{"id":57630,"date":"2017-05-01T09:52:52","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T14:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=57630"},"modified":"2017-05-08T07:00:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T12:00:58","slug":"family-purity-2-0-check-mikvah-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/family-purity-2-0-check-mikvah-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Purity, 2.0: Check Out The Mikvah App"},"content":{"rendered":"

It takes two MIT-educated graduates with a keen understanding of halachah and a passion to help ease the use of family purity for every
\nJewish family, to develop the only Mikvah app of its kind for iPhone and Android.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three weeks ago,\u00a0MikvahCalendar.com<\/a>\u00a0was the first\u00a0automatic system to introduce a Pattern Calculation System for kavuah<\/i>, a mathematic \"\"and computational feat. <\/span><\/p>\n

Known by its users as \u201cthe pink and purple Mikvah app,\u201d both the website and smart phone application are accessible and simple to maneuver. Since its\u00a0release as a website in 2009, then as an app in 2012,\u00a0MikvahCalendar.com<\/a>\u00a0has functioned as a modern, user-friendly resource for couples endeavoring to follow the age-old Jewish laws of family purity. <\/span><\/p>\n

The website\u2019s founder, Rivkah Bloom, is an Orthodox mother of five children living in Hollywood, FL. Bloom, along with another MIT graduate, who wishes to remain anonymous, created an innovative website utilizing principals of both design and utility, combined with the latest halachic guidelines. Working with Rabbonim from all sectors of the Jewish world to codify these laws into a programming framework, they have created a system that will automatically do the work for users.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Fischel Jacobs, the author of \u201cFamily Purity\u2014Guide To Marital Fulfillment,\u201d praises the new update. \u201cExpanding to include these \"\"extremely complex areas of law, halacha, further establishes MikvahCalendar.com as one of our generation\u2019s greatest Torah innovations,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the website\u2019s inception eight years ago, the founders have continually pushed themselves to find ways to make\u00a0the<\/a> site\u00a0more user-friendly and technologically advanced. In its new update, MikvahCalendar.com utilizes unprecedented technology to solve for a complicated matter that even experienced rabbis grapple with, that of\u00a0kavuah<\/i>, regular patterns. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on developing this technology for seven years,\u201d Bloom says. \u201cThis\u00a0Kavuah<\/i>\u00a0system will allow couples to keep\u00a0Mikvah<\/i>\u00a0with the greatest amount of accuracy since the giving of the Torah.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

To fully observe the laws of Mikvah, it is necessary to detect regular patterns in the menstrual cycle and then use that information to calculate one\u2019s next expected period. This is a confusing process when considering the possibility of simultaneous patterns, dormant patterns, active patterns, and uprooted patterns. Making matters even more complicated, life events such as pregnancy, birth, and nursing affect the calculations and need to be taken into consideration.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Until today, women have struggled with these complicated calculations on their own.\u00a0With the\u00a0latest update, that will no longer be necessary. \u201cMost people are unable to calculate it on their own because it\u2019s very involved with times and remembering to correctly calculate it,\u201d Bloom explains. \u201cThis is an entirely different level of mathematical calculation. Because of its complexity, no other program as been able to calculate Kavuah. They simply alert the users to a pattern and the users must keep track of this pattern on their own.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago, when Bloom was first married, she often heard people talking about how complicated and confusing it was to figure out dates of the anticipated cycle. They wished there was a calculator to plug in their information and figure it out and Bloom thought this was a brilliant idea. She and her partner started to work on it, contacting rabbis knowledgeable in the laws of Taharas Mishpachah. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost didn\u2019t take me seriously,\u201d Bloom says. \u201cBut Rabbi Jacobs was very encouraging. He said if we put man on the moon we can definitely build a program to calculate dates.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

They initially released the online calendar only once they were absolutely sure it was totally correct, both according to halacha and in its \"\"programming (there have been other attempts, but Bloom says they\u2019re the first ones to perfect it without glitches.) The partners discussed and properly thought through the computational algorithms, ensuring the simplest program for users, then thoroughly testing it through various scenarios to make sure the calculations were right. <\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, everyone from rabbis, rebbetzins to computer scientists have compared it to their own calculations and no one has found a mistake.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThere have been\u00a0 <\/span>instances when people thought there were mistakes, but it has always turned out that it was the user\u2019s miscalculation or incorrect application of the halacha.\u00a0 <\/span>MikvahCalendar.com was the only reason that they were able to catch their miscalculation and observe Taharat Hamishpacha properly,\u201d Bloom says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Modern Orthodox rabbis who approved it include Religious Zionists and Rosh Kollels of Eretz Chemdah, Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies in Israel, Rabbi Yosef Carmel, Av Beit Din of Mishpat VeHalacha BeYisrael and author of \u201cTsofenat Eliyahu,\u201d and Rabbi Moshe Ehrenreich, Dayyan in the Conversion Court of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and senior lecturer at Nishmat. <\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Kenneth Auman, past president of RCA and spiritual leader of the Young Israel of Flatbush gave his approbation. \u201cMikvahCalendar.com is a wonderful tool that can aid women immeasurably in their observance of\u00a0Taharat Hamishpacha<\/i>,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cThe\u00a0halachot\u00a0<\/i>dealing with\u00a0vestot<\/i>, anticipated flows, are complicated, and this program helps properly calculate them, enabling women to properly observe these\u00a0halachot<\/i>.\u00a0 It is an impressive contribution to modern Jewish life and Torah observance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With already more than 60,000 users in their database, the newest update has the potential to reach vast communities in several languages, virtually wherever they are. In addition to allowing computer and smart-phone users the ability to access their calendars on the go,\u00a0 <\/span>the website is now available in English, Hebrew, French, Russian and Spanish, while also catering to nuances of Sephardic, Ashkenazic, Chabad and Modern Orthodox customs.\u00a0Offering the first two months free, a nominal yearly membership fee of 18 dollars covers costs such as graphic designers, text reminders, hosting and translating fees.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It takes two MIT-educated graduates with a keen understanding of halachah and a passion to help ease the use of family purity for every Jewish family, to develop the only Mikvah app of its kind for iPhone and Android. Three weeks ago,\u00a0MikvahCalendar.com\u00a0was the first\u00a0automatic system to introduce a Pattern Calculation System for kavuah, a mathematic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133359,"featured_media":57659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nFamily Purity, 2.0: Check Out The Mikvah App - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"2 MIT-educated graduates with an understanding of halacha & a passion to help ease the use of family purity for every Jewish family developed the Mikvah App\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/family-purity-2-0-check-mikvah-app\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Family Purity, 2.0: Check Out The Mikvah App - 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