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Niddah 15a

נדה ט״ו ע״א

Learn Niddah 15a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

When a husband becomes impure from his wife's blood or כתם, and when a wife is presumed pure for her husband

Overview

The amud opens with the חכמים of יבנה explaining how long 'after a time' is in the משנה. If a woman finds blood before she could get off the bed and rinse her face, she and her husband are טמאין מספק and bring an אשם תלוי. If she waited longer, the husband is impure only through מגע. רבי עקיבא says he is impure as a בועל, and רבי יהודה בנו של רבן יוחנן בן זכאי says he is fully pure. The גמרא uses this ברייתא to raise a קשיא against רב אשי, which stays unanswered. It then defends רבי יהודה's view: he holds like שמאי that there is no backdating, and the case is one where the husband did not finish the act. Next, רב and ריש לקיש argue with שמואל and רבי יוחנן about whether a כתם makes the husband impure going backward or only from now on. The גמרא explains that a כתם differs from מעת לעת because the evidence is right in front of you. A new משנה teaches that wives are presumed pure for their husbands, even husbands back from a trip. The amud ends with a dispute over whether a wife is permitted once her expected period time (וסת) has arrived. That dispute depends on whether וסתות are דאורייתא or דרבנן, and רב אשי's version of it continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

שֶׁמָּא כְּרַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אַתֶּם אוֹמְרִים

Perhaps you are saying according to Rabbi Akiva

שֶׁמְּטַמְּאָה אֶת בּוֹעֲלָהּ?

that she makes impure the man who had relations with her?

אָמְרוּ לוֹ: לֹא שָׁמַעְנוּ.

They said to him: We have not heard (this).

אָמַר לָהֶם: כָּךְ פֵּרְשׁוּ חֲכָמִים בְּיַבְנֶה:

He said to them: This is how the Sages in Yavne explained it:

The steps (28)

  1. QuestionChecking whose view the questioners follow
  2. ResponseYavne's explanation: the short time is still 'within the time'
  3. StatementWaiting longer than that counts as 'after the time'
  4. StatementThe husband is impure through contact only, and רבי עקיבא disagrees
  5. StatementThe most lenient view: the husband may enter the Sanctuary
  6. ChallengeThe ברייתא fits רב חסדא but seems to contradict רב אשי
  7. RejectionSaying the ברייתא is about a woman without a cloth does not work
  8. ConclusionThe challenge to רב אשי stands
  9. ChallengeWhy isn't the husband impure for touching her during the מעת לעת?
  10. ResolutionHe holds like שמאי: impurity starts only when she sees
  11. ChallengeBut he should be impure as a בעל קרי
  12. ResolutionHe did not finish the act
  13. Statementרב: a כתם makes the husband impure going backward
  14. Statementשמואל: only from now on
  15. ChallengeBut from now on is obvious
  16. ResolutionWhy the משנה had to teach that a כתם makes the husband impure
  17. ChallengeMaybe the comparison is actually correct
  18. ResolutionWith a כתם, the evidence is right in front of you
  19. Statementריש לקיש and רבי יוחנן argue the same way as רב and שמואל
  20. StatementNew משנה: all wives are presumed pure for their husbands
  21. QuestionWhy mention husbands returning from a trip?
  22. ResponseWithout it, we would think she only checks when he is home
  23. StatementOnly if he returns within her expected time
  24. Statementרב הונא limits the rule to a woman without a fixed cycle
  25. ChallengeThe opposite makes more sense
  26. Resolutionרב הונא's ruling restated: forbidden once her expected period time has come
  27. Statementרבה בר בר חנה: permitted even after her expected period time
  28. Statementרב אשי starts a different version of the dispute