New App Helps Religious Jewish Women with Niddah

Photo: Jewish woman set to use mikveh

A new app has been released for Android that is aiming to help women in the Jewish community track when they are tahor (pure) and tameh (impure). Nidah Stain Checker is providing a way for women to go through a “halachic analysis” when analyzing menstrual stains.

In halacha, or Jewish law, there are many restrictions placed on a woman when on her period, due to it being considered impure. When on their periods, Orthodox women engage in niddah, a temporary separation from their husbands until their period is over, and must abide by strict religious rules and engage in many purifying rituals until her period is over.

Normally, many of these rituals involve consulting a rabbi or other religious authority, a practice which understandably makes many Orthodox women uncomfortable. Enter Niddah Stain Checker.

“Want to know if you’re Niddah or not based on your stain, without involving other people in this most private issue?” begins the description of the app. “Do you feel uncomfortable checking the status of your stain via your local Rabbi or female Halachic Advisor? Don’t want others to know when you’re going to go to the Mikveh? Now you can!”

The app allows users to outsource much of the thinking and uncomfortable work involved in this lengthy process from a rabbi to a smartphone, which is making many women happy. Using colour-recognition software, the app analyzes sample pictures taken by the women, and after a number of questions helps determine if a woman is halachically permitted to rejoin her husband.

No word yet on how women banned from using smartphones are finding the app.