Reciting a Berachah on Tevilah Observed Due to Custom During Dam Tohar

From: Rabbi Moshe Sofer

To: Rabbi David Katz

Description

After childbirth, Ashkenazi custom requires a woman to count seven clean days and immerse in a mikvah even during the dam tohar period, though this obligation is based purely on custom rather than Torah or Rabbinic law. The Chasam Sofer rules that a berachah should be recited on this immersion, arguing that custom creates a binding prohibition through the principle of 'al titosh toras imecha,' giving the resulting tevilah the force of a legally required act that warrants the full vetzivanu formula.

Source: Shu"t Chasam Sofer YD §191

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