(כה) וְאִשָּׁה כִּי יָזוּב זוֹב דָּמָהּ יָמִים רַבִּים בְּלֹא עֶת נִדָּתָהּ אוֹ כִי תָזוּב עַל נִדָּתָהּ כָּל יְמֵי זוֹב טֻמְאָתָהּ כִּימֵי נִדָּתָהּ תִּהְיֶה טְמֵאָה הִוא. (כו) כָּל הַמִּשְׁכָּב אֲשֶׁר תִּשְׁכַּב עָלָיו כָּל יְמֵי זוֹבָהּ כְּמִשְׁכַּב נִדָּתָהּ יִהְיֶה לָּהּ וְכָל הַכְּלִי אֲשֶׁר תֵּשֵׁב עָלָיו טָמֵא יִהְיֶה כְּטֻמְאַת נִדָּתָהּ. (כז) וְכָל הַנּוֹגֵעַ בָּם יִטְמָא וְכִבֶּס בְּגָדָיו וְרָחַץ בַּמַּיִם וְטָמֵא עַד הָעָרֶב. (כח) וְאִם טָהֲרָה מִזּוֹבָהּ וְסָפְרָה לָּהּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים וְאַחַר תִּטְהָר.
(25) And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days not in the time of her impurity, or if she have an issue beyond the time of her impurity; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness she shall be as in the days of her impurity: she is unclean. (26) Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her impurity; and every thing whereon she sitteth shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. (27) And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. (28) But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.
Look at this next source which discusses how the hefsek tahara proves that she is no longer experiencing bleeding in formal halachic language. The hefsek will remove her chazaka as an actively menstruating woman.
The hefsek tahara is crucial.
ור' יהודה אומר כל שלא הפרישה בטהרה מן המנחה ולמעלה הרי זו בחזקת טמאה וחכמים אומרים אפילו בשנים לנדתה בדקה ומצאה טהורה ובין השמשות לא הפרישה ולאחר זמן בדקה ומצאה טמאה הרי זו בחזקת טהורה.
R' Yehuda ruled: Any woman who did not, following the afternoon, ascertain her separation to a state of taharah is regarded as being in a presumptive state of tum'ah (even though she examined herself earlier in the day and doing that she was clean). But the sages ruled: Even if she examined herself on the second day of her menstruation and found that she was tehora, and at twilight she did not ascertain her separation, and after a time she examined herself and found that she was teme'ah, she is regarded as having been in a presumptive state of tahara. (the examination on the second day being sufficient to establish a presumptive tahara)
---> What might constitute an extenuating circumstance?
If she performs the hefsek a few minutes after sunset (9 minutes according to R' Moshe Feinstein), it may still be valid. If she does the hefsek earlier than day 5, she might need a moch. Ask a question in this case.
adapted from www.yoatzot.org
When you should do it: The hefsek taharah should be performed late in the afternoon, before sunset. If you are worried that you will forget or that your day will get too busy, do the hefsek in the morning and one more time at sunset to cover all bases.
Preparation: Remove any remaining traces of blood before doing the hefsek taharah. It is best to take a bath or a shower (you don't need to do this right before the hefsek - it's fine to bathe in the morning if you have already stopped bleeding). If bathing is inconvenient, you can wipe the external vaginal area with a wet cloth or baby wipe. If it does not irritate you, you may also find it helpful to clean internally with a wet bedikah cloth at least fifteen minutes before the hefsek taharah. Although douching is halachically permissible, it washes away the secretions that normally protect you from irritation and may cause more problems than it solves.The purpose of washing beforehand is to ensure that the hefsek taharah and subsequent bedikot are not stained with old blood. If you were unable to wash, and the hefsek taharah showed no problematic stains, then it remains valid.
Procedure: Note that the procedure is the same for any bedikah, but the main difference is
you may NOT try a bedikah during the seven flow-free days more than once, while a hefsek can be tried multiple times. (See lesson 3 on masked hargasha).
1) Wash your hands. Your fingers should be clean, and should have no exposed cuts that could bleed onto the cloth. Watch out for sharp fingernails, as they can scratch during the internal examination. The free hand can be used to spread apart the external labia.
2) Take a soft, white, pre-checked cotton cloth, often called a bedikah cloth, a taharah cloth, or an ed, and check it for any stains, specks, or colored threads. You can buy prepared cloths at the mikveh or online at www.mikvah.org. In Israel they are also sold in some pharmacies and supermarkets. You can also prepare cloths at home by cutting up well-washed old white cotton undergarments. (While other materials can be used for bedikot, they are not recommended. Surgical cotton or cotton balls often contain tiny colored threads that can be mistaken for stains, and they may absorb blood so deeply that it cannot be seen on the surface. Gauze pads are rough and can scratch the vaginal lining, leading to stains from the abrasion. A tampon should not be used because a bedikah involves checking inside folds and crevices.)
