Practical halachah — how many bedikot

On the day after the hefsek taharah, a woman begins counting the seven clean days. Lechatchilah, on each of the seven days she performs two bedikot: one in the morning on rising, and one in the late afternoon (after plag haminchah and before sunset).

B'dieved, if she performed only one bedikah on the first day and one on the seventh, her seven clean days are valid.

A woman with no particular reason to reduce the number of bedikot should make the effort to perform two each day. If she has a reason — pain, emotional difficulty, staining — she should seek halachic guidance to reduce the number required.

The Nishmat approach — three bedikot

At Nishmat, when a woman has a legitimate reason to reduce the number of bedikot, we do not advise reducing to the absolute minimum. We recommend reducing to three:

(All of this in addition to the hefsek taharah.)

Why specifically a bedikah on a middle day? For two reasons.

  1. It carries halachic value. Omitting a bedikah on one of the middle days does not prevent immersion, but performing one has merit.
  2. It is a safety net. If a woman does not perform a bedikah on the seventh day, a middle-day bedikah saves her from having to start the count again. A woman who performed a bedikah on the first day, none on the middle days, and none on the seventh day has to begin counting the seven clean days afresh. But a woman who performed one on the first day and one on a middle day, and forgot the seventh, will generally be permitted to perform a bedikah on the eighth or ninth day and immerse that night.

Awareness of the count — no less important than the bedikot

Beyond performing the bedikot, completing the seven clean days requires that the woman maintain the awareness that she is counting. Usually this happens by itself: she knows she is in the middle of the seven clean days. Sometimes that awareness is broken.

An example: a quarrel and a halted count

A woman began counting the seven clean days. She and her husband quarreled, and she decided she was not continuing the count and not immersing.

(This is not a recommendation but a description of something that does happen in some marriages. If that happens, it's worth turning to a yoetzet halacha for guidance.)

On the seventh day, which was to have been the last day of the count, they reconcile. Now she wants to perform the bedikot and immerse. But since she gave up the awareness of counting, the situation is no longer simple, and a posek must be consulted.

An example: a bedikah of a doubtful color

A more common application concerns a woman who performed a bedikah and was unsure whether the color is acceptable. Until she gets an answer, what awareness should she hold?

She should maintain the awareness that she is continuing the count. If it turns out in the end that the bedikah was not clean, the next bedikah will serve as her hefsek taharah.

Expanding the sources

As we have covered, a niddah today must count seven clean days, seven days free of blood.

Counting the seven clean days has two components:

  1. Performing bedikot
  2. Awareness that she is counting the seven clean days

Bedikot — what the Gemara says

Masechet Niddah (68b) records a machloket about a zav and a zavah who performed bedikot only on the first and the seventh of the seven clean days. Rabbi Eliezer holds that their seven clean days are valid and they may immerse. The understanding here is that this is a b'dieved situation; lechatchilah they should have examined every day. The question is whether, after the fact, bedikot on days 1 and 7 suffice.

The Gemara rules like Rabbi Eliezer: a zavah who performed bedikot only on day 1 and day 7 of the seven clean days (in addition to a hefsek taharah) may immerse and is tehorah.

The Gemara then asks whether Rabbi Eliezer would be more lenient still, permitting seven clean days with a single bedikah, on either the seventh day or the first. The Gemara does not resolve the question.

Since the Gemara leaves open whether a single bedikah on day 1 or day 7 suffices (in addition to a hefsek taharah), the Rishonim divide on it as well.

The Shulchan Aruch rules that although lechatchilah a woman should examine twice a day, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon, b'dieved, as long as she examined once on the first day and once on the seventh (in addition to the hefsek taharah), her seven clean days are valid and she may immerse.

Notably, the Shulchan Aruch does cite the view that even a single bedikah on day 7, or a single one on day 1, suffices. But he concludes that one cannot be lenient on that basis.

The very fact that the Shulchan Aruch included the lenient view (that a single bedikah in the middle of the seven clean days suffices) leaves an opening for contemporary poskim to be lenient in especially mitigating circumstances. Such a permission is given rarely, and only by a posek.

Awareness of the count — the source

The Me'il Tzedakah derives from the Rosh that the seven clean days require an awareness of counting.

The Radbaz and the Shelah HaKadosh argue the point. The Shelah holds that a woman must count the seven clean days aloud: "Today is day one of my seven clean days." The Radbaz holds that counting aloud is not required, and it is enough that she hold the awareness in her mind that she is counting the seven clean days.

Most poskim follow the Radbaz.

The machloket matters in a practical case: a woman began counting, decided to stop, and later wanted to continue. For instance, a woman began counting the seven clean days. Her husband was called up for reserve duty. Assuming she would not see him for several weeks, she stopped counting. A few days later he tells her he has two days of leave. She wants to resume the count rather than start over.

But until she heard that her husband was returning earlier than expected, she had relinquished the awareness of counting. Whether she may resume from the original number or must start afresh is a machloket.