Vesset Kavuah

A Vesset Kavuah is a Halachic term describing when a women has multiple periods in a recurring pattern.

When a women has a set pattern, it is expected that periods will continue to occur in this pattern. This is until the pattern has been proven to have "broken".

Kavuah setting and breaking is a very complex Halachic issue and should aways be accompanied with Rabbinic guidance.

There are many ways that recurring periods can be considered to have occurred in a pattern.

Luach automatically calculates and suggests possible Kavuhas whenever an Entry is added or updated.

Here is a list of the Kavuah types that Luach knows how to calculate automatically:

  • Yom HaChodesh / Day of Month - Three periods that all occur on the same date and Onah of the Jewish Month.
    For example if a period started on the Day of the 4th of Sivan, the Day of the 4th of Tammuz and the Day of the 4th of Av, this is considered a Kavuah of the Yom HaChodesh. Note, it is usually considered a Kavuah in this scenario, even if there were other periods in the days between these dates. As for everything else, a Rav should be consulted. It is important to note that Harav Moshe Feinstein zt"l was of the opinion that the three periods do not all have to begin during the same Onah.
    Whether or not Luach suggests Kavuah patterns according to this opinion can be set from the Settings Screen, by toggling the Setting "Flag Kavuahs even if not all the same Onah".
  • Haflaga / Interval - Three periods in a row that started the same number of days after the period that preceded them.
    For example, if a period started on the Day Onah on the 4th of Sivan, and the next period started 29 days later during the Day Onah on the 2nd of Tammuz, and the following period started 29 days later during the Day Onah on the 1st of Av, and the following period started 29 days later during the Day Onah on the 29th of Av, this is considered a Kavuah of Haflaga. You may notice that to set this type of Kavuah, we need to calculate 4 periods as opposed to the Yom HaChodesh Kavuah where just 3 periods can set the pattern. For this type of Kavuah as well, Harav Moshe Feinstein zt"l was of the opinion that the three periods do not all have to begin during the same Onah.
  • Yom HaShavuah / Day of Week - Three periods that occur on the same day of the week with the same number of weeks between them.
    For example, if a period started during the Day Onah on Monday the 4th of Sivan, and another period started 4 weeks later on Monday the 2nd of Tammuz, and a third period started on Monday 4 weeks later on Monday the 1st of Ellul, this a Kavuah of Yom Hashavuah. Similar to the Yom Hachodesh Kavuah, it usually does not matter if there were any other periods in the interim. Note, even if there were no other periods between these three Monday ones, this is not a Haflaga Kavuah as there were only two periods with a Haflaga of 29. For this type of Kavuah as well, Harav Moshe Feinstein zt"l was of the opinion that the three periods do not all have to begin during the same Onah.
  • Dilug - Yom Hachodesh - Three periods with the day of the month for each occurring on a recurring interval from one to the next.
    For example if a period started on the Day of the 4th of Sivan, the Day of the 5th of Tammuz and the Day of the 6th of Av, this is considered a Dilug Yom Hachodesh Kavuah of plus one day. In this scenario, it is expected that on the 7th of Ellul another period will occur.
    Dilug Kavuahs can have any pattern of days including negative ones.
    For example if a period started on the Day of the 4th of Sivan, the Day of the 3rd of Tammuz and the Day of the 2nd of Av, this is considered a Kavuah of the Dilug Yom HaChodesh with an interval of minus one day. In this scenario, it is expected that on the 1st of Ellul another period will occur. It is very interesting to note that as this type of Kavuah adds or removes days for each subsequent month, it eventually will reach either the end or the beginning of the month - dependent upon whether the Dilug pattern was incrementing or decrementing days.
    The question then arises, do we assume that the pattern will "spill over" into the next or the previous month?
    The Chazon Ish zt"l" was of the opinion that once a pattern of Yom Hachodesh reaches the end or beginning of the month, the pattern is no longer applicable and the Kavuah can be removed.
    Others argue and maintain that the pattern spills over into the next or previous month.
    In Luachs default settings, the opinion of the Chazon Ish is followed and once the Kavuah reaches the end or beginning of the month it will no longer generate any Flagged Dates. For this type of Kavuah as well, Harav Moshe Feinstein zt"l was of the opinion that the three periods do not all have to begin during the same Onah.
  • Dilug - Haflaga - Three periods in a row where the interval from one to the next occurred in a recurring pattern.
    For example, if a period started on the Day Onah on the 4th of Sivan, and the next period started 28 days later during the Day Onah on the 1st of Tammuz, and the following period started 29 days later during the Day Onah on the 1st of Av, and the following period started 30 days later during the Day Onah on the 30th of Av, this is considered a Kavuah of Dilug Haflaga with an interval of plus one day. In this scenario it is expected that another period will occur 31 days later - on the 1st of Tishrei. Similar to the regular Haflaga Kavuah, the Dilug - Haflaga needs 4 periods to set it and it needs them to occur one after another with no other periods occurring during the interim. For this type of Kavuah as well, Harav Moshe Feinstein zt"l was of the opinion that the three periods do not all have to begin during the same Onah.
  • Sirug - Three periods in a row that are on the same Onah and the same day of the Jewish month and the same number of months in the interval between the first and second periods and the second and third periods. This is not a Yom Hachodesh Kavuah as the Yom Hachodesh needs a period on each subsequent month, while the Sirug Kavuah has some months in middle that are skipped. For this type of Kavuah as well, Harav Moshe Feinstein zt"l was of the opinion that the three periods do not all have to begin during the same Onah.
  • Haflaga of Onahs - Three periods in a row that started the same number of Onahs after the period that preceded them.
    Like the Haflaga Kavuah, this Kavuah needs four entries to set its pattern.
    This Kavuah is known in Halachic circles as the Haflaga of the Shulchan Aruch Harav.
    Many authorities do not consider this pattern to be a Kavuah unless the Onahs are the same for all the Entries; in which case it will be considered a Haflaga Kavuah.
    This Kavuah type is not automatically calculated by Luach unless explicitly told to do so by turning on the Calculate Kavuahs of Haflaga by counting Onahs setting from the Settings screen.
There are other Kavuah types such as recurring Dilug patterns, Maya'an Pasuch, Vesset HaGuff and others that are not dealt with in Luach.
Some of these (such as Vesset HaGuff) are pretty much impossible to keep track of with electronic calculation as they are determined by physical manifestation.
For this reason and many, many others, it is very important to keep physical records besides for the electronic records stored in Luach.

