Purity: A Feminist Evaluation of Jewish Menstrual Rituals

The laws of niddah, a menstrual taboo unique to Orthodox Judaism, are some of the most ancient traditions still practiced today. Niddah controls who and what an Orthodox Jewish woman can touch, what activities she can take part in, and how she relates to her husband for a minimum of twelve days every menstrual cycle. Opinions differ about how this practice affects the psyche of women. Some view it as a way to expand the non-sexual relationship between women and their husbands; others as a misogynistic ideal that makes women feel disgusting and degraded. It seems clear, however, that these traditions reinforce the ancient practices of female submission and subservience in a unique way.

Niddah is a complicated status. In the most simplified of definitions, a woman becomes niddah at the first sight of blood during the menstrual period. Once the bleeding has stopped¹ and she has counted a minimum of seven "clean" days (shivah neki'im), she immerses in a mikvah, a ritual purification bath that cleanses away the "impurity" of the menstrual cycle. She is considered niddah until she has gone to the mikvah.

The root of these laws can be found in the Torah, in Leviticus 15:19-24:

When a woman has a discharge, her discharge being blood from her body, she shall
remain in her impurity seven days; whoever touches her shall be unclean; and anything
that she sits on shall be unclean. Anyone who touches her bedding shall wash his clothes,
bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening; and anyone who touches any object on
which she has sat shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until
evening. Be it the bedding or be it the object on which she has sat, on touching it he shall
be unclean until evening. And if a man lies with her, her impurity is communicated to
him; he shall be unclean seven days, and any bedding on which he lies shall become
unclean (The Torah: A Modern Commentary).