 For example, the Torah mandates that a woman in her normal menstrual period must abstain from sexual intercourse for seven days.A woman whose menstruation is prolonged must continue to abstain for seven more days after bleeding has stopped.The Rabbis conflated ordinary "niddah" with this extended menstrual period, known in the Torah as "zavah", and mandated that a woman may not have sexual intercourse with her husband from the time she begins her menstrual flow until seven days after it ends.