Narrow room, and unable to separate beds by 60 cm during her niddah
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Question
I want to rent an apartment, and the bedroom is narrow, and it is impossible to separate the beds by 60 cm during the wife's niddah. Should I refrain from renting the apartment because of this?
Answer
It is permissible to be lenient in a case of necessity regarding the separation of the beds, as long as the blanket falling from her does not touch his bed.
Source
It is stated in the Gemara Shabbat, page 13a
Niddah, can she sleep next to her husband, she in her garment and he in his, etc. Come and hear: and he did not eat upon the mountains, nor did he lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor did he defile his neighbor's wife, and he did not approach a woman in her niddah, comparing a woman in niddah to a neighbor's wife. Just as a neighbor's wife - he in his garment and she in her garment is forbidden, so too his wife in niddah - he in his garment and she in her garment is forbidden. Learn from this. The school of Eliyahu taught: There was an incident with a student who studied much and read much, and served the sages much, and died in the middle of his days. And his wife would take his tefillin and go around the synagogues and study houses, and she would say to them: It is written in the Torah that it is your life and the length of your days, my husband who studied much and read much, and served the sages much - why did he die in the middle of his days? And there was no one who could answer her. Once I was a guest at her place, and she was telling me all this event. And I said to her: My daughter, during your niddah days, how was he with you? She said to me: God forbid, he did not even touch me with a small finger. - During your clean days, how was he with you? - He ate with me, and drank with me, and slept with me in close proximity of bodies, and did not think of anything else. And I said to her: Blessed is the One who killed him, for he did not show favoritism to the Torah, for the Torah said, and do not approach a woman in her niddah impurity. When Rav Dimi came, he said: It was one bed. In the West, they say, Rav Yitzchak bar Yosef said: A belt separated between them.
And so ruled the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, laws of niddah, chapter 195, section 5: "Do not sleep with her on the bed, even if each is in their garment and do not touch each other. Rema: And even if each has their own bedding, and even if they lie on two beds and the beds touch each other, it is forbidden.
Regarding the measure, in the rulings in chapter 195 it implies that any measure of bed separation suffices. And at the rabbinical assembly in Lviv in 1927, they decreed to separate by 60 cm. And in practice, the decisors ruled that if it is impossible, one can be lenient to the measure where her blanket can touch his bed during sleep, it is considered like her garment which is forbidden to touch.
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