"Refraining from lovemaking for a certain length of time began as an experiment and then became completely integrated into the rhythm of our marriage. We make a blessing before we eat anything and sing the Sh’ma to our children every night. If we try to add Judaism to eating and loving our children, why would we exclude sex from this holiness-making?"
Laura
For thousands of years, Jewish couples have observed the laws of niddah (separation) to sanctify their sexual relationship. Traditionally, a couple refrains from intimacy during menstruation, and for seven days afterward. Ashkenazi and Sephardi practices differ with regard to when one begins to count those seven days. Immersing in the mikveh marks the point at which the couple may reunite physically.
Over the past decade or so, Jewish individuals of all descriptions and denominations have revisited the practice, discovering and infusing new meaning in its attention to the monthly cycles of one’s body.
To learn more about monthly immersion, visit our online resources or contact our Program Director, Immersions and Education.