Gemara Clarity

Niddah 26b

נדה כ״ו ע״ב

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

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Topic

The list of טפח measurements, and when an afterbirth (שליא) is linked to a baby

Overview

רבי אושעיא taught a list of five things measured as a טפח, and the גמרא tests whether other cases belong on it. Toy ovens for girls and a stone sticking out of an oven are left off because both are disputed rules. The frame of the שולחן is left off because its size is written in the Torah. The כפורת is left off because it is a holy item, and the beam over an alleyway is left off because it is only דרבנן. So the list covers only Torah rules whose size the Torah does not state. Next, רב teaches when a שליא that comes out after a birth is linked to the baby, and when we worry it came from another baby. רב כהנא raises a contradiction between two of רב's statements, and it is resolved by telling apart a נפל and a healthy baby. A story with שמואל confirms רב's rule that a שליא is linked only to a baby that could live. Finally, רבי יוסי בן שאול asks רבי about a crow-shaped discharge with a שליא and challenges רבי's answer from a ברייתא; that ברייתא continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

תַּנּוּרֵי בָּנוֹת טֶפַח!

Toy ovens of girls are a handbreadth!

דְּתַנְיָא:

As it is taught:

תַּנּוּר תְּחִלָּתוֹ אַרְבָּעָה

An oven in its original state is four,

וּשְׁיָרָיו אַרְבָּעָה,

and its remains are four,

The steps (27)

  1. ChallengeToy ovens are also a handbreadth
  2. Proofרבי מאיר: an oven needs four handbreadths
  3. ProofThe חכמים: a small oven can be any size
  4. QuestionHow small is 'any size'?
  5. Responseרבי ינאי: one handbreadth
  6. Resolutionרבי אושעיא only lists undisputed rules
  7. ResolutionThe same answer works for the stone
  8. Proofרבי יהודה disagrees about the stone
  9. ChallengeWhat about the frame of the Table?
  10. ResolutionHe does not list things written in the Torah
  11. ChallengeWhat about the Ark Cover?
  12. ResolutionHe does not list holy items
  13. ChallengeWhat about the beam over an alleyway?
  14. ResolutionHis list is only Torah rules whose size the Torah does not state
  15. Statementרב on an afterbirth that comes out after a birth
  16. ChallengeDid רב really say that?
  17. ResolutionMaybe one statement is about a נפל and the other about a בן קיימא
  18. Proofרב said this split outright
  19. Statementשמואל sees רב יוסף hurrying toward them
  20. Questionשמואל asks what רב said about an afterbirth
  21. ResponseOnly link an afterbirth to a baby that could live
  22. Proofרב's students confirm the teaching
  23. QuestionA crow-shaped birth with an afterbirth
  24. ResponseOnly link it to a species that has an afterbirth
  25. QuestionWhat if the afterbirth is attached to the crow-shaped discharge?
  26. Responseרבי says such a case does not exist
  27. ChallengeA ברייתא describes an afterbirth tied to an animal or bird