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

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu
Side Bar

Bedikah darkened to brown

10 August, 2007

Question:

I did a bedika yesterday morning, the day after a hefsek, which I judged to be alright at the time. It was just translucent without any noticeable tinge. I was away from home, and didn't want to throw it in someone else's garbage, so I just threw it into my overnight bag. When I unpacked the bag, it looked brown. I immediately concluded that it was hopeless, threw it in the garbage, and it was even taken out last night. My husband, when I related the story, thought that I may have made a hasty decision, and felt that that I ought to ask about it. To make matters worse, I did not do a bedikah before shkiah last night – I only have the morning one. Any ideas? Thank you.


Answer:

It indeed would have been best to bring your bedikah to a rav for evaluation.  Not all browns invalidate a bedikah! 

Although it is possible to assess a bedikah when dry, a bedikah that comes out of the body translucent is generally considered acceptable, even though colors sometimes darken over time.  The exceptions would be if you were unsure about how clearly you saw the bedikah at first or if it changed into a color that was red or reddish, in which case a rabbinic evaluation would be in order.

As such, if you are confident that the bedikah was initially translucent, and it changed into a light brown or beige with no reddish tinge, it is acceptable and your clean days continue.  In this case, the bedikah you performed yesterday would count for that day. 

If the brown on your bedikah was darker than a beige or had a reddish tinge, please contact us or your local rabbi with a more detailed description and with any other factors that might be relevant (e.g., your fertility or marital situation). Make sure to do a bedikah today before sunset. If the bedikah from yesterday is ruled unacceptable, the bedikah you performed today will count as your new hefsek taharah, and tomorrow will be the first of your clean days.


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