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Nov 24, 2020
Interesting Psak: toiveling during the day because of Corona minyanim
Ever since Corona began and the shuls were first closed, the outdoor minyan came into existence and has yet to go away, despite the shuls re-opening.
Many people like the outdoor minyanim for a variety of reasons, and the shuls, even though open are limited in numbers (if they keep to the rules), and there are people who cannot go back because they are in risk groups or take extra precautions for other reasons. Some shul leadership are even concerned that a good percentage of people might never come back to shul and might just keep the outdoor minyanim going even when this is all over.
Many have thought that the winter would see the demise of the outdoor minyan, as the weather turns cold and rainy, and snowy in some places. That hasn't happened yet, but we haven't had the major rains yet, here in Israel.
All this has created a strange situation. Minyanim in the street and parks and parking lot all see situations in which women are walking by, and even through, the minyan in the middle of davening. Women have places to go, and that is just the way it is. Everyone is inconvenienced, and pretty much everyone has shown understanding and patience.
But it is still a strange situation, and sometimes uncomfortable.
And sometimes it is very uncomfortable.
Women have complained about having to walk through street minyanim when going to the mikva on Friday nights, and that is very uncomfortable for them. Some women have complained about a lack of privacy in such situations, some about tzniyus concerns. I would even bet that some women have decided not to go to the mikva as scheduled on a Friday night so as not to need to walk through a bunch of men on the way and have instead decided to wait until they could drive to the mikva instead.
Rav Avi Gisser, rav of the community of Ofra, has issued an emergency psak - only until the end of Corona (and seemingly the end of the street minyanim).
Rav Gisser has paskened that women who find themselves in such potential situations and are uncomfortable can go to the mikva and immerse, toivel, within the hour before Shabbos begins. Rav Gisser qualifies that anyone who can continue to go to the mikva as normal, after nightfall, should as that is the halachic preference, and this allowance is only for those who cannot. Rav Gisser stresses that this is a horaat shaa - an emergency situation psak, only for the situation now during Corona times, and is not one to be used or extrapolated to other situations in normal times.
Rav Gisser explains that the immersion in the mikva should be done as close as possible to Shabbos. The prohibition against touching between husband and wife will continue despite her already having immersed until after the time of "tzies hakochavim", the visibility of 3 stars, arrives bringing with it the time of official night.
source: Kipa
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Labels:
CoronaVirus,
interesting psak,
mikva,
women
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Why is this only an issue on Shabbos? Arent't there weekday minyanim and women who go to mikvah on weeknights?
ReplyDeleteit could be an issue during the week, but it seems to be less of an issue. women can drive and be less affected. also, the minyan is shorter during the week, so she can easily leave a few minutes earlier or later and still go the same night without walking through them. I think it is also less obvious during the week, but that might not be true
ReplyDeleteI didn't understand your first sentence:
ReplyDeleteEver since Corona began and the shuls were first closed, the outdoor minyan came into existence and has yet to go away, despite the shuls re-opening.
Although shuls are technically open, they are limited to 10 people inside (and 20 outside), so a shul needs to also provide outdoor space adjacent to the indoor space if they want to accommodate more than 10 people. And even with outdoor space, a shul is limited to 30 people, so shuls that normally have more than 30 people at a minyan cannot accommodate everyone and people need to find alternatives.
I did mention one of the reasons being limitations of numbers
DeleteNot having seen the actual psak, one can only speculate, but as I recall from learning the topic years back, 8th day during the day immersion is highly preferred in these types of cases. And in the rare case where daytime 7th day is the only option, the wife should not return home prior to tzeit hachochavim (i.e. just avoiding physical contact isn't enough)
ReplyDelete