If you have a non-kosher food utensil, kasher it before you immerse it in a mikva (tevila).
 

You must tovel a cooking-utensil lid bought from a non-Jew before you use the lid.
 

Tevila is the Hebrew word for immersion.  You must tovel (immerse in a mikva or other halachically purifying water) new utensils made of metal or other materials that require tevila unless you know that they were:

• Made by a Jew,
• Sold by a Jew, and
• Not owned by a non-Jew in between.

Toveling: Utensils: How To Tovel
To tovel a utensil, you may go to any kosher natural mikva (see section on natural mikvas) or to a mikvat keilim (a small mikva for utensils, often attached to the outside of a regular mikva building). To tovel several items, some of which require a blessing and some on which there is doubt whether a blessing is necessary, say the blessing over the item that requires the blessing and have in mind that the blessing will cover all the rest of your items.
Remember to remove all stickers, rust, etc., before you begin. Nail polish remover may help with stubborn stickers. Say the blessing al tevilat keilim and then let the item free fall through the water. Unlike with hagala, during which the item may be immersed in sections, when you tovel a utensil, the entire item must be in contact with the water at the same time, even if only for an instant.

Toveling: Utensils: What Gets Toveled?
The below chart is copied with permission from the Star-K (www.star-k.org):
 
 

Utensil	Tevila Guideline		Utensil	Tevila Guideline
Aluminum Pans, Disposable if intended to be used more than once	Tevila with Brocha		Meat Tenderizer Hammer, Metal	No Tevila
Aluminum Pans, Disposable to be used only once	Tevila w/o Brocha		Melamine	No Tevila
Blech	No Tevila		Metal Cutlery	Tevila with Brocha
Blender with metal blade on bottom	Tevila with Brocha		Metal Flour and Sugar Storage Canisters	Tevila w/o Brocha
Bone	No Tevila		Metal Pots Coated with Teflon, Enamel or Plastic	Tevila w/o Brocha
Brush, Pastry	No Tevila		Metal Spoon Specifically for Medicine	Tevila w/o Brocha
Brush for Grill, Metal	No Tevila		Microwave Turntable, Glass	Tevila w/o Brocha
Can Opener	No Tevila		Mixer Beaters	Tevila w/o Brocha
Cans, Reusable Empty if opened by a Yehudi	No Tevila		Paper	No Tevila
China, Bone	Tevila w/o Brocha		Peeler, Vegetable	Tevila with Brocha
China, Glazed	Tevila w/o Brocha		Plastic	No Tevila
Colander, Metal	Tevila with Brocha		Porcelain Enamel	Tevila w/o Brocha
Cookie Cutters, Metal	No Tevila		Racks, Cooling	Tevila w/o Brocha
Cookie Sheets, Metal	Tevila with Brocha		Racks, Oven	No Tevila
Cork Screw	No Tevila		Rolling Pins Metal or Wood	No Tevila
Corningware	Tevila w/o Brocha		Sandwich Maker	Tevila with Brocha
Crockpot Ceramic Insert	Tevila w/o Brocha		Silicone	No Tevila
Crockpot Glass Lid	Tevila w/o Brocha		Sink Racks, Stainless Steel	No Tevila
Crockpot Outside Metal Shell	No Tevila		Spatula, Metal	Tevila with Brocha
Dish Rack, Metal	No Tevila		Stoneware	Tevila w/o Brocha
Dishes, Ceramic	Tevila w/o Brocha		Stoneware, Non-Glazed	No Tevila
Earthenware, Non-Glazed Dull Finish, e.g. Flower Pot	No Tevila		Storage Utensils, Glass not brought to the table	No Tevila
George Foreman Grill	Tevila w/o Brocha		Styrofoam	No Tevila
Glass (including Pyrex, Duralex & Corelle)	Tevila with Brocha		Tea Kettle, Corelle	Tevila with Brocha
Grater, Metal used for foods that are ready to eat, eg, apples, onions	Tevila with Brocha		Toaster which will not break	Tevila w/o Brocha
Grater, Metal used only for foods that need further cooking,eg potatos	Tevila w/o Brocha		Toaster Oven rack & tray only	Tevila with Brocha
Hamburger Maker	Tevila with Brocha		Trivet, Metal	No Tevila
Hot Air Popcorn Maker, Metal	Tevila with Brocha		Waffle Iron	Tevila with Brocha
Hot Water Urn, Metal	Tevila with Brocha		Warming Tray	No Tevila
Knife, Arts & Crafts	No Tevila		Wood	No Tevila
Knife Sharpener	No Tevila		Wooden Cask with Metal Straps	Tevila w/o Brocha
Meat Thermometer	No Tevila

If a disposable aluminum pan will be used once, tovel it without a blessing. If a disposable aluminum pan will be used more than once, tovel it with a blessing (al tevilat keilim). Even if you will line it with a double layer of foil, still tovel it.

