Negiah (Hebrew: נגיעה‎), literally "touch", is the concept in Jewish law (Halakha) that forbids or restricts sensual physical contact with a member of the opposite sex (except for one's spouse outside the niddah period, and certain close relatives to whom one is presumed not to have sexual attraction). A person who abides by this halakha is colloquially described as a shomer negiah ("one observant of negiah").