Comments for A Mother in Israel

Comment on Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert by Convert

Convert — Fri, 24 May 2013 18:06:04 +0000

This may be true about Israel, but I received an Orthodox conversion in the United States over 20 years ago and the witnesses did not enter the mikvah. They stood outside the room and shouted questions at me. They relied on the mikvah lady to pronounce my immersions kosher. The Rabbi who converted me is currently an Av Beit Din of the RCA Geirus committee — so there must be a valid halachic opinion upon which he was and is relying.

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Comment on Breastfeeding in the Hospital after a C-Section by Nava

Nava — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:52:35 +0000

B”H
Shalom!
I gave birth by C-section at the Hadassa Ein Keren to my son past the 41 weeks. After recovery and being taken to the maternity ward, a kind nurse informed me that my son was given formula because he was hungry. My concern was more on the kashrus (it was a halav akum formula unfortunately).
Now here it comes the best: The nurse told me that there is a policy to not bring the baby to mom’s on c-Section only after 24 hours. I was also unable to move without pain, but with all that I demanded to have my son with me. That night I was the only one in a room of two, so they brought to me my son and I plugged him to breasfeed the whole night (I didn’t sleep, and well, he slept and ate) until next morning at 6:00 a.m. that the same kind nurse came to help me to begin to move again, wash me, take out my cateter. Yes, at 8:00 a.m. I was already taking breakfast. That same nurse took care that my son crib was labeled “only breastfeeding”. The rest of the nights I had to go to the nursery to breasfeed. They came directly to my bed to notify me that my son was crying so, slowly, slowly I had to go.
I believe if I would have not began that night to breastfeed, I would not have produced milk at all: my milk production began 4.5 days after birth.

I believe that not only policy have to checked before hand, but also try to plan ahead with the maternity ward in advance. There are forms to fill where one can already tell them that your baby will be exclusively breastfeed. Also do not allow that the nurses give the child water with sugar and you should specify that and only speak with doctors regarding any changes in the feeding and not with nurses. And on the line with advices for you to have a companion, it is the best advice, because yourself it is difficult to be on top of all the tips, advises, and things needed to do once you are in pain (even if you are taking pain killers) in the hospital. By the way, I refused to take painkillers because I was afraid of contaminate the breastfeeding.

Be shaa tova.

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Comment on Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert by avraham

avraham — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:22:15 +0000

Going to a natural body of water does not entail standing before a female or male and getting the 3rd degree inspection. It means being near a river or lake. And as for blood–The reason in the time of the Talmud to show blood to a rabbi was they could tell the difference between the five colors of red that were forbidden and the five shades of red that were permitted. Today rabbis look for red. I am sure you can tell the difference between red and orange or yellow yourself. [If rabbis could tell between the shades of red that are permitted and the shades that are not then there would be a reason to go to them. But they can't. ]

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Comment on Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert by Rabbi Michael Tzadok

Rabbi Michael Tzadok — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:11:10 +0000

No you have it right. They separate for 90days prior to the conversion.

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Comment on Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert by Hannah Katsman

Hannah Katsman — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:25:40 +0000

Thanks, fixed.

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Comment on Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert by Jennifer in MamaLand

Jennifer in MamaLand — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:10:41 +0000

Thanks for posting this! The link to Part 1 doesn’t seem to be working – but I found it through the Part 2 link.
Jennifer in MamaLand recently posted..The story of Rus and Naomi – narratable version (in 3 parts) (dofollow)

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Comment on Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert by Nathalie

Nathalie — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:34:15 +0000

not necessarily if the couple was already married, and just “separated” for the 90 days prior the conversion.
In such cases, there usually is an effort to keep the family normal as much as possible.
Then again, I don’t have enough halachic knowledge in the subject, but the rav in charge does

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Comment on Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert by Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:58:34 +0000

I thought a female convert was supposed to wait 90 days before marrying?

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Comment on Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert by Rachel

Rachel — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:09:37 +0000

I actually heard about this when I went to an exhibit in the US on mikvahs. I was so intrigued by the idea and at the same time put off by bad experiences. I even took the time to look into perhaps starting to go to the mikveh myself (I grew up conservative and never saw it growing up). The idea of being naked in front of a female or a male scared me off. I’m not religious but I’ve never been comfortable wearing less than a t-shirt and shorts that go to the tops of my knees – never got into short shorts). I’m very private about my family matters and don’t like the idea of needing to make my family purity anyones business but my own. To me, dunking once a month naked in front of either a female or a male is more immodest than wearing a t-shirt. Sorry this is a bit off topic but reading about this has brought back all the memories of when I went through deciding whether or not to try and I eventually chose not to because of the naked part and because of the checking for blood.

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Comment on Modesty, Mikveh and the Female Convert by Nathalie

Nathalie — Sun, 19 May 2013 08:49:30 +0000

Actually this is not something new to me.
However, I would like to relate a story which while not making the whole issue ok, puts things in proportions.
When we were a married couple living in yeshiva, my husband was asked by the rosh yeshiva
(also the chief rabbi of the town where the yeshiva was), to come and be one of the three men supervising such a tevila.
While to this day we can’t figure out why my husband was chosen and not some more important rabbi/more learned man, we got to understand better how it works out.
My husband said the men only entered the mikve room once the convert (yes, a woman), was already in the water, and was wearing a robe,covering her completely.
The only thing they were able to see during tevila was the top of her head, and therefore to verify if all of her hair went under water (which is the only reason why we need a balanit in the first place…) . Once the lady had done her tevilot and pronounced “kasher” , the men went out and only then the convert went out of the water straight into her room.
While the facts are the same as stated in the post, my husband left with a feeling that everything had been done to respect the privacy of the woman.
Then again, the rabbi who supervised the conversion is known for his care for other people’s feelings….

(and just to complete the story… after the lady got dressed, the men accompanied her to the rabbanut where her future husband was waiting, and proceeded to marry the happy (now Jewish) couple… all on one Friday morning!)

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