Hassidic Jewish couples avoid physical contact when the woman is having her period. So they often sleep in separate beds for some of the time, and in the same bed for some of the time. Not just Hasidic, but most religiously observant Orthodox Jews sleep separately when a woman is in the state of nida – ritual impurity.
Why Orthodox couples sleep in separate beds?
A reader asks: Why do Hasidic couples sleep in separate beds? Answer: Because of the laws of niddah, which prohibit the couple from being together from the moment the wife has uterine bleeding until she completes a ritual bath immersion.
Are Jews allowed to sleep in the same bed?
In Judaism, there is something called the laws of family purity. Essentially, according to these guidelines, couples shouldn’t have sex, sleep in the same bed, pass one another anything, share food and drinks, or even lift something like a piece of furniture together during the wife’s period.
Why do hasidics have curls?
The reason for Ultra-Orthodox males’ hair and curl rules is the following: the original basis is a Biblical scripture which states that a man should not “round the corner of his head.” Authoritative talmudic scholars have determined that the meaning of this scripture is that there should be a hair cutting restriction.
What is the Yichud room?
The History and Meaning of the Yichud
At Jewish weddings, it refers to the moment in the proceedings where the couple comes together in a private room with no one else around. Historically, this was the moment when the marriage would be consummated.
What is a Hasidic woman?
Hasidic women represent a unique face of American Judaism. As Hasidim—ultra-Orthodox Jews belonging to sectarian communities, worshiping and working as followers of specific rebbes—they are set apart from assimilated, mainstream American Jews.
Why do Hasidic Jews shave their heads?
While some women chose merely to cover their hair with a cloth or sheitel, or wig, the most zealous shave their heads beneath to ensure that their hair is never seen by others.
What is ritual impurity?
Ritual impurity is a contagious but generally impermanent sort of defilement, while moral impurity results from what are believed to be immoral acts. Moreover, the dietary laws between ritual and moral impurity are shown.
Why do Jews Rock when they pray?
According to the mystical text Zohar, a person’s soul emanates from divine light. Every time a Jew engages with the Torah, the light of his or her soul ignites, which is why he or she moves like the flame of a candle.
Why do Jews kiss the door?
It is customary for religious Jews to touch the mezuzah every time they pass through a door and kiss the fingers that touched it. However, kissing the mezuzah has also become customary for many secular Jews who think of the mezuzah as a good luck charm.
What language do hasidics speak?
Yiddish
The Hasidic home is bilingual, with English and Yiddish sometimes mixing together (many English words have found their way into Brooklyn Hasidic Yiddish, and a Hasid speaking English will often lapse into Yiddish). The stricter sects, Satmar, for instance, place little value on the study of English.
Why did they watch the consummation?
The purpose of the ritual was to establish the consummation of the marriage, either by actually witnessing the couple’s first sexual intercourse or symbolically, by leaving before consummation. It symbolized the community’s involvement in the marriage.
What is a mikvah bath?
A mikvah is a pool of water — some of it from a natural source — in which observant married Jewish women are required to dip once a month, seven days after the end of their menstrual cycle. The ocean is a mikvah. A lake can be a mikvah. More commonly, it’s indoors and looks like an oversized bathtub.
Was bedding ceremony real?
In general, the act of bedding on the wedding night was not considered a private affair, but rather a public investment in a couple. It was common for families and friends to bring the couple to their bed as a way of endorsing the couple’s marriage (even when they didn’t stay to witness the consummation).
Do Hasidic girls attend high school?
While traditional Haredi and Hasidic yeshivas are only for boys, with girls attending Beis Yaakov schools, they do not encourage their students to plan for college education and professional careers.
Is Hasidic the same as Orthodox?
Present-day Hasidism is a sub-group within Haredi (“ultra-Orthodox”) Judaism, and is noted for its religious and social conservatism and social seclusion. Its members adhere closely both to Orthodox Jewish practice – with the movement’s own unique emphases – and the traditions of Eastern European Jews.
What are 3 ways a person can purify themselves?
Some purification rituals involve one or two simple gestures, such as washing the hands or body, changing the clothes, fumigating the person or object with incense, reciting a prayer or an incantation, anointing the person or object with some ritually pure substance.
What does tahor mean?
ritually clean
“ritually clean” in Hebrew, as in tumah and taharah.
What does ritually unclean mean?
Places, things and people could be ceremonially clean or unclean. A person could become unclean for numerous reasons. Those who became ceremonially unclean were separated from worship at God’s temple. Any person or thing they touched was made unclean as well.
Why do Jews break glass?
Breaking of the Glass
Some say it represents the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Others say it demonstrates that marriage holds sorrow as well as joy and is a representation of the commitment to stand by one another even in hard times.
Why do Orthodox wear black hats?
While the tradition of Jews wearing black headgear goes back ages (it was a sign of mourning for the loss of Jerusalem), it wasn’t until the 1960s that ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, as well as Chabad-Lubavitch Jews, began wearing the black fedora to distinguish themselves.
