**Announcement**

Rabbi Eli Mansour shall be starting a new learning program for men.  This BUISNESSMEN STUDY GROUP will learn in depth from Yore Deah, siman 87 and onward- The Laws of Milk & Meat.  This new program will be held every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM (following the Daf Yomi class), in the 2nd floor Midrash of Har HaLebanon.  Rabbi Mansour shall pair up individuals into Chevrutot (study partners).  Studying will be in pairs for the first hour, and the Rabbi shall review with everyone in the 2nd hour.  Refreshments will be served.  We ask that each person interested in this program RSVP by replying to this email, so that we can be able to purchase and supply the appropriate quantity of study materials, and so that the Rabbi can properly match up Chevrutot.  For more information, please see the Rabbi, email back, or see Benny Cohen.

Today’s Halacha….

Halacha requires that when a woman (or a man, for that matter) immerses in a Mikveh, the Mikveh water must come in direct contact with the entire body; if any object or substance interferes with the water's touching any part of the body, the immersion in invalid.

This requirement gives rise to the question of whether or not a woman must lift her feet or "jump" a bit off the floor of the Mikveh during immersion.  Since the water must come in direct contact with the bottom of her feet, one might argue that her feet cannot touch the ground as she immerses.

In truth, however, Chacham Ovadia Yosef rules in his work Taharat Ha'bayit (vol. 3, p. 167) that a woman may stand flatfooted on the floor of the Mikveh during immersion.  As he explains, the woman's feet touch the Mikveh water the moment she enters the Mikveh, and therefore her feet already have Mikveh water on them when she places them on the Mikveh floor.  Furthermore, since when standing in water one's feet do not apply strong pressure against the floor, we consider the Mikveh water as directly touching the bottom of a woman's feet even as she stands on the floor in the Mikveh.

A similar Halacha applies in a case of a woman who requires the assistance of an attendant as she descends in to the Mikveh.  If the woman must hold the attendant's hand, she may hold her hand with a loose grip in the water, and we thus consider the water as coming in direct contact with her hands.  Alternatively, the attendant can first place her hands in the water, at which point the woman may take hold of the attendant's hand in the water and hold it in a usual manner.  Even in such a case, however, she may not grip the attendant's hand tightly.  (This, too, is the ruling of Chacham Ovadia Yosef, in Taharat Ha'bayit, vol. 3, p. 161.)

Summary: A man or woman who immerses in a Mikveh may stand on the floor of the Mikveh during immersion, and is not required to lift his or her feet.  If a woman must hold somebody's hand while immersing, she may hold somebody's hand loosely in the water, or have the other woman dip her hands in the Mikveh first and then take hold of her hand with a usual grip, but not a tight grip.