Gemara Clarity

Niddah 26a

נדה כ״ו ע״א

Learn Niddah 26a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Niddah 26a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The סנדל's twin and birth order, the שליא that makes a house טמא, and the list of five things measured by a טפח

Overview

Just before this amud, the גמרא taught that a סנדל (a flattened fetus) is always born with a full twin. So why do the משניות in בכורות and כריתות teach laws about the סנדל itself? The גמרא answers with cases where the twin cannot decide the law: the סנדל is born first (בכורות), the twin is born by caesarean section, or the twin is born before the mother converts (כריתות). The חכמים ask whether the two can even be born at different times, since a ברייתא says they come out wrapped together. רב פפא and רבא each explain how one can still come out first, depending on whether the babies come head first or feet first. Then a new משנה teaches that a שליא (afterbirth) in a house makes the house טמא, because there is no שליא without a baby, while רבי שמעון says the baby dissolved before it came out. The גמרא describes what a שליא looks like and brings a list of five things whose minimum size is a טפח. It then defends that list against other טפח rules, and the amud ends in the middle of another such challenge, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

גַּבֵּי בְּכוֹרוֹת,

[The sandal that we learned] regarding firstborns,

לְמַאי הִלְכְתָא?

for what law is it needed?

לַבָּא אַחֲרָיו —

For the one that comes after it:

בְּכוֹר לְנַחֲלָה,

he is a firstborn for inheritance,

The steps (29)

  1. QuestionWhy does the משנה in בכורות need to mention the sandal?
  2. ResponseThe sandal matters when the twin comes out after it
  3. QuestionWhy does the משנה in כריתות need to mention the sandal?
  4. ResponseThe sandal matters when the twin is born by caesarean section
  5. ChallengeThe caesarean answer does not work for רבי שמעון
  6. Resolutionרבי ירמיה: the mother converts between the two births
  7. ChallengeCan the two babies be born separately at all?
  8. Resolutionרב פפא: how the two babies are wrapped
  9. ResolutionHead-first fits בכורות, feet-first fits כריתות
  10. Resolutionרבא's Different Answer: Side by Side, Cases Flipped
  11. ResolutionFeet First: The סנדל Slides Out First (בכורות)
  12. ResolutionHead First: The Full Baby Counts as Born First (כריתות)
  13. Statementמשנה: A שליא in a House Makes It טמא
  14. Statementרבי שמעון: The Baby Dissolved Before It Came Out
  15. Statementברייתא: What a שליא Looks Like
  16. Statementרבן שמעון בן גמליאל: Like a Rooster's Craw
  17. StatementA list of five things measured by a טפח
  18. StatementSources for the שליא and the שופר
  19. StatementThe spine of the לולב must stick out a טפח
  20. StatementThe third wall of a סוכה can be just a טפח
  21. StatementThe אזוב must be a טפח
  22. StatementA memory aid: three ברייתות and two statements
  23. ChallengeThere is only one statement, not two
  24. Resolutionאביי changes the wording of the אזוב rule
  25. ChallengeIsn't a one-טפח cube another case?
  26. ResolutionThe list counts only a single טפח, not a cube
  27. ChallengeIsn't the stone sticking out of an oven another case?
  28. ResolutionThe list counts only minimum sizes
  29. ChallengeOpening another challenge to the list