Yom tov mikveh & 5-day minimum
20 May, 2009
Question:When I was studying for my wedding, my kalla teacher mentioned that when mikva night falls out on yomtov, if a woman is able to get a clean hefsek after 4 days (even if she is Ashkenazi) she can move her mikva night up. Can you explain more about this?
Answer:There is an opinion that when the scheduled tevilah (immersion) will fall out on the second night of yom tov (or on any night in which preparations are permitted neither during the daytime before tevilah nor on the night of tevilah), it is permissible to wait only four days before counting the seven clean days.
The reason for this leniency is to enable the chafifah to be as close as possible to the tevilah. Since many preparations for tevilah can’t be done on Shabbat or yom tov, a woman needs to prepare the previous weekday. When the tevilah is scheduled for the second night of yom tov (or for Shabbat following yom tov, or for the third night of a “three-day yom tov”), this creates a gap between the chafifah and tevilah. To reduce the gap, one may wait only four days before the seven clean days and move up the tevilah one night.
As you mention, an acceptable hefsek taharah is still required in order to begin the clean days.
Please note that according to some opinions, if you had intercourse the day you became niddah this leniency does not apply and you must wait five days before counting the clean days.
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