Kosher, anyone?

According to rabbinical law, a woman becomes a niddah when she is aware that blood has come from her womb, whether it is due to menstruation, childbirth, sexually transmitted disease, or other reasons. Even if menstruation started before she sees evidence of the flow of blood, the rabbinical regulations regard her as not being niddah until she notices. Until this point the regulations do not come into force.

It is not necessary for the woman to witness the flow of blood itself, and it is sufficient for her to notice a stain that has indications of coming from her womb; blood stains are inadequate without such evidence, for example, if she finds a stain just after cutting her finger, she does not become a niddah, as the blood is not obviously uterine. If there is a blood stain of uncertain origin, for example on her underclothing, there are a series of complicated criteria given by rabbinical law to determine whether she is niddah or not; the woman herself is not expected to know these criteria, and can seek the assistance of a rabbi who is sufficiently learned in them.

[edit] Duration of menstruation and niddah status
The Biblical requirement of niddah is 7 days from the beginning of the menstrual period. In the days of the Amoraim, because of difficulties in determining when menstruation began and ended and hence whether blood was normal menstrual (niddah) or abnormal (zavah) blood which would require marking 7 days from the end, a stringency of marking 7 days from the end of menstruation was followed. Orthodox Judaism continues to follow this rule, taking the position that a stringency was and remains necessary because of the rabbinic rule of being stringent in matters of Biblical obligation. The non-Orthodox groups have greatly varying degrees of observance on this and all legal matters within Judaism.

Since, according to the rules of Zavah, the seven days must be counted from the point that menstruation ceases, it has historically been considered important in Judaism to determine when this occurs. Because the leaking of semen nullifies the counting of a "clean" day the Sages enacted that the counting of seven days not begin until a minimum of 72 hours has passed.

Orthodox Ashkenazi Jewish custom has lengthened this to 96 hours (effectively 5 days); it has been instituted in all cases regardless of whether the woman had engaged in sexual intercourse, recently or not. Thus the Niddah state lasts at least 12 days in the Ashkenazic tradition - the 5 days minimum and the subsequent seven days. The count of days begins when the woman first sees her menstrual blood, and ends 12 days later, or 7 days after the menstruation ceases (whichever is further)

For non-Ashkenazic Jewry there are a variety of customs. Although this count could start in the middle of the day, it is always considered to end on the evening of the final day.

Most Sephardic Jews use a slightly more lenient calculation resulting in a minimum of 11 days.

wow

I guess what I am wanting is not Jewish Kosher - but Biblical Kosher

Perhaps I should have asked if there were Messianic Kosher on the board?

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Saffron

thank you auntielisababe

I have wondered about "kosher" and find your explaination very interesting.

Hum.. I'm not a Messianic Jew. I think it depends on the type of Messianic Jew and what they practice. Everything I posted comes from,what you would call the the Old Testament, with some imput from the Talmud. I think much of what they practice is the same, but I could be very wrong.

I just want to point out that Auntielisababe addressed two different things here. Being niddah falls under Taharat Ha-Mishpachah - the Laws of Family Purity, not Kashrut. I know she knows this, but I didn't think most others here would. They are two separate topics.

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"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world" - Thorin Oakenshield to Bilbo Baggins, in JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit"

Auntielisababe, your posts are most informative and interesting. I never knew there were so many details on the topic. Thank you for taking the time to educate us.

Seems to me that the laws concerning women would result in a woman becoming "clean" at the same time she is most fertile. People being people, they are going to "make up for lost time". Seems like this law would insure large families.

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Flaming Xtian
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi


Libertarindependent

The way I understand it(please correct me if I'm wrong)...is that the menses are a "death". There was "life"(the egg) and it did not bear fruit. In the early cultures, a pregnancy was a blessing, and not being blessed was a source of shame.

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Jo <>< your resident dental hygienist
"We should stand up and say 'we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration' " Hillary Clinton

Read Leviticus 11, it makes it very clear what to eat and not eat.

The bible does say not to eat the blood of animals because the spirit is in the blood. So yeah the egg was alive sorta.