<em>Dr. Michelle Friedman is Director of Pastoral Counseling, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Dr. Ellen Labinsky is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center; Talli Y. Rosenbaum is a Urogynecological Physiotherapist and AASECT Certified Sexual Counselor, Inner Stability, Bet Shemesh, Israel; Dr. James Schmeidler is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine; Dr. Rachel Yehuda, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, is the Director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The Division includes the PTSD clinical research program and the Neurochemistry and Neuroendocrinology laboratory at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">James</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">J.</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Peters</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Veterans</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Affairs</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Medical</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center. This article appears in issue 5 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.</st1:placetype></st1:place></em>
I. INTRODUCTIONTaharat haMishpahah, literally, “family purity,” refers to the series of Jewish laws and customs governing sexual behavior between husbands and wives. The laws of taharat haMishpahah need to be understood in the larger context of observant Jewish life, which seeks to elevate everyday behavior in light of a divine plan.
