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Two editions of this Dutch handbook on the the laws pertaining to Jewish married law for women. This booklet was of sufficient importance and usage that it was reissued and distributed to Jewish married women over several decades. The issues here are, apparently, the first edition (1906) and the third reprint (1924). The title describes it as a Guide to the rules of Jewish married life) Handleiding voor de Kennis der Voorschriften omtrent het Joodissche Huwelijksleven). The subtitle informs that it was issued by the rabbinic authorities (uitgegeven van wege de vergadering van opperrabbijnen). The text is almost entirely in Dutch, except for occasional Hebrew. Both editions consist of eight chapters and are generally alike, except that the first edition is slightly longer.
Taharat (Tohorat) Ha-Mishpahah (lit. "family purity"), the term popularly given to the laws of niddah, which involve a married couple's abstinence from sexual relations during the period of menstruation until the wife's immersion in the mikveh. These regulations are considered by the Orthodox to be basic to the Jewish way of life, and R. Akiva went so far as to declare the son of a niddah a mamzer (Yev. 29b). Although his viewpoint is not accepted as the halakhah, it nevertheless indicates the importance of these laws. In more modern times, many psychological, medical, and physiological reasons have been given for the observance of this precept, and all of them stress the benefits that are gained by the couple practicing abstinence during part of each month. Societies have been organized in many communities for the purpose of instructing people in these laws and supervising the daily functioning of the mikveh.
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