Tevila

Answer

Answered by Aaron Abadi

It's very simple. A woman who had her period is restricted from her husband for a number of days, and is considered "Tamey." This word is often translated as not clean, not pure, or the like. It's none of the above. It's a unique Hebrew word that has no real English meaning, because it is not relevant today. Tamey is a status where a person who touches a dead body, or a woman who had her period, or many other scenarios. Then this Tamey person must keep away from certain things and places. He/she cannot enter the Temple, cannot eat certain foods, and certain other restrictions. The Tamey person will become Tahor (the opposite), once they pass a certain amount of time and then dip into 40 Sa'ah (an ancient measurement) of water, with their entire body imersed. With relevance to today, a woman who gets her period becomes Tamey. She must wait 7 clean days and then that night, she dips her body in a Mikveh (the 40 Sa'ah above) and she is Tahor. She is then permitted to her husband again. She isn't bad, unclean, unpure, dirty, or anything not nice. She is just Tamey. God made laws. He didn't give his reasons or explanations. Once we determine the Torah is from God and it gives a list of rules, we follow them. No need to understand them, in order to follow them. We don't have a clear understanding of Tamey & Tahur. We just know the rules to follow. Most of those rules were only applicable during the times of the Temples. This one, is the main application relevant today. Women initially get nervous about this law. Often women back off of their pursuit of their religion when they realize that they'll never do this. Well, this is a very strict law that is important. It's easy to keep. You can go to a local Mikvah and just dip in the water. If you are not comfortable with that, or the Mikvah-lady scares you (certainly scares me), you can go to a lake or an ocean. Many swimming pools are good for this, too. If the pool is under ground and the filter/pump assembly is above ground, use your pool, or the one at the nearest hotel, healthclub, whatever. You can go wearing a bathingsuit. No need to strip. Have a friend notice that your hair all made it under the water. And voila, you're Tahor. It is easy and it is a very serious commandment. It's one of the harder ones to get used to, but once a person determines that there is a God, and that he gave us the Torah, the rest is just elementary. Whatever it says we need to follow, with or without a reason. Who cares about the reason anyway. It's not really relevant. The details of all these laws are available in a little booklet, free from this website. Anyone interested should just shoot me an email [email hidden] AA