Visiting the Graves of the Righteous During Niddah

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The prohibition against a niddah entering a cemetery comes from the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Danzig, who wrote in his work Chayei Adam (Part One - כלל ג לח) as follows: "There are places where women have the custom that as long as they are in the days of their niddah before their seven clean days, they do not pray or recite blessings, and this is a custom without foundation. And even in places that are stringent, nevertheless from the first day of selichot they enter the synagogue and pray. But in our lands the custom is always lenient, and they recite blessings and pray.

Nevertheless, they should not look at the Torah scroll when it is raised to show the people. And it seems to me that they should not enter a cemetery until they have immersed." Some were stringent only during the actual days of menstruation, but in the days before immersion there is no need to be stringent (Pischei Teshuvah, Yoreh Deah siman 195). And in books there are accounts of terrible incidents that occurred as a result of women entering a cemetery during their days of impurity [see also the introduction to responsa Maharam Schick for a terrible story]. In the book Chivat Yerushalayim (Maamar Renanu Tzaddikim, letter ג), a terrible story is brought that happened in Meron when an impure woman came there on Lag BaOmer, and similarly it is written in the book Knesset Yechezkel that from this the custom spread in the city of Baghdad that niddah women do not enter the graves of the righteous until they immerse from their niddah.

However, many testify that the custom of Jerusalem is to be strict about this only during the actual days of menstruation, and on the day of unveiling a gravestone and a memorial, or for a great need, many are lenient and hold that it is possible to enter during the days of livun, as long as she is not in the actual days of menstruation.

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