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Observing Judaism's laws of family purity
• can help detect the early onset
of some diseases.
LYNNE MEREDITH COHN
STAFF WRITER
A4V!,
*Of.4,4
lthough less than 1 per-
cent of women who are di-
agnosed with cervical
cancer regularly go to the
mikvah (ritual bath), the
act of immersion itself
does not protect against
this disease.
But women who observe the
laws of family purity, taharat
hamishpachah, see some medical
benefits to the practice, along with
the spiritual.
Cervical cancer is sexually
transmitted, says Dr. Mark Schare,
an Orthodox obstetrician/gynecol-
ogist in Birmingham. "You can't
catch cancer, but you can catch the
virus that causes it; it's been linked
to human papilomavirus (HPV),
a virus that's sexually transmit-
ted."
That means that without sexu-
al promiscuity, which is highly dis-
couraged in observant Jewish
circles, there is less of a chance, if
any, to come down with this type
of cancer, Dr. Schare says.
Dr. Alfred Tanz, an Orthodox
man who is attending obstetri-
cian/gynecologist at Lenox Hill
Hospital in Manhattan and clini-
cal professor of ob/gyn at New York
Medical College,
Doctors say
concurs. During 35
regular mikvah
(ritual bath) use years of gynecolog-
ical practice, among
does not
a largely Orthodox
necessarily
clientele, Dr. Tanz
protect women
from cancer.
has "never seen a
case of cervical can-
cer in an Orthodox woman who ob-
serves taharas mishpachah."
But he quotes a colleague who
"agrees to some degree but believes
the rate of cervical cancer will rise
in this group as they fall prey to the
blandishments of modem society:
multiple sexual partners, etc."
Of course, "the fact that you're
having intercourse with 100 men
doesn't mean you're going to get
cervical cancer," Dr. Tanz assures.
"But statistically, the chance of get-
ting cervical cancer increased [be-
cause of more unprotected sex]."
In Israel, the rates of cervical
cancer are rapidly rising among
Jewish women, according to an ar-
ticle in the newspaper Ma'ariv. But
the rate among religious Israeli
women who observe the family pu-
rity laws is "quite low," according
to Dr. A. Shechter of Beilinson Hos-
pital in Petah Tikvah.
But just because a woman goes
to the mikvah and separates phys-
ically from her husband for part of
the month doesn't mean she is any
healthier than a woman who does
not observe these laws.
Dr. Schare says, "I don't think
that just because they go to the
mikvah they are any more inclined
to go to a physician."
Regarding cervical cancer, the
screening for the HPV virus is done
through regular pap smears, he
says, which must be done by a
physician.
The laWs of family purity require
husband and wife to separate phys-
ically from the onset of the woman's
menstrual period until seven days
after it ends. Until the woman
makes a trip to the mikvah, or rit-
ual bath, the couple cannot resume
relations.
Some say this practice of physi-
cal abstinence enhances a couple's
emotional relationship. Others
maintain the practice brings a
woman even closer to God. Most
women who observe these laws say
they teach women to know their
own bodies.
And while a regular immersion
may not actually do anything for a
woman's physical health, the prac-
tice of the laws of family purity
might.
Chana Finman, a Lubavitch reb-
betzin in Oak Park, knows women
who have found health problems
early due to familiarity with their h a, -
own bodies.
One friend "told me that the doc-
tor said, 'Hit weren't for the laws c°
of mikvah, it would have been de-
tected much later.' We do an in-
ternal examination, and that can
lead to some very beneficial results
ALERT page 71
SO