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Glossary

  • bedikah (pl. bedikot)

    Mikvah Calander App - A Bedikah

    A bedikah is an internal examination with a white cloth to ascertain that uterine bleeding has ceased. A bedikah is performed in the following cases:

    1. hefesek tahara

    2. moch dachuk

    3. examination during the 7 preparatory days

     

  • heiker

    A heiker is an object placed on the dining table when the wife is niddah as a reminder for maintaining the laws of harchakot. The heiker is placed during mealtime when the spouses eat together.

  • haflaga (pl. haflagot)

    A haflaga is the number of days between two consecutive flow onsets including the 2 onset days.

  • hefsek taharah

    Hefsek taharah is an internal examination with a white cloth to ascertain that uterine bleeding has ceased. The examination is successful if the discharge is clear or pale yellow. If other colors are present, a Rabbi should be consulted.

  • harchakot

    Harchakot are restrictions intended to ensure separation between the spouses when the wife is niddah according to the Halacha. The main restrictions are:

    1. Avoidance of all physical contact with the husband until after immersion in a mikvah.

    2. Avoidance of handing objects directly from one spouse to the other.

    3. Placing an object on the table during mealtime to constitute a reminder for maintaining separation (heiker).

    4. Separation of the spouses' beds.

    5. Avoidance of observing parts of the wife's body that are normally covered.

  • veset ha'dilug

    Veset ha'dilug is a monthly cycle with a constant difference (dilug) between consecutive haflagot. One can start to anticipate veset ha'dilug after the third haflaga.

  • veset hachodesh

    Veset hachodesh is an anticipated separation onah observed a month after the most recent flow onset, on the same Hebrew calendar day and on the same onah.

  • veset haflaga

    an anticipated separation onah observed on the n'th day from the last flow onset and on the same onah as that of the last onset, where n is the number of days in the most recent haflaga .

  • veset haflaga lechumra

    Veset haflaga lechumra is an anticipated separation onah observed when the most recent haflaga is shorter than the previous one. It is observed on the day according to the longer previous haflaga.

  • veset kavua

    Veset kavua is a monthly cycle with a fixed pattern that has been established according to Halacha. The Halacha specifies how to establish veset kavua and how to annul it.

  • veset she'eino kavua

    eset she'eino kavua is a monthly cycle that lacks a fixed pattern or a monthly cycle whose fixed pattern has not yet been established.

  • chumra (pl. chumrot)

    A chumra is a stringency going beyond the letter of the law.

  • chatzitzah

    A chatzitzah is any foreign substance that adheres to the body and prevents total contact with the water of the mikvah thereby interfering with the tevilah. The substance might either adhere externally, or inside one of the body orifices where water can penetrate, e.g: the mouth, teeth, nostrils, etc.

  • mikvah night

    A mikvah night is the night of going to the mikvah after the shiva nekiim are over.

  • moch dachuk

    A moch dachuk is an internal examination performed after a successful hefsek tahara to ascertain that uterine bleeding has ceased.

  • niddah

    Niddah is a halachic status of a woman being impure as a result of uterine bleeding.

  • onah (pl. onot)

    Each day in the Hebrew calendar begins and ends at sunset and consists of two onot: the night onah which starts from sunset and ends at sunrise, and the day onah which starts from sunrise and ends at sunset.

  • onat or zarua

    Onat or zarua is an anticipated separation onah observed during the onah which precedes the onah beinonit, veset ha'chodesh, or veset haflaga.

  • onah beinonit

    Onah beinonit is an anticipated separation onah observed 30 days after the most recent flow onset on the same onah as that of the onset (the day of the onset is included).

  • onah beinonit lechumra

    Onah beinonit lechumra is an anticipated separation onah observed 31 days after the most recent flow onset, on the night onah. Some observe this separation during both onot of the 31st day (the day of the onset is included).

  • onat cartei vepaltei

    Onat cartei vepaltei is an anticipated separation onah observed 30 days after the most recent flow onset on the onah which is not the onah beinonit (i.e., if the onah beinonit is during the night onah of the 30th day, the onat cartei vepaltei is the day onah of the 30th day; if the onah beinonit is during the day onah of the 30th day, the onat cartei vepaltei is the night onah of the 30th day). According to this chumrah the separation due to onah beinonit is during both onot of the 30th day (the day of the onset is included).

  • Flow

    Flow is uterine bleeding, caused by any reason.

  • shiva nekiim

    hiva nekiim are the seven preparatory days which begin on the day following a successful hefsek tahara and end on the mikvah night.

  • shaa zmanit (pl. shaot zmaniyot)

    Shaa zmanit is a proportional hour which has a duration obtained by dividing the number of daylight hours from sunrise until sunset by 12.

  • separation days

    There are 2 types of separation days:

    1. Separation days due to an anticipated flow. During these days, marital relations are forbidden, and according to the Ashkenazic custom, physical familiarity is also forbidden.

    2. Separation days which occur when a woman is niddah according to the Halacha i.e., from the onset of a flow until after immersion in a kosher mikvah. During these days, marital relations are forbidden, and all the laws of harchakot must be observed.

  • ayd bedikah

    Ayd bedikah is a white cloth that a woman wraps around her finger while performing an internal examination to ascertain that uterine bleeding has ceased. The examination is successful if the discharge is clear or pale yellow. If other colors are present, a Rabbi should be consulted.