Treatment of an Ingrown Toenail by a Wife Who is a Pedicurist When She is Niddah

A man has an ingrown toenail, and his wife is a pedicurist. Is she allowed to remove his toenail when she is niddah?

Only if the pain is very severe and there is no one else who can help, and preferably with gloves.

Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, Laws of Niddah, Siman 195, סעיף ט"ו: "If he is ill and there is no one to assist him except her, she is permitted to assist him, provided she is very careful not to wash his face, hands, and feet or make the bed in his presence. In Beit Yosef, it is explained that even touching is permitted when there is no other option.

In סעיף כ' it is written: "If her husband is a doctor, he is forbidden to feel her pulse. Rema: According to what I have written, that it is customary to permit if she needs him to assist her, all the more so it is permitted to feel her pulse if there is no other doctor and she needs him, and there is danger in her illness."

This means that the Shulchan Aruch is stringent when the woman is ill, forbidding her husband to feel her pulse, but when he is ill, she is permitted to assist him. In explaining the distinction, Beit Yosef writes: "Only when he is ill and she is healthy is it permitted, because being ill, there is no concern for habituation to transgression, as his inclination is weakened. But when she is ill and he is healthy, there is concern for habituation to transgression, as his inclination may strengthen and seduce him." Rema also permits when she is ill and he is a doctor, if there is danger in her illness.

Therefore, if the pain is not very severe, there is concern for habituation, as his inclination is not weakened, but if the pain is very severe and his inclination is weakened, leniency is possible, and gloves are preferable as they reduce the prohibition of touching.