the shkiah deadline
This raises an interesting question: (comment copied from here)
Kelloggs wrote:
BTW, color isn't the only area in the laws of TH that one might think is predetermined and yet sometimes rabbis find ways to be lenient anyway. I once forgot on day 7 (DAY 7!!!!) to do my bedikah until 5 minutes after shkiah (you can imagine the feeling - after doing mikvah prep I suddenly realize OH CRAP!), did the bedikah just in case, and then called a yoetzet. She was extremely sympathetic and said she'd call a rabbi to confirm, but basically told me there wasn't much hope. Well, she called me back 5 minutes later to say the rabbi she'd spoken to said it was okay, and she thought it was a combination of my having done it so close to shkiah and because for other reasons I wasn't going to be able to go the next night either, so saying "no mikvah" that night would mean 2 extra days of niddah. The point is, here's something that someone intenseley trained in the laws of niddah (the yoetzet) thought was pretty open-and-shut but because of the human consequences here, the rabbi went out of his way to find a way to be lenient.
Which brought to mind something very important that I learned from my Kallah teacher. Not specifically about the 7th day, but in general, she told me to make sure we had at least one accurate clock in the house at all times and that if I "missed" shkiah, to make a bedikah anyway, because as long as it was within 9 minutes of sunset, b'dieved it counted as the previous day!
TrackBacks
Comments
My kallah teacher told me the same -- the Rama says the b'dieved, a morning hefsek is always valid.
She also gave me the breakdown of some of the varied views on shkiah: R. Ovadia Yosef paskens that within 13.5 minutes after shkiah is okay, Rav Moshe gives up to 9 minutes (probably what Desde's kallah teacher was relying on), and R. Willig says once shkiah is passed it's too late. (He holds the same in terms of davening minchah.) I suspect a rav would take potential consequences into effect in deciding whether to rely on R. Moshe (R. Ovadia Yosef is probably not relevant for Ahskenazim).
Mine mentioned that too, although she said lunchtime. (At the time I had an office job where I couldn't necessarily take my break closer to shkiah in the winter.) And on that note, with a b'dieved hefsek, the moch d'chok of course becomes unnecessary, since it in particular is very specifically only valid between sunset and full dark.
For the record, you need three bedikot to satisfy shiva nekiim- a hefsek taharah, one on the first day (anytime), and one on the last (anytime). After that you are dealing with varying degrees of preferability.
Unless a Rav specifically tells you differently. For example, if you always spot on a bedikah cloth the day after getting a good one because of cervical sensitivity, it's worth asking, because a Rav might find a leniency for you to do hefsek, wait a day, and do a bedikah on the second day instead... but that would require quite extenuating circumstances. The point is, don't assume it's a lost cause, ASK!
Another possible reason for leniency in Kellogg's case may have been if that was the second bedikah of the day, the first taken alone may have sufficed.
While we're on the topic of shkiah-related advice from kallah teachers, though...mine told me to always try to make a hefsek in the morning, so that I could b'dieved rely on it if I forgot to do one close to shkiah.