Earliest time for afternoon bedikah
15 December, 2008
Question:Hi,
I am currently running an incredibly tight schedule, needing to be in clinics seeing patients from 2-4pm very often, and as I am a student don't get the opportunity to excuse myself to do bedikot; it is proving very difficult to find a minute to slip out. I am very careful to always do my morning bedikah and have until now managed to get out for a couple of minutes somehow but it hasn't been easy. I was wondering what the earliest time to do an afternoon bedikah is. Is it acceptable to do a bedikah just before 2pm, when shekiah is at 3:50pm?
With many thanks for your wonderful service.
Answer:It is acceptable to perform an afternoon bedikah anytime from the beginning of minchah ketanah until sunset. Minchah ketanah is two and one half proportional hours before sunset. To check the local timing of minchah ketanah, we suggest filling in your location at http://www.kashrut.com/zemanim/.
Please note that, if a bedikah was performed in the morning, an afternoon bedikah that was inadvertently omitted does not invalidate the 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.