Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
Menu
Side Bar

Timing of bracha and number of dips

8 August, 2006
Question:

Why does one say the blessing after the first immersion if doing three? Don't we usually bless before a mitzvah/ over le-asiyatan? If doing 7, is it after 3 or after 1? Have you heard of a kabbalistic custom to immerse 99 times? Are there any other numbers?


Answer:

Though you are correct that usually a blessing is made before a mitzvah, there is discussion in halachic literature about linking laws of immersion for niddah to immersion for giyur (conversion). Since a ger may only recite the brachah after the immersion which brings him into Judaism, a woman also recites the blessing after one immersion, and then immerses again.

You will find the discussion of this halachah in the Tur Yoreh Deah 200 and Beit Yosef there. The Shulchan Aruch there rules that the brachah should be recited before immersion while a woman is still wearing her robe. The Rema disagrees and states that a woman should immerse once before she recites the brachah.

Prevalent Sephardi custom regarding the timing of the brachah is generally to follow the Shulchan Aruch, and prevalent Ashkenazi custom is to follow the Rema. According to Ashkenazi custom the brachah will always be recited after one immersion, and then a woman can immerse as many more times as she would like. Chabad custom is to immerse seven times, and we have heard of 14 and 49 times, which are an expansion of the typological number seven. We have not heard of a custom to immerse 99 times, but we are not experts in kabbalistic customs, and such a custom may exist.

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.

Accessibility Toolbar