Hefsek taharah

In Torah and Rabbinic law, a hefsek taharah ("pause" to initiate "purity") is a verification method used in the Orthodox Jewish community by a woman who is in a niddah state to determine that menstruation has ceased.

The source for a Jewish woman to perform an "examination" is quoted implicitly in the Mishnah; A niddah who examined herself on the seventh day, in the morning...There is a difference of opinion amongst halakhic sources whether the self-examination is D'Oraita (required by Torah law) or D'Rabbanan (rabbinical requirement).

In the Orthodox Jewish community, women may test whether menstruation has ceased; this ritual is known as the hefsek tahara.

After the hefsek tahara, some women insert a cloth (or, in modern times, a tampon[3]), consequently known as a moch dachuk, for between 18 minutes and an hour, to ensure that there is no uterine blood; this must be done carefully, as it could otherwise irritate the mucous membrane, causing bleeding unrelated to menstruation.

[6] According to Orthodox authorities, a bride who experiences bleeding from the hymen upon her marriage's consummation counts only four days before performing a hefsek tahara, instead of the usual five.