Is it true Hasidic Jews have a very "ritualistic" way to have sexual relations??

Question

I heard that they can only touch their wives during a certain time of the month, and they must have intercourse with a sheet with a hole in it seperating them. I have heard this from more than one person, and Just wanted to verifiy it. is this a practice in Hasidum?

I heard that this practice applied only to Hasidic Jews.... not reformed unorthodox jews.

Answer 1

You've got a truth in there, and a myth.

The true part is that Torah-observant Jews (including but definitely not leaded to Hasidim) don't touch their wives for a certain time of the month. At the end of that time, the wife goes and immerses in a mikveh (a ritual bath), after which contact, and marital relations, are permitted.

The hole-in-the-sheet is an old myth. I can offer a theoretical explanation, though...

You see, most orthodox Jewish men regularly wear what is called a "tallit katan" - a small four-cornered garment designed to carry tzitzit (the "fringes" commanded in Numbers 15:37 - more on that here: http://www.beingjewish.com/mitzvos/tzitzis.html )...it's basically a version of the prayer shawl designed for day-to-day wear, shaped like a small poncho and worn like an undershirt (or in some cases, over the shirt). Anyway, back in the old country (pick one), I'm sure it was a common sight for non-Jews to see their Jewish neighbors hanging all these sheets on the clotheslines with strings hanging from the corners and a hole (actually for the neck) right in the middle.

And that, if you ask me, is the most likely origin of the sex-through-a-sheet myth. Orthodox Jews do it like everybody else, just, only with their spouse. (:

I hope this clears things up for you.

Answer 2

lol. yes its true that orthodox jews don't have sex while a woman is a niddah (menstruant) and as well for a period of time afterwards. the hole in the sheet though... thats a myth. jewish people have sex like regular people do.

Answer 3

Oh, that has GOT to be a joke!