Kavuah Properties

Kavuahs have the following properties:

Kavuah Type
The type of Kavuah that is being set. For a brief explanation of some of the Kavuah types see the list above.
Setting Entry  
This is the final Entry of the Kavuah; the one that caused this Kavuah to be considered a pattern.
If you remove this Entry, the Kavuah will also be removed.
You cannot edit this Entry.
Kavuah Defining Number
This is the number that defines the pattern for this Kavuah.
What this number represents is dependent upon the Kavuah type.
  • For Yom HaChodesh / Day of Month Kavuahs, the Kavuah Defining Number is the day of the month.
  • For Haflaga / Interval Kavuahs, the Kavuah Defining Number is the Haflaga - the number of days between the Entries.
  • For Yom HaShavuah / Day of Week Kavuahs, the Kavuah Defining Number is the number of days between the Entries.
  • For Dilug - Yom Hachodesh Kavuahs, the Kavuah Defining Number is the difference in day-of-month between each Entry in the pattern.
    For example, if the Entries that set the pattern had the 5th, the 7th and the 9th of the month, the Kavuah Defining Number will be 2.
    Starting from the Setting Entry (the one on the 9th of the month), Luach will add 2 days to each month to determine the Flagged Dates for this Kavuah.
    If the pattern has a descending number of days, the Kavuah Defining Number will be a negative number.
  • For Dilug - Haflaga Kavuahs, the Kavuah Defining Number is the difference in Haflaga between each Entry in the pattern.
    For example, if the Entries that set the pattern had Haflagas of 25, 27 and 29, the Kavuah Defining Number will be 2.
    Starting from the Setting Entry (the one that had a Haflaga of 29), Luach will add 2 days to the Haflaga of the following Entries to determine the Flagged Dates for this Kavuah. If the pattern has a descending number of days, the Kavuah Defining Number will be a negative number.
  • For Sirug Kavuahs, the Kavuah Defining Number is the number of months that separate each Entry in the pattern from the previous one.
  • For Haflaga of Onahs Kavuahs, the Kavuah Defining Number is the number of Onahs that separate each Entry in the pattern from the previous one.
Cancels Onah Beinonis 
This pertains to which Flagged Dates will show after this Kavuah is added.
If there was a Kavuah pattern with an especially strong Halachic status established, there are some Rabbinic opinions that the Kavuah may cancel all or some of the standard Flagged Dates that are often observed for a women who does not have any pattern at all.

These dates may include some or all of the following:
  • The thirtieth day from the beginning of the period.
  • The same day of the Jewish month for the month following the period.
  • The thirty first day from the beginning of the period.
  • The day that is the same number of days after the last period as that period was from the period preceding it. This is called the Yom Haflaga.

These standard Flagged Dates are called Onah Beinonis.

As with everything pertaining to Vesset Kavuahs, Rabbinic assistance is usually required to determine the correct course of action for setting the Cancels Onah Beinonis value for any Kavuah.

