A new Online Mikvah Calendar created especially for the internet-savvy Jewish woman-of-today is making it easier to observe the complex Jewish laws of family purity.
The website, which was rolled out this week [and is advertised here on CrownHeights.info], is the brainchild of Rebbetzin Rivkah Bloom, who grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was the only Jewish child in her grade, forced at age 14 to leave home for a Jewish school in Pennsylvania, and from there to seminary in Israel. What followed led to software that has the potential to change the lives of millions of women: her years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she earned Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
Online Mikvah Calendar Eases Jewish Family Purity Observance
A new Online Mikvah Calendar created especially for the internet-savvy Jewish woman-of-today is making it easier to observe the complex Jewish laws of family purity.
The website, which was rolled out this week [and is advertised here on CrownHeights.info], is the brainchild of Rebbetzin Rivkah Bloom, who grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was the only Jewish child in her grade, forced at age 14 to leave home for a Jewish school in Pennsylvania, and from there to seminary in Israel. What followed led to software that has the potential to change the lives of millions of women: her years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she earned Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
Bloom came up with the idea for the new website in response to requests for help from women learning about mikvah observance – the laws of purity, which include immersion in a ritual pool.
“They asked me to develop a program to calculate their important dates,” said Bloom. It took her four years to develop the Mikvah Calendar program, together with a colleague from MIT who “would like to remain anonymous.” She told Israel National News in an exclusive email interview that she personally would “continually add new features to the site.”
Although the website hasn’t even been up for a week yet, “it’s been swamped with log-ins,” she added, noting that the service provided is free until July 15. After that, it will cost users $18 per year to log in and use the high-tech service, a fee which Bloom said will “just cover the cost of maintenance.”
Users will be able to tap into an “Ask the Rabbi” feature and receive SMS/Text message and/or email reminder the day before any important dates and times. Bloom cited works by Rabbi Fishel Jacobs, author of Chochmot HaTaharah and Family Purity, as being special inspiration in her formation of the service.
Although the observance of mikvah is primarily relevant to married women, Bloom said that she believes single women, men and even people of other faiths would also enjoy the new website.
“I think they would find it interesting because they can understand in a tangible way how every aspect of a Jewish life can be holy,” Bloom said, even down to the barest details.
errors
There have been many similar efforts in the past and so far every single program ever made was discovered to make errors in calculations.
They are learning to be a barber on your head. meaning that just like all software errors are discovered only after many users use the program and discover the bugs, likewise here, after Taharas Hamishpacha errors are discovered (often too late) is when the errors will be detected and hopefully fixed much later on, down the line.
about time
yasher koach! it’s about time someone launched something like this!!
mo-town
Don’t forget Dovid Adler who spent many many hours woring on this project
FLer
many hours? these people worked YEARS!
Anyway, I think it’s a great idea. Kol hakavod!
hy
to comment 1
your comment is not in the right spirit. yes computers make mistakes as do humans who keep a paper calendar as do humans who program computers.
if someone wants to make sure they are doing the right thing they can continue to use the paper calendar and use the online one to check themsleves or vice versa.
i signed up for the online one and found it very easy to use. very nice looking and has great features. it a fatastic service for everyone to help thme in this mitzvah.
h
Up and Up...
Response to “errors”
Good poimt – That is why rabbonim who give haskoma to such programs suggest that you continue to keep your own personal calculations as before…
Keep it positive though, just consider how many more women will be able to keep this most important mitzvah – b’hidur!
Elevate technology!
Shalom.
Sarah
Response to Mo-town:
Dovid Adler did not work on the calendar mentioned in this article. He worked on the calendar for Taharas Hamishpacha / mikvah.org. The website is: MYmikvahcalendar.com
old news
this idea has been around for a while… the is mikvahminder.com which has been around for quite some time.
Tznius online
sounds like a great idea, only objection i have is to its being made public on such a site like ch.info – this is a special mitzvah which is meant to be private. also, “single women, men and even people of other faiths would also enjoy the new website.” – how tznius is that?
i understand it has to be publicized in order for people to know it exists, so why not publicize it only on women’s sites, like imamother.com etc. -i just don’t think ch.info is an appropriate site to be advertising this to all who come on.
Menachem
A rav in Pittsburgh, Rabbi Swift I believe is upset about having something so personal like this online where everyone can see.
Disappointed
I was very excited to see that a new mikvah calendar is available online. i signed on and was sooo disappointed!!
it is very unclear to use and very non user friendly! i signed on thinking this was the one designed by mikvah.org but it is NOT! i know they are working on one as well and it should be available soon. my friend was invited to participate in their select beta testing and says it is absolutely terrific! easy to use and very much like the calendar they have been selling for years so it should feel very comfortable to use!
i am really looking forward to using it. after all, they are the experts who have been trying to make keeping a calendar easy, for a long time! i am going to be waiting for that one. they already have a home page and a video about the program at MYmikvahcalendar.com
To Mo-Town
You are mistaken & mislead. Adler did not program this one. He programmed mikvah.org’s calendar under Taharas Hamishpacha Int’l, THE supremely superior calendar. I just want to let you all know that TAHARAS HAMISHPACHA INT’L/MIKVAH.ORG is soon launching their online calendar, as they announced at this year’s kinus. The format follows their signature print calendar that so many of us have been using for years and is really a SUPERIOR product. I have been doing beta testing for the calendar, and I can tell you that it is absolutely terrific!!! It is so easy to use with really lovely graphics, & just feels so comfortable & familiar. They are the experts who have been making keeping the cheshbon calendar easier for us for so many years! Imagine what they are doing with a hi tech state of the art program!! Visit their homepage at MYmikvahcalendar.com and click Learn More to see the video that explains it. They are fixing all final bugs so when released it will be great for us all! Enjoy!
