[Avodah] (no subject)

[sober at pathcom.com]

Apology in advance: I am now in Israel but still somewhat in transit 
and without sefarim. I hope that what I am writing below is correct, 
but feel free to let me know if it isn't.

I wanted to clarify a point about the relevance of d'oraita colours as 
it contributes to our lack of distinction between niddah and zivah.

I should have written that the shivah neki'im for niddah are only 
sometimes a safek d'oraita and that colours is not the only reason for 
our current practice of not keeping a niddah/zivah calendar.

It has been pointed out, correctly, that if a woman bleeds after at 
least 18 consecutive clean days, she is definitely niddah, not zivah. 
In such cases, the shivah neki'im are indeed a pure d'rabbanan (which 
does not mean they can just be done away with, of course).

However, this is not always the case - especially for a woman with a 
short cycle, which is what we are talking about here. For example:

Onset of bleeding (which in fact is a colour that makes her niddah only 
d'rabbanan): Day 1

Colour changes, so that she becomes niddah d'oraita: Day 6

Hefsek Taharah: Day 7

Onset of bleeding: Day 21

The woman can err as follows: She assumes that she became niddah 
d'oraita on Day 1. Therefore, she thinks the bleeding on Day 21 is 
again niddah blood.

In reality, however, she became niddah mid'oraita only on Day 6. That 
means that her 11 y'mei zivah are days 13-23. If she bleeds on Days 21, 
22, 23, she is a zavah g'dolah mid'oraita and needs shivah neki'im. (It 
also means that she needs to go to mikveh after Day 12, not Day 7.)

IVF has been mentioned as a solution for halachic infertility - I think 
maybe there is some confusion, since the old-fashioned, much less 
expensive, much less dangerous method of artificial insemination would 
work fine if the only reason for infertility is halachic.

I think I may have seen discussion of having the woman go to mikveh 
after seven days (niddah d'oraita), undergo artificial insemination 
when she ovulates (at which point she is only niddah d'rabbanan), and 
then count 5+7 and go to mikveh. But I have not heard a definitive psak 
about this. Obviously this type of solution would involve individual 
adjudication by a posek, since many she'elot are raised. - Ilana