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

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Is each bedikah a mitzvah?

18 November, 2015
Question:

Is there an actual mitzvah to do bedikot when in niddah (in order to become tahora) or it's just part of the tehorah process? I am asking this because I was told that I could do one bedikah a day for seven days (rather than 2x a day) but when discussing this with someone she mentioned that she tries to do 2 a day since each one is a mitzvah for which one receives reward. I always thought the mitzvah was mikveh immersion and this was just the step necessary to get to mikveh. I would appreciate a clarification. Thanks.


Answer:

We receive s'char (reward) for fulfilling our halachic obligations.

Performing bedikot twice a day during the seven clean days is part of the taharah process required before mikveh immersion. Thus, a woman does receive s'char for performing bedikot twice daily and fulfilling her halachic requirements.

However, there are opinions that only require one bedikah per day, so a woman should not feel pressured to do what is beyond her limits. And according to all opinions, the number of bedikot can be reduced to one daily or even fewer in situations of need, depending on the individual circumstances. If you were instructed to perform only one bedikah daily because of scheduling difficulties, staining issues, difficulty with bedikot, feeling overwhelmed, etc., then you should follow that ruling and feel secure that you are keeping the halacha correctly, and receiving s'char for doing so.

May you always strive to keep growing, and keep improving your relationship with Hashem and fulfillment of mitzvot.  

Please feel free to get back to us with any further questions.

B'Hatzlacha!

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