In Luach, when a new Kavauh is first added, it is initially set to not cancel Onah Beinonis.
If any Kavauh is set to cancel Onah Beinonis, from the day the Kavuah was set and onward, Luach will only show the Flagged Dates generated by that Kavuah.
All the Onah Beinonis Flagged Dates will not be shown.

Un-Cancelling

You can always remove the Cancel Onah Beinonis setting for any Kavuah from the Kavuahs Screen.
Just toggle the Cancels Onah Beinonis switch under that Kavuah.

If there is a Kavuah in the list that is set to cancel Onah Beinonis, and a new Entry is added that does not fit the Kavuah pattern, Luach will ask you if you want to stop the cancelling of Onah Beinonis for this Kavuah.
This is in accordance with the Halacha.
It is important to note that there are some that are of the opinion that not all of the Onah Beinonis Flagged Dates return when there is a canceling Kavuah and there was a single period that was "out-of-pattern".
Luach does not (yet) have any option to cancel only some of the Onah Beinonis dates.

Whenever any Kavuahs Cancels Onah Beinonis setting is changed, Luach will automatically recalculate all the Flagged Dates.

Active 
The same way that a pattern of Entries sets the Kavuah, a set of Entries that does not match the Kavuah can "break" the Kavuah pattern.
A broken Kavuah can be set to inactive to prevent it from causing any Flagged Dates.
For many Kavuah types, a broken Kavuahs can be reawakened again with a single Entry that matches the original pattern.
For this reason, it is usually recommended to de-activate a Kavuah rather than delete it.
IMPORTANT NOTE

Do to its high level of Halachic intricacy, Lauch DOES NOT automatically do any changes to a Kavuah even if it seems that it should be considered broken or reawakened.
This is just one of the many reasons for the huge warning at the top of these pages about how Luach can not be used to fully replace traditional methods of keeping track of a womens Halachic calendar.

The New Kavuah Screen The New Kavuah Screen

 

The Kavuah List Screen The Kavuah List Screen with one active and one inactive Kavuah

Possible Kavuahs  

When Entries are added or changed, Luach automatically looks through the entire Entry list to see if there may be a Kavuah pattern.
If a possible Kavuah is found, Luach will show The Possible Kavuah Screen.

Note:
If Luach finds a possible Kavuah that is already listed as an active Kavuah in the Kavuah List Screen, it will not show it again as a possible Kavuah.
But if the found possible Kavuah is listed as inactive, it WILL be shown again as a new possible Kavuah.

On the Possible Kavuah Screen, Luach will show:

  1. The possible Kavuah Onah and Kavuah Type
  2. A list of the 3 or 4 Entries that caused Luach to suspect that there may be a possible Kavuah pattern.
  3. Three options as to what to do with this possible Kavuah:
    Add Kavuah
    Add this as a new Kavuah.

    Note, all Kavuahs are set by default to not Cancel Onah Beinonis. This can be changed later, in the Kavuah List Screen.
    Don't Add Now
    This option should be chosen if you are not yet sure whether or not to add this Kavuah. The next time the list of Entries is checked for possible Kavuahs, this Kavuah will be shown again as a possible Kavuah.
    Always Ignore
    This option should be chosen if you are sure that the above suggested Kavuah; which was calulated from those Entries listed above, should not be added. It will not show up again as a possible Kavuah when the list of Entries is searched for possible Kavuahs.
    For more information about ignored Kavuahs, see below.

Ignored Kavuahs 

If a possible Kavuah was shown in the Possible Kavuah Screen, and you chose the option "Always Ignore", Luach stores this Kavuah as an Ignored Kavuah.
This is necessary, in order to assure that the Kavuah will not pop up again as a possible Kavuah the next time the Entry list is checked for Kavuah patterns.
By default, the Kavuah List screen does not show ignored Kavuahs.
You can view ignored Kavuahs by pressing on the Show Ignored Kavuahs link from the Kavuah List Screen.
Once the ignored Kavuahs are showing, you can switch off the Ignore option for the Kavuah.
Keep in mind that, even though the Kavuah is no longer ignored it will not generate any Flagged Dates until it is also set to Active.

Export your Kavuah List

You can save your list of Kavuahs outside of Luach by exporting the list.
To do this, press on the Export Data button which is found at the top right of the Kavuah List Screen.
You will shown the Export Data Screen with the Kavuahs option selected.
On the Export Data Screen when you click the "Export to Email" button, your default email client will open up in "compose" mode, with an email containing all of your Kavuahs.
In addition, a spreadsheet containing all of your Kavuahs will be attached to the email.
It is advisable to send the email to yourself and to keep it as a backup of your data. NOTE: It is not (yet) possible to IMPORT data into Luach.
If you need to restore your data, it will need to be done manually.
'Found Possible Kavuah' Screen The Possible Kavuah Screen.
When Luach finds a possible Kavuah pattern
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