MA
There seems to be some competition here! Mikvah.org’s calendar is launching soon too… (mymikvahcalendar.com)
This is in addition to Vestos (downloadable – http://www.torahsoftware.org/), the Veses Calculator (http://vesescalculator.awar…), and several others, I understand.
loving it
disappointed, I don’t know what you are talking about! I signed up to this website and was so surprised as to how easy it is and simple to use. It is not complicated at all, and it is geared towards everyone no matter what background. Kol Hakavod to the programmers, and I am excited to share this with my friends.
cmk
someone made a comment above that dovid adler worked on this project. dovid did NOT work on this project, he is working on a super project under the supervision of rabbi chaikin that is being put out by taharas hamishpacha international and mikvah.org who are under merkos and who are busy beta testing their program with a select group of people before releasing to the public
rabbi
advertise it everywhere
the fact that there is such a website should be public knowledge and there is no reason everyone shouldnt know about it
there is privacy on the site and nobody knows anything about anyone elses dates
kol hakavod
applaud to both
Disappointed and To Mo-Town, you both sound like you work in the taharas hamishpacha office! So there’s competition, but competition is not always bad. Both the sites have different strengths and weaknesses I am sure and will cater to different types of people. Let’s not bash one another or put down anyone’s work. Remember, the goal is not only to help those who already keep tahras hamishpacha, but to help those who don’t keep it yet because the laws are too complicated.
And Rabbi, I think you’re right. Taharas Hamishpacha is a very special mitzvah for women and their families just like challah and lighting shabbos candles. There is no reason why this should not be advertised on a site like this
Lets Keep Perspective...
My fellow Jews,
It is obvious that the positive comments here are coming from friends and supporters of Mikvahcalendar.com while the nasty, negative comments are coming from friends and supporters of Mymikvahcalendar.org who is apparently not happy about the competiton.
Lets understand, EVERYONE on both sides has invested lots of time and energy into this amazing concept. I am sure some people will like one, while others will like the other, and most importantly – MORE PEOPLE WILL BE KEEPING THE MITZVAH PROPERLY. Lets not lose perspective here. In inyanei kedusha competition is a GOOD THING – there will be less bugs and more users!
Kol hakavod to all involved in all such programs – may EVERYONE be blessed with material and spiritual success.
Chana
This site is phenomenal! Professional, beautiful, easy to use, and useful. Wow! That’s all I can say.
To Tznius online
Tznius online –
Your point about whether this site is the apropriate forum for such a website is debatable…
But one thing is for sure – attacking the author of the website, who is named in the article as “not tznius” is IMO inappropriate. Why the mean spiritedness?
we can do much better…
Rabbi Fishel Jacobs
B“H
I am very happy to see this article posted here. As I wrote in the approbation to this program, Mrs. Bloom and her staff worked extremely hard and with enormous scrutiny for years to get this program where it is today. Every issue, large or small, which was not clear, in respect to halacha, they wrote to me for clarification. (Many of the psokim which emerged will be included in a sefer I am presently preparing for publication. For many of the issues included this will be the first time they have been clarified, halacha l’maaseh.)
This site (mikvahcalendar.com) was not my initiative, though. And I am involved, in the area of halachic supervision, with a number of other sites under construction. Primarily because time has not allowed me to completely look into them, I have not yet issued letters for these other sites.
I also wrote in my letter (viewable as a pdf on mikvehcalendar.com) that it is more than reasonable to assume any program, this one not excluded, will undergo adjustments as time goes on. However, it is more than clear that all of the programs I’ve reviewed far exceed the expertise of most experienced instructors shli”ta, as well as many experts in the field. In this respect, they will all only add expand enormous observance of these cornerstone laws.
I will take this opportunity to remind readers that the entire contents of Times (the calendar supplement of my book Family Purity—A Guide to Marital Fulfillment) which supplies a concise summary of laws, is offered as a free download on our site: http://www.FamilyPurity.com.
I also wrote in my letter that regardless of online programs, it is my opinion that we continue to heed the directive of poskim to retain written records in our possession. To this purpose, our specially designed calendars are available as free downloads as well.
May Hashem bless the owners of this site for spreading mitzvohs and unity.
G-d bless all those involved in spreading the Rebbe’s mivtzoyim.
And all Jews, particularly our brethren in eretz Yisroel, for a Pesach kosher v’someach.
Fishel Jacobs
To Rabbi
“advertise it everywhere, etc” – even if you had not written your name as rabbi, I would have guessed you are a man. True, this is a mitzva just like challah and lighting shabbos candles, but that is not a reason why it should be spoken of publicly. Imagine your young son or daughter coming on to ch.info, seeing this article, and going to the website to check it out, cuz it looks interesting.
There is a time and place for everything. Mitzvos involving the most intimate aspects of life, such as mikvah are precious, and meant to be kept precious through the tzniusdik way they are spoken of. As a female who is in tune with what tznius means, I feel that the publicity of this on sites that people of all ages, genders, etc read daily, is crossing a delicate line.
Enough self righteousness..
“I would have guessed you are a man.” and I would guess that you are doing whatever you can to sabotage the competition.
you are using a “cloak of holiness” to serve your own purposes and it is transparent.
didn’t you read R. Jacobs’ support above?
“I am very happy to see this article posted here” –
question to you: who are you criticizing and what are you trying to accomplish?
if you can’t provide a good answer to that question – please stop. Peace and blessing.