Simcha BabaevPractical halachah — the steps in summary
A woman who wants to become tehorah after uterine bleeding:
- Waits for the bleeding to stop.
- Performs a hefsek taharah. She must confirm the hefsek is no earlier than the fourth day (for Sephardi women) or the fifth day (for Ashkenazi women) from the onset of bleeding.
- Performs a moch dachuk (unless there is a halachic reason not to, per halachic guidance).
- Begins counting seven clean days on the day after the day of the hefsek taharah. She does so through bedikot, and by maintaining the awareness that she is counting the seven clean days.
And now the question — which color on a bedikah cloth is acceptable?
Acceptable colors
White, yellow, green, blue, gray (not black) and beige.
Problematic colors
Red, pink, black.
Colors that require a rav's expertise
Brown, orange, purple.
A woman can attempt a hefsek once she sees no red
A woman can attempt a hefsek taharah as soon as she sees no more red or pink (as long as the required four or five days have passed — see above and the article on poletet shichvat zera).
So although a woman may continue to see brown discharge after her period has ended, she can still attempt a hefsek taharah, because many shades of brown are acceptable for a hefsek taharah according to many views. She need not wait to see white discharge to attempt one. She can instead perform a hefsek and ask her rav whether it is valid.
Baki b'mar'ot — choosing well matters
When bringing bedikot to a rav, it is critical that the rav be expert in this area, baki b'mar'ot. A less experienced rav will be more stringent and will invalidate a bedikah unnecessarily, where a more experienced one would have understood that it is fine.
It also matters that different rabbanim hold very different traditions about which shades are permitted. Some have a tradition that forbids many shades of brown, while others have one that permits nearly all of them.
When is it worth looking for another rav?
If a woman notices that the rav always says her bedikot are a problematic color, it may be worth finding another rav to bring her bedikot to. This is especially so if it is causing her and her husband frustration. For example:
- If the rav's rulings add days of niddah because he keeps ruling that her hefsek is not clean, even when it is not red or pink at all.
- If a woman finds doubtful colors in the middle of the seven clean days and discovers she has to begin counting again.
- If the woman or her husband are going through a difficult period — fertility treatment, say — and have a heightened emotional need for a longer permitted time.
A principle of psak — after one rav has ruled
There is a general principle that once one rav has given his ruling, the question may not be brought before another rav. But if the second rav knows the question has already been ruled on by another rav, then asking for a second opinion is fine.
A rav who is baki b'mar'ot should know the other experts in the area, and should be able and willing to refer a couple to someone with a more lenient tradition if the couple asks.
Expanding the sources — which colors are permitted at all?
We begin with the Mishnah in Masechet Niddah, which teaches that by Torah law there are only five shades that are problematic: four kinds of red, and black, which the Gemara says was once red and faded to black. Every other shade of blood is tahor by Torah law.
The Gemara records several sages, Ulla among them, who refused to examine blood on bedikot because they could not distinguish a problematic color from a permitted one.
The Rosh teaches that although the Gemara records no explicit prohibition against distinguishing between shades of red, we may infer from this that we are no longer expert in it. Any red, or any color with a reddish cast, is therefore treated as problematic, since it may be one of the impure shades.
No Rishon disputes the Rosh.
The ruling of the Shulchan Aruch — the permitted colors
The Tur says only two colors are permitted, white and green, and explains that "green" covers several shades: the color of a leek, the color of an etrog (that is, yellow), the color of wax, the color of gold, and the color of an egg yolk.
Note: Rabbanit Bat Sheva Roth observes that the yolks of free-range chickens are a fairly deep shade of orange.
The Beit Yosef explains that when the Tur said only green and white are permitted, he meant that every color containing no red is permitted.
And so the Shulchan Aruch rules: white and green are permitted. Like the Tur, he explains that "green" includes various shades of yellow.
The Rema adds that blue is permitted as well.
Brown — a machloket among the Acharonim
Brown isn't mentioned at all until the Acharonim. The Sidrei Taharah and the Aruch HaShulchan disagree about whether brown is a permitted color.
In practice, some shades of brown are permitted and some are not, and the traditions among poskim as to which browns are permitted vary widely.