 The regulations require that the ordeal take place when the woman is brought to an Israelite priest, or when she is brought "before God".The Mishnah reports that, in the time of the Second Temple, she was taken to the East Gate of the Temple, in front of the Nikanor gate.The woman is required by the biblical passage to have loosened hair during the ritual; this is often taken to be a symbol of the woman's supposed shame, but according to Josephus, it was merely the standard behaviour for anyone accused of any crime, when they appeared before the Sanhedrin.