Niddah 16a

נדה ט״ז ע״א

Learn Niddah 16a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Niddah 16a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether the worry about a woman's expected period (וסתות) is דאורייתא or דרבנן, and how often she must check herself

Overview

This amud opens by finishing a discussion about a כהן who looked into a pit where a maidservant had thrown a miscarried fetus. The גמרא gives two reasons why he stays טהור without breaking the rule that a doubt cannot override a certainty. First, the object itself may not have been a נפל. Second, the animals there surely dragged it away. Then the חכמים ask רב נחמן whether the worry about a woman's expected period (וסתות) is דאורייתא or דרבנן, and he answers both ways from a ruling of רב. Next comes a מחלוקת between רב and שמואל about a woman who missed her check and checked later. רבי זירא and רב נחמן בר יצחק differ on whether that argument is really about וסתות. רב ששת and אביי find the same dispute among תנאים. רבינא, though, shows that a ברייתא about blood from a wound is really about whether the מקור makes blood טמא. The amud ends with a new משנה: בית שמאי require two checking cloths for every act of תשמיש, while בית הלל say two cloths are enough for the whole night.

Opening lines

The steps (24)

1. ResolutionShe threw something that only looked like a fetus
2. ChallengeBut the ברייתא says he looked to see if it was male or female
3. ResolutionRereading the ברייתא: first whether it was a fetus, then male or female
4. ResolutionSecond answer: the animals certainly dragged it away
5. QuestionAre expected periods a Torah law or a rabbinic law?
6. Responseרב נחמן proves from רב's ruling that expected periods are Torah law
7. ResponseAnother version: the same ruling shows expected periods are rabbinic
8. Statementרב: if she checks later, the later check decides
9. Statementשמואל: even a clean later check leaves her impure
10. QuestionDo רב and שמואל disagree about whether וסתות are from the Torah?
11. RejectionEveryone agrees וסתות are from the Torah, but the cases are different
12. ResponseThey really do disagree about וסתות themselves
13. ProofThe same argument exists among the תנאים
14. Proofרבי יהושע says she should be checked
15. Proofרבי מאיר and the Sages argue the same way
16. Proofאביי brings a משנה about רבי מאיר and a woman in hiding
17. ProofWithout fear she would be impure, so וסתות are Torah law
18. QuestionDo רבן שמעון בן גמליאל and רבי also argue about this?
19. ProofSuggesting the argument is about whether וסתות are Torah law
20. Rejectionרבינא: Everyone holds וסתות are Rabbinic; the argument is about the מקור
21. Rejectionרבן שמעון בן גמליאל: The woman is pure, but the blood is impure
22. Challengeרבי's either-or argument against רבן שמעון בן גמליאל
23. Statementבית שמאי: Two cloths for every act of intercourse
24. Statementבית הלל: Two cloths for the whole night are enough