Q&A: Niddah — a Divine Matter, in Your Opinion?
Niddah — a Divine Matter, in Your Opinion?
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I’ve been reading your blog for several years, and I’ve asked questions from time to time. This time I have a question in a relevant context. I’m getting married this coming Sunday, and unfortunately, due to circumstances, I found myself exposed to the laws of niddah. I saw that you were asked about this in the past, but you didn’t really answer.
My question is:
Do you believe that God wants the laws of niddah to be observed? Meaning, of course you believe that we are obligated to do so because that is how it was established in Jewish law, etc. etc., but when you close your eyes and imagine that being, can you actually see how it would ask us to relate to a woman’s menstrual cycle as a mechanism that produces impurity and purity? Yes, impurity and purity in animals is also, on the face of it, a strange concept. But the feeling is that in this case the framework is different. Tractate Niddah makes me want to throw up from how disturbing its misogyny is. Do you think God is in favor of it?
Best regards,
T
Answer
Hello.
I don’t see any difference between the laws of niddah and other laws. There are quite a few laws that are strange and not understood, and this is one of them. What is special about this? I don’t see any misogyny here, certainly no more than in other laws that discriminate against women or that establish the status of mamzerut and the like.
As you wrote, I do not know what the Holy One, blessed be He, wants. I have not met Him, and I do not think anyone has met Him (except perhaps prophets). But it is binding like any other Jewish law. The concept of impurity evokes a negative connotation, but there is nothing negative here. No one claims that the woman is at fault or that there is something wrong with her because of her period. This is a state that has implications, like the impurity of seminal emission, or of a zav and zavah, leprosy, and more, which exist for both women and men. Not to mention corpse impurity, which also applies to women and men, and there is no negation of the person who died here either.
And of course, many congratulations.
As always, I’m happy to discover that here and there there are also women readers on this site.