Simcha BabaevThere is a particular mitzvah of Torah study on Purim, for various reasons. One of them: given the constraints on the day (because of its many mitzvot), a person is liable to fall short of his usual study time on Purim. I would humbly suggest that the laws of taharat hamishpachah are especially fitting to study on Purim, since Masechet Megillah teaches that even while confined in Achashverosh's palace, Esther continued to keep the laws of taharat hamishpachah and immerse in a mikveh.
Chafifah — close to immersion
Chafifah must be performed "samuch l'tevilatah" (סָמוּךְ לִטְבִילָתָהּ) — immediately before immersion. A woman may not perform chafifah days in advance. (The exception is immersion on the second night of a three-day yom tov.)
It also means a woman generally may not perform chafifah in the morning. She needs to do it immediately before immersion.
In mitigating circumstances, such as a woman who lives far from the mikveh and would not have time for chafifah before it closes, she should ask.
Why the proximity matters
Chafifah must be performed close to immersion so that the woman does not come into contact with chatzitzot after she has already prepared herself for immersion.
When to do it — afternoon or night?
There is a machloket about the best time for chafifah:
- One view: chafifah should be performed at night, so that it falls in the same onah (part of the day) as the immersion itself.
- A second view: putting chafifah off until night may result in a hurried and inadequate chafifah.
The mehudar chafifah
The mehudar practice is to begin the preparations in the late afternoon and continue them into the night, so the woman satisfies all the views. This is a hiddur, not a halachah.
Being calm
Chafifah should be performed in a calm state, so that nothing is forgotten and no chatzitzot remain.
In practice, if a woman will do a better chafifah at night — her children distract her during the day, say — she should do it at night. Conversely, if she will do a better chafifah in the afternoon — she takes a long time over it, and waiting for night would make her rush and skip things — she should do it in the afternoon.
Where to do it — at home or at the mikveh?
The same principle applies to the place:
- If she will do a better chafifah at home (because she feels rushed at the mikveh, say), she should do it at home.
- If she will do a better chafifah at the mikveh (because she cannot concentrate at home, say), she should do it there.
A woman who chooses to do chafifah at home should plan to finish shortly before she leaves for the mikveh.
Immersion on Shabbat or yom tov night
If the immersion falls on Shabbat or yom tov, the woman needs to make sure she has time to finish chafifah before candle lighting.
Immersion on Motzaei Shabbat or after yom tov
- Sephardim — chafifah is performed after Shabbat or yom tov has gone out.
- Ashkenazim — views differ: whether the woman should do most of the chafifah before Shabbat (and then shower again, comb her hair again and check her body after Shabbat), or do the whole chafifah on Motzaei Shabbat.
In practice, a woman should do the chafifah at whichever time allows her a calmer, and therefore more thorough, chafifah.
How long? Roughly an hour.
An average of an hour is generally recommended for chafifah. This is highly individual, and a woman may well need more or less.
When to reconsider
- More than two hours may indicate a need to talk to a yoetzet or a rav about how to shorten the preparation.
- Less than half an hour is most likely not a thorough enough chafifah.