikvah. I will be with him there for 4 days. The mikveh night for me would be while traveling. Is it possible to toivel in the lake on the next day during the daytime hours because it would be dangerous to toivel at night?
Answer:An immersion between dawn and sunrise (of the 8th day) is permissible if a night immersion would be dangerous, and may be your best option. Another possibility in your situation would be immersion between sunset and nightfall. If you are unable to immerse at those times, it is permissible to immerse during the daytime (of the 8th day or later) when safety is a concern.
When immersing during the daytime, you may not have relations prior to nightfall. In this scenario it is preferable not to see your husband between immersion and nightfall. (Assuming no Jewish woman is available to act as “mikveh attendant,” your husband should observe the immersion itself both as a safety precaution as well as to ensure that your immersion was kosher.)
Please see our posted questions on the halachic status of a lake as a mikveh, and on immersion in natural bodies of water, for further guidelines.
B’Hatzlacha!
This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional.
For further questions or comments: 
The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.
Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.
Ask a Yoetzet
Golda Koschitzky Hotline