If you toveled a utensil and gave it to another Jew, the Jew does not have to tovel it again.
 

Do not use utensils bought from a non-Jew or made by non-Jew until you tovel them. Instead, you may give them to a non-Jew and borrow them back, but you may only do this for 24 hours.
 

You may blot your hair with a towel on Shabbat as long as you don't squeeze or wring out your hair.

You may blot your hair with a towel on Jewish festivals as long as you don't squeeze or wring out your hair.

If there is no water to wash hands, even after sleeping, you still say blessings and prayers. You should say asher yatzar even if you can't wash, but do not say al netilat yadayim in shacharit!

On Shabbat (and Jewish festivals), you should place a white cover above the challot and another below (unless you have a white tablecloth).

There are two main types of bowing during the prayer services: 

• Bowing just from the waist (with and without taking steps), and
• Bowing with the knees, plus two variations on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (hands and knees on floor).

I. Waist-Bowing (Two Forms)

• Modim;
• Modim in reader's repetition of amida;
• Bar'chu;
• Lecha Dodi; and
• Alenu.

          To bow this way, keep your legs straight and bend forward from your waist.
    B.  Waist-Bowing/Take Steps, for:

• Amida, and
• Kaddish.

• Bow down from waist with your legs straight.
• Take three steps backward (left foot, right foot, left foot),
• Then:
  • Bow from your waist to the left and say, oseh shalom bi'mromav,
  • Bow from your waist to the right and say, hu ya'aseh shalom alenu, and
  • Bow from your waist to the front and say, ve'al kol yisrael v'imru amen.

II.    Knee-Bowing (Three Times during Amida)

• Beginning of amida's first blessing,
• End of amida's first blessing, and
• Next-to-last amida blessing: ha'tov shimcha.

• Bend knees (at baruch),
• Bow forward (at ata), and
• Straighten up (before God's name).

III.  Knee-Bowing to Floor (Two Forms)
       A.  Knee-Bowing to Floor--Hands and Knees Only

• Kneel (with your back straight up) (at “hayu kor'im”), and
• Bow down with hands and knees on floor (at “u'mishtachavim u'modim”), but
• You are not required to touch your forehead to ground.
  Note You should still bow from your waist (but not to the floor) on Rosh Hashana--even if you are praying alone and even if there is no Torah present.

• Kneel (with your back straight up) (at “hayu kor'im”),
• Bow down with hands and knees on floor (at “u'mishtachavim u'modim”),
• Touch forehead to floor (at v'noflim al pneihem).

 

1. What Makes a Woman a Nida

 
Introduction to What Makes a Woman a Nida
Vaginal Blood Flow
Only vaginal blood flow makes a woman nida. 
 
Nida D'Oraita
According to Torah law (d'oraita), a woman becomes a nida when she experiences a flow of uterine blood, preceded or accompanied by a hargasha. Because uterine blood flow is difficult to distinguish from the more general vaginal blood flow, we assume that a vaginal blood flow is from the uterus--unless a medical person (it could be a midwife) determines that the blood flow is not uterine.
 
Nida D'Rabanan
 
By rabbinic law (d'rabanan), a woman can become a nida even with only a qualifying stain (see below).

Hargasha
A hargasha is anything that signals that the woman's period is imminent. There are three classical hargashot, as well as possible hargashot that pertain only to an individual woman.
Note Many women today do not have hargashot.
 
Classical Hargashot
There are three classical hargashot:
1) Body Tremor
2) Petichat HaMakor
Some women, at petichat ha'makor (“opening of the uterus”), have a sensation of release similar to when one's bladder opens to urinate.
3) Zivat Davar Lach
Sensation of wet discharge that comes only with her period; this is not the wet discharge that every woman normally feels multiple times daily.
Note She does not necessarily need to feel it coming from her cervix in order for it to make her a nida.
 
Individual Hargashot
What Is an Individual Hargasha
The individual hargasha can be any physiological occurrence (pimples on her face, a bout of yawning, a bloated feeling in the belly, etc.) that correlates with a woman's getting her period within 24 hours. To become established as a hargasha, it must have happened three times in a row.
 
Note Cramps for most women may be a hargasha, since they may mean that the woman is about to have her period.
 
When a woman has a hargasha, we assume that her period has started, and she should immediately stop what she is doing and check internally with a bedika cloth. If she does a bedika as soon as possible and the cloth shows a forbidden color, or shows no discharge at all, she immediately becomes nida for at least 12 days, after which she goes to the mikva. 
Note If she had a hargasha and finds no blood and no discharge, she becomes a nida, since we assume there was blood and she just didn't find it.  If the bedika cloth shows brown, magenta, salmon, brick, amber, orange, etc., the rabbi will want to see the cloth to determine her status.
Note Most medium browns are OK.
 