3) Wrap the cloth around your finger - the index finger is usually the easiest - completely covering it at least to the second knuckle. Insert the finger deeply but gently into the vaginal canal as far as the length of your finger will allow. If this is difficult for you, try to go deeply at least for the hefsek taharah examination and for one of the examinations during the seven clean days - preferably the first. But if this is painful, more stress should be placed on going around the entire vaginal circumference than on depth.
4) Rotate the finger circumferentially around the vaginal canal, gently touching the sides. Carefully move your finger inside all folds and crevices to check that they are free of blood.
5) Withdraw the cloth and check it in a good light. If all discharge on the cloth is white, clear, or light yellow, bleeding has clearly stopped and you can count the next day as the first of the shivah neki'im. If the discharge is obviously red, the hefsek is not good and you will have to try again later. Any other color can be sent to me or another halachic authority.
6) If your first attempt is not good, you may try again later the same day if there is still time before sunset. It is advisable to wait at least ten minutes between bedikot in order to allow the natural secretions to return, to avoid irritation. Most women find that there is no point in making more than three attempts on the same day; in fact, this can lead to irritation and bleeding. As you become more experienced, you will develop a sense of when it's worth trying again, and when you will have to wait until tomorrow.
7) At some time before sunset, you should put on white underpants. (If it's not convenient to change your underwear just then, you can wear white underwear with a feminine hygiene pad during the day, and remove the pad after the hefsek.)
(א)...וכך משפטה, אם תראה ב' ימים או ג' ופסקה מלראות, בודקת ביום שפסקה כדי שתפסוק בטהרה, ובדיקה זו תהיה סמוך לבין השמשות, (וכן נוהגין לכתחלה, ובדיעבד, אפילו לא בדקה עצמה רק שחרית ומצאה עצמה טהורה, סגי בכך):
...and this is the law, if she sees [blood] for two or three days and stops seeing, she does a bedika on the day she stopped so she can be "tifsok b'tahara," and the bedika should be close to bein hashmashot. (this is how we practice l'chatchila, but bedieved, even if she only checked herself in the morning and found she was tehora, that bedika is sufficient.
(ג) הזב והזבה שבדקו עצמן ביום ראשון ומצאו טהור, וביום השביעי ומצאו טהור, ושאר ימים שבינתים לא בדקו, רבי אליעזר אומר, הרי הן בחזקת טהרה.רבי יהושע אומר, אין להם אלא יום ראשון ויום שביעי בלבד.רבי עקיבא אומר, אין להם אלא יום שביעי בלבד.
(3) A Zav or Zavah who checked themselves on the first day and found they were pure and again on the seventh day and found they were pure, but the days in between they did not check, Rabbi Eliezer says they are assumed to be pure. Rabbi Yehoshua says they only have the first and seventh days [as part of their count]. Rabbi Akiva says they only have the seventh day.
(ד) בכל יום מז' ימי הספירה צריכה להיות בודקת לכתחלה פעמים בכל יום, אחת שחרית ואחת סמוך לבין השמשות (טור בשם סה''ת וע''פ), ואם לא בדקה בכל השבעה אלא פעם אחת, לא שנא בדקה ביום ראשון של השבעה או ביום השביעי או באחד מהאמצעים, מאחר שבדקה ביום שקודם השביעי ומצאה טהורה, עלו לה. אבל אם לא בדקה בכל הז', וביום השמיני בדקה ומצאה טהורה, אין לה אלא יום ח' בלבד ומשלמת עליו. ויש אומרים שצריך שתבדוק ביום ראשון מהשבעה וביום השביעי, ואין להקל. והבדיקה תהיה לאור היום ולא לאור הנר (תולדות אדם וחוה נתיב כ''ו והרשב''א בתורת הבית), ובדיעבד מהני אפילו לאור הנר (כן משמע בבית יוסף):
During the "seven days" lechatchila (ideally), one needs to check once a day--once in the morning and once close to dusk (bein hashmashot). Providing one did a hefsek tahara, (which is prior to the "seven days") if one merely checked on the first, last, or on any of the intermediary of the "seven days," and was found tehora, one can rely on it.
But if one does not check during the seven days, and then checks on the eighth day and finds it tehora, one can only rely on the eighth day bedika, and must complete counting all seven days. There are those who say that one needs to check at least on the first of the "seven days" and on the 7th day, and should not be lenient.
(טו) וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה.
(15) And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete;
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