Immersion in the Mikveh during the Thirty Days of Mourning

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Question

Someone who is accustomed to going to the mikveh every day for additional purity, is he allowed to go to the mikveh during the thirty days of mourning?

Answer

Someone who is accustomed to going every day can continue to go every day during the thirty days (but not during the seven days) to the mikveh with cold water, and may even perform a light washing beforehand because of the people coming after him. This applies even to those who are stringent about immersing their whole body in cold water during the thirty days.

Someone who is accustomed to going every Friday can continue to go every Friday during the thirty days.

 

Source

Shaarei Teshuva, Siman 548, S"K 12 "ABT" and see further at the end of Siman 606 and in Magen Avraham there, and see in Shu"t Teshuat Chen, Siman 31, who wonders about what the Shach wrote in Yoreh De'ah, Siman 381, that immersion of the whole body in cold water is not prohibited during the thirty days, see there. And although it seems somewhat evident from the simplicity of the language of the Rema, it can be refuted, and so it is customary to be lenient with immersion in cold water as stated by the Shach." And so wrote Yad Shaul, permitting immersion for men of the whole body in cold water, since there is some mitzvah in it, and it is not a washing for pleasure, and in this there is no custom to be stringent.

The opinion of our teacher, the Rav, is that one may perform a light washing for cleanliness before immersion in the mikveh, even for those who are stringent about washing in cold water during the thirty days.

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