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

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Immersion without clean days

23 December, 2002
Question:

A good friend of mine is getting married, and she only has a few days left before her wedding. I've been telling her about the beauty of the mikveh ritual, and she has been lukewarm, but now she has decided she wants to go. The problem is that she has just finished her menstrual cycle. Although I have encouraged her to use the mikveh before marriage, she is concerned that not waiting the seven full blood-free days will contaminate the mikveh she uses. She in not terribly concerned about not waiting the full seven days on her own behalf, but she is worried that efficacy of the mikveh for subsequent users might be compromised if she immerses without waiting seven days. Do you have any advice for her?


Answer:

Halachically, a woman must count seven clean days before mikveh immersion. As to your friend's concern about the status of the mikveh: a woman who immerses without counting the full seven days does not render the water ritually impure.  The water of the mikveh retains all its ritual properties and continues to change women's status from prohibition to permissibility.  

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