Restrictions during the Or Zarua Period
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Question
Should one be cautious about hugging and kissing during the Or Zarua period?
Answer
There is room for leniency, as hugging and kissing during the period of abstention is a matter of dispute among the authorities, and it suffices that we are stringent about abstention during the Or Zarua period. However, if there is a concern that this might lead to unnecessary arousal or, God forbid, to ejaculation, it is certainly appropriate to avoid it.
Source
Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, Laws of Niddah, Siman 184, Paragraph 2: "During her period, one must abstain from her for one night, but not from other intimacies, only from intercourse." This is also the ruling of the Shach and the Pitchei Teshuvah, that one need not abstain from hugging and kissing during her period. The Bach wrote that one who is stringent will be blessed, and the Taz wrote that it is forbidden by law, as in the case of mourning.
Nevertheless, during the Or Zarua period, which holds that abstention lasts 24 hours and not just during that day or night, the Beit Yosef wrote that it is an excessive stringency. In practice, most authorities wrote that one who fears God should abstain during the Or Zarua period from hugging and kissing, and certainly from other restrictions of Niddah, it is not necessary.