Gemara Clarity

Niddah 15b

נדה ט״ו ע״ב

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

Open Niddah 15b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether a returning husband may presume his wife is טהורה, and the rule that a doubt cannot override a certainty

Overview

The משנה taught that a husband coming back from a trip may assume his wife is טהורה. רב הונא limits this to a woman whose cycle depends on days plus an action such as jumping. A woman with a cycle of days alone is forbidden, because he holds וסתות are דאורייתא. רבה בר בר חנה permits even a cycle of days alone, because he holds וסתות are דרבנן. רבי יוחנן rules that a husband may count his wife's cycle days and then be with her. רבי אבא explains that this works even for a shy young girl, since it is only a double doubt: maybe she never saw blood, and even if she did, maybe she immersed. If she definitely saw blood, she is forbidden, because אין ספק מוציא מידי ודאי. The גמרא challenges this rule from a dead חבר's produce and answers it in two ways. It then challenges the rule again from a stillborn baby thrown into a pit, and begins to reread that ברייתא, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לֹא שָׁנוּ אֶלָּא

They only taught this

שֶׁאֵין לָהּ וֶסֶת לְיָמִים,

where she does not have a cycle of days alone

אֶלָּא יֵשׁ לָהּ וֶסֶת

but rather she has a cycle

לְיָמִים וְלִקְפִיצוֹת,

of days and of jumps

The steps (14)

  1. Statementרב הונא limits the rule to a cycle of days plus jumps
  2. Statementרב הונא's reason: the concern for a cycle is Torah law
  3. Statementרבה בר בר חנה permits even a cycle of days alone
  4. StatementA husband may calculate his wife's cycle days and be with her
  5. QuestionDoes the leniency apply even to a shy young girl?
  6. ResponseThe leniency is only for a double doubt
  7. StatementA doubt cannot override a certainty
  8. ChallengeChallenge from a חבר who left produce
  9. ResolutionFirst answer: the חבר case is certainty against certainty
  10. ResolutionSecond answer: the חבר case is doubt against doubt
  11. ChallengeNew challenge: the stillborn baby thrown into a pit
  12. ChallengeThe Sages rule the כהן pure because animals may have dragged the body away
  13. ChallengeThe pit case looks like a doubt beating a certainty
  14. ResolutionChanging how we read the pit story