The Jewish laws and regulations concerning menstruating
women are extremely restrictive. The Old Testament considers any menstruating woman
as unclean and impure. Moreover, her impurity "infects" others
as well. Anyone or anything she touches becomes unclean for a day:
"When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the
impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her
will be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on during her period will be
unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches her bed must
wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever
touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he
will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting
on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening" (Lev.
15:19-23).
Due to her "contaminating"; nature, a menstruating
woman was sometimes "banished" in order to avoid any possibility of
any contact with her. She was sent to a special house called "the house of
uncleanness" for the whole period of her impurity. The Talmud considers a
menstruating woman "fatal" even without any physical contact:
"Our Rabbis taught:....if a menstruant woman passes
between two (men), if it is at the beginning of her menses she will slay one of
them, and if it is at the end of her menses she will cause strife between
them" (bPes. 111a.)
Furthermore, the husband of a menstruous woman was forbidden
to enter the synagogue if he had been made unclean by her even by the dust
under her feet. A priest whose wife, daughter, or mother was menstruating could
not recite priestly blessing in the synagogue. 10 No wonder many Jewish women
still refer to menstruation as "the curse."
Islam does not consider a menstruating woman to possess any
kind of "contagious uncleanness". She is neither "untouchable"
nor "cursed." She practises her normal life with only one
restriction: A married couple are not allowed to have sexual intercourse during
the period of menstruation. Any other physical contact between them is
permissible. A menstruating woman is exempted from some rituals such as daily
prayers and fasting during her period, so she will not have any health problems.