What To Do If Not Sure
If she is not sure she has had a hargasha, she asks a rabbi and together they will sort out the answer.
 
 
Nida D'Rabanan
 
Stain (without Hargasha)
 
Stain Colors
A rabbi should be consulted in all matters of questionable colors of stains.  Some may seem to you to be forbidden but turn out to be permissible, and vice versa.
 
Stain Location
A stain of a color that could make a woman a nida can be on material or on the woman's body. None of the following lenient conditions apply if the woman is nida d'oraita:
   

1. Not positively attributable to another cause, AND
2. At least the size of a gris. For small, unconnected spots, she must evaluate whether, together, they equal the size of a gris (on material, the spots DO NOT get combined). If yes, she should consult a rabbi.

 
 
II. HARCHAKOT: How Do the Couple Conduct Themselves while the Wife is a Nida?
 
According to Torah law, when a woman is a nida, she and her husband are prohibited not only from having intercourse, but also (“lo tikrav”—Vayikra 18:19) from having any physical contact of a passionate or romantic nature (negiya shel chibuk v'nishuk)--those patterns of physical contact that often lead to intercourse. Since the penalty for violation is kareit, husband and wife should live separately during the nida period, but because we don't, we use “distancers” (harchakot) as reminders of distance while living together in the same home. The harchakot sensitize us to the smallest gestures of love. The couple who know that in a finite amount of time their union will not only be permitted, but even be davar sh'bekedusha--a thing of sanctity--will have the willpower to wait it out.
 
These harchakot are applied during the nida period:
                                 
III. Tahara after Nida:    

1. Wash or cleanse lower regions of the body.
2. Do an internal check/bedika: Insert a white cloth into vagina and circle it around to make sure to get every nook and cranny.
3. Moch dachuk: Insert a bedika cloth within two halachic hours of sunset and leave it in until after dark.

 

1. Bedika

 

2. White Underpants

 

3. No Hesech Da'at

A woman does not need to think about the seven clean days all of the time, but she must keep in mind, during the entire nida purification process, that she is not in an active nida state.  
Situation A woman found a stain and asked a rabbi about it. She assumed she was definitely nida.
What To Do Once she assumes that she has become a nida during that seven-day period, she must begin her count again--even once she has found out that she was not, in fact, a nida. 
Note If she asked the rabbi while not yet assuming that she was definitely a nida, she may continue her original count after the rabbi determines that she was not a nida.

• Full body cast.
• Being covered with sand.
• Being sweaty from head to toe.

• Moisturizer that covers most of her body.
• Adhesive that is left on her skin after a band-aid has been removed.
• Imperfect manicure, if she would not go to an interview like that.

         
 

• Shalom Bayit (in this case, she is not permitted see her husband until after dark Friday night).
• Dangerous Neighborhood.
• Infertility Issues (if she will miss ovulation if she does not go Friday night).

    Kosher immersion/tevila requires simultaneous immersion of every exposed part of the body (not bet ha'starim).   Here is the best way to accomplish simultaneous immersion:

• Enter the water until it is about 12 inches above the navel. 
• Make sure that every part of your body is relaxed (if you squeeze anything, you create crevices and cracks that impede complete access to your skin). 
• “Flesh”/basar is exposed to the water when standing while leaning a little forward.
• Exhale and push yourself under the water until you are certain that all of your body and all of your hair are submerged. 
• Once your head is above the surface of the water, say the blessing and then immerse again, the same way.

 
IV. Anticipating the Next Period/Veset
 
What To Anticipate
In anticipating the time of the month when her period is most likely to occur (onat ha'veset), a woman must determine both:

1. The day of the month, and
2. Whether it will begin during the daytime period (sunrise to sunset) or the nighttime period (from sunset to sunrise)

 
Regular and Irregular
Every woman needs to be able to anticipate her next period, whether she is a) regular or b) irregular. “Regular” is determined by any pattern to one's menstrual cycle that occurs three times in a row.
Note It is very uncommon for a woman to maintain her regular period for a long time.
 
Anticipating a Regular Period
Here are the five most classic regular patterns:

1. Veset HaChodesh (Monthly Cycle)

   

2. Veset Haflaga (Intervals Cycle)

 

3. Veset HaGuf (Body Symptoms Cycle)

 

4. Veset HaMurkav (Combination Cycle)

    A woman with an irregular period may have to abstain from relations and affectionate intimate contact (negiya shel chibuk v'nishuk) during these three onot/time periods:

1. Yom HaChodesh

 

2. Haflaga

 

3. Ona Beinonit