Kommentar zu Wajikra 18:19

AND UNTO A WOMAN DURING HER SEPARATION FOR HER UNCLEANNESS, THOU SHALT NOT APPROACH TO UNCOVER HER NAKEDNESS. Scripture prohibited [having intercourse with] a menstruant woman for the reason I have mentioned,²⁹⁷Above, Verse 6. that the Torah permitted sexual intercourse only for the sake of raising children,²⁹⁸See my Hebrew commentary p. 104, that Rabbeinu Bachya questioned this attitude of Ramban. It would also appear from Ramban’s quote of Ibn Ezra further on in Verse 20, that the purpose of sexual intercourse is threefold, and the raising of children is only one purpose. Hence Ramban’s statement here must be understood in the sense that the “principal” purpose thereof is the raising of children. and since the whole child or the greater part thereof is created out of the woman’s blood, as I have already mentioned,²⁹⁹Above, at beginning of Seder Tazria. and from the blood of menstruation it is not created at all [therefore the Torah prohibited intercourse with her during the period of her impurity]. Indeed, how could a child be formed out of this blood, since it is deadly poisonous, capable of causing the death of any creature that drinks or eats it! Now when the womb contains a large amount of this blood of menstruation, the woman cannot become pregnant, as this blood is not endowed at all with the capacity for forming [a child]. Even if she were to become pregnant from other blood, and then derive nourishment from this blood, the child would die. Physicians have also mentioned already that if the foetus derives nourishment from the best of blood, and all its nutriment be of the best quality, but some of this blood of menstruation is mixed with it, it will cause it to go bad, and produce in the child inflammatory swellings and sores of all kinds. And in the opinion of our Rabbis,³⁰⁰Tanchuma, Metzora 1. even if a small part of this [blood of menstruation] remains, in the foetus, the child will be a leper. By virtue, then, of all these reasons it was fitting that the Torah prohibit intercourse with a menstruant. The doctors have also told us in connection with it, a true experience, which is one of the wondrous works of Him Who is perfect in knowledge³⁰¹Job 37:16. in creation, that if a menstruant woman at the beginning of her issue were to concentrate her gaze for some time upon a polished iron mirror, there would appear in the mirror red spots resembling drops of blood, for the bad part therein [i.e., in the issue] that is by its nature harmful, causes a certain odium, and the unhealthy condition of the air attaches to the mirror, just as a viper kills with its gaze. And surely it is harmful to have intercourse with her then, since physically and mentally she is attached to the man’s body and mind. Therefore Scripture prohibited it by saying, and her impurity will be upon him,³⁰²Above, 15:24. meaning that her condition is a contagious one. It is with reference to this that it states, the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity,³⁰³Ezekiel 36:17. always mentioning in connection with her the term “impurity,” which is like that used in speaking of a creeping thing and of a leper, in which cases their impurity is within their bodies. It is possible that this is the sense of the expression, he hath bared her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood,³⁰⁴Further, 20:18. for that blemished fountain should be covered, and not bared in order to draw its bad and extremely harmful waters. Thus intercourse has been prohibited to the holy seed³⁰⁵Isaiah 6:13. all the days of her impurity, until she immerses herself in water [i.e., in a ritual pool],³⁰⁶For no amount of washing the body can take the place of ritual immersion, where such is prescribed. for then she will be purified also in her thoughts,³⁰⁷This is obviously a reference to what Rambam wrote in his Mishneh Torah at the end of Hilchoth Mikvaoth, on the significance of immersion, that it is not merely a matter of removing mud or dirt which may be removed by water, but “it is a Scriptural decree, the validity of the act depending upon the disposition of the heart. It is for this reason that the Sages have said. ‘If he immersed himself without intention, it is as though he had not immersed himself at all’ (Chagigah 18 b) … Thus he whose heart intends to purify himself, becomes purified as soon as the [actual] immersion is accomplished.” It is clear, then, that since both body and soul must participate in the act of immersion, the effect and potency of the purification applies to both body and soul as Ramban here states, “for then she will be purified also in her thoughts, and become completely clean.” See “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 117-119. and become completely clean [in body and mind].

ואל אשה בנדת טומאתה לא תקרב, “you shall not approach a woman (your own wife) during the time she is unclean through menstruation.” The Torah varied the term used for having sexual relations with one’s own wife during certain periods from לא תגלה ערותה to לא תקרב, seeing that one is constantly in the proximity of one’s own wife, and therefore a special effort is required not to run afoul of the prohibition to have relations with her. Therefore the Torah not only forbade intercourse but even touching one’s wife during those days, and that is why the Torah used the term לא תקרב “do not even come close!” Nachmanides writes that the reason for this prohibition is that basically, sexual intercourse is for the purpose of reproducing, for having children. Seeing that the embryo is fertilised by the mother’s blood, and it is a well known fact that during menstruation a woman’s body is unable to perform this function there is no point in her husband having relations with her during that period. Nachmanides adds that not only can a menstruating woman not produce or initiate life, but the blood oozing from her during that period is liable to kill any nascent life or afflict it with incurable disease. Furthemore, the scientists have told us of a true experiment, according to which a woman who is in an early state of menstruation who looks at a shiny mirror made of polished iron, that this mirror will reflect drops of blood, proving that the natural effect of her state is to create harmful substances which adhere to the surface of the mirror from the air she exhaled, making her similar to a lethal viper that can kill merely by looking at you. How much more so would she exhale harmful substances if one were to lie with her and be intimate with her. Because of all these reasons the Torah decreed a kind of isolation on such a woman, describing her state of impurity as a special impurity known as טומאת הנדה, and her state of contamination is compared to that conferred by contact with certain שרצים, four-legged vermin, and to the contamination conferred by someone afflicted with tzoraat whose ritual impurity is anchored in his body. [Our sages, as was their custom, accepted the results of the most recent findings of science in their time, especially in view of the fact that Jews in their time did not possess scientists of their own. This Editor has published an article exposing that halachah was erroneously based on such mistaken scientific findings in connection with the need to allow river water to cool off for 12 hours before using it to make the dough for matzot for Passover. Compare my book “the Just lived by his faith,” as well as the translation in Hebrew published by Heychal Shlomoh in שנה בשנה in תשנ'ד. Such a woman remains forbidden to her husband, and is generally in a state of ritual impurity until she has immersed herself in a ritual bath.

ואל אשה בנדת טמאתה לא תקרב, “and you shall not approach a woman when she is having her period, etc.” seeing that her husband is normally physically close to her, the Torah has to issue this additional warning. He must keep his distance from her until she has regained her ritual purity.

לא תקרב לכלות ערותה, “you must not indulge in marital relations with her at the time when she has her menses.” He must refrain until she has become purified.