Author: Jennie Couchman
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Niddah – Traditional Practice and Modern Rethinking
Today I want to talk about the traditional practice and practicalities of niddah, and then brainstorm about how someone could draw upon the practice and potentially modify and update it to suit their own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. First, let’s review how someone enters the status of niddah and explain how one then leaves…
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Why practice niddah?
So far my posts have only mentioned niddah practice somewhat briefly, and have mainly talked about the negative aspects of traditional practice, particularly in regards to halachic infertility. Today I want to take a break from the criticisms and instead focus on why I think niddah could still be a meaningful practice for those of…
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A Brief Explanation of the Menstrual Cycle and How it Relates to Niddah
(Starting with my general disclaimer that will apply to almost every single post on this blog – I am not an expert in any of this. I am, however, an academic at heart, and I try to gather information from reliable sources.) To talk about niddah, about fertility, about natural family planning, we need to…
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On the word “natural”
The word “natural” has many associations in our society, not all of which are positive. In its most basic definition, the word “natural” should just mean related to nature, the parts of the physical world untouched by humanity. It’s often tempting to think that things that are “natural” are better. In fact, this is a…
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Who am I? Why am I doing this? And what should we all expect?
Instead of starting with who I am, I feel it’s better in this case to say who I am not. I am not a “Jewish Professional”, I’m just a person who happens to be Jewish. I am not an Orthodox Jew, and I am not an expert in halacha. I don’t follow halacha in the…
Natural Niddah 