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

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Taking on niddah before bleeding

5 November, 2018

Question:

Is it permissible to take on niddah status early, for convenience?
For example, getting my period on Monday means a Friday night immersion, which is complicated. I can probably get a clean hefsek after 4 days. Can I take niddah upon myself on Sunday (even though I haven’t started bleeding yet), then count 5 days, and perform my hefsek taharah on Thursday?


Answer:

Theoretically, this is possible, but we don’t recommend it.

You’ll definitely be observing niddah at least a day earlier than you should. There is no way to be sure that you’ll have niddah bleeding on Monday or, even if you do, that you’ll get a successful hefsek taharah on day four.

Better to spend your energy planning so that a Friday night immersion can go as smoothly as possible.

If you find you wind up with Friday night immersions often, you might consider consulting your physician about hormonally manipulating your cycle a bit one time so that the issue comes up less.

Please write back with any further questions.


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