After every instance of blood emerging from a woman’s womb, she must observe the halakhot of a menstruating woman [nidda]. Usually this occurs at the onset of the menstrual cycle, but there can be other cases of blood flow that render a woman a nidda. When the bleeding has stopped, and after the woman performs the hefsek tahara and counts seven clean days, she immerses herself in a mikva, and is thereby purified.

As mentioned above, the halakhot of nidda apply to a woman not only during her menstrual cycle, but after any emergence of blood from the womb, including birth or a miscarriage, God forbid. The Sages also included here the blood resulting from the rupture of the hymen.

From the moment a woman is defined as a nidda, husband and wife are forbidden to have any physical interaction. This prohibition requires that the couple refrain from all intimate contact, including hugging, kissing, and any touching that expresses affection. The Sages added to the basic prohibitions those forms of touching that do not express affection as well, out of a concern that these could lead to forbidden contact. Examples of the kinds of contact forbidden by the Sages include any physical contact, sleeping in a shared bed, eating from the same plate, and even handing an item directly from one to the other.

It is important to note that in the event that one spouse requires physical help, due to illness or disability, etc., one should consult a rabbi about if and how this may be done.

In addition to forbidden contact, the Sages ordered that the couple should avoid cultivating an intimate atmosphere, such as conversation about intimate matters, which could lead to problematic touching. During this time, the relationship between the couple should transcend the physical dimension and become far deeper and truer. This is the time to love and respect one’s partner because of who she or he is, while disengaging from the pleasures of the body. It is also an opportunity to develop one’s longing for the partner and thereby increase the mutual attraction for the contact that can be enjoyed immediately upon the completion of the purification process.

After the start of her menstrual cycle, the woman must wait for the complete cessation of the bleeding before the process of purification can begin. It is important to know that there is a minimum number of days that a woman must wait after the start of the bleeding until she can begin the purification process. That is, even if her bleeding stopped after just two days, she may not start the process of purification immediately. According to the Sephardic custom, the minimum number of days of menstruation impurity is four before beginning the purification process, while according to the Ashkenazic custom, one must observe a minimum of five days.

In exceptional situations such as, for example, if the woman is undergoing fertility treatments, a rabbi should be consulted about whether and how it is possible to bring forward the beginning of the purification process, in order to increase the time range for conception.