Niddah 33a

נדה ל״ג ע״א

Learn Niddah 33a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The light impurity of עליון של זב and of a בועל נדה's bed, and the משנה's reasons why כותים men count as בועלי נדות.

Overview

The amud first finishes reading the פסוק about a זב. 'What is under him' cannot mean the bed beneath the זב, because another פסוק already teaches that. So it must mean something lying on top of him, עליון של זב, and the word 'והנשא' adds something he carries. The Torah lowered these to a light impurity that affects only food and drink, and the word 'יטמא' shows this. Next, a ברייתא on ויקרא 15:24 shows from 'יטמא שבעת ימים' that a בועל נדה is impure for a full seven days of his own, and learns from 'ותהי נדתה עליו' that he makes people and clay vessels impure like her. His bed, however, is lowered to a light impurity because the phrase about it is extra. אביי and רבא each explain why the פסוק is not read as a כלל ופרט, and רבא shows that the word 'עליו' makes the comparison work only in the strict direction. The גמרא then returns to the משנה about כותים. It limits it to married men and brings two explanations of how כותים women count their days wrongly. This leads to a debate over whether part of a day counts as a whole day for זיבה. The amud ends with רמי בר חמא asking whether a woman who discharges semen cancels a day of her count.

Opening lines

The steps (35)

1. RejectionThe verse cannot mean the bed under the זב
2. ResponseThe verse means bedding above the זב
3. StatementSomething carried by the זב is also impure
4. QuestionHow do we know it means the carried item
5. ResponseThe verse is written as 'והנשא'
6. StatementThe verse lowered it to a light impurity
7. ChallengeMaybe it is only slightly less strict
8. ResolutionThe word 'יטמא' points to light impurity
9. QuestionWhere do we learn that the bedding under a בועל נדה is impure?
10. ResponseA ברייתא begins with the words 'and her impurity be upon him'
11. ChallengeMaybe he just follows her count of days
12. ResolutionNo, he is impure for a full seven days
13. QuestionThen what does 'her impurity upon him' teach?
14. ResponseLike her, he makes people and clay vessels impure
15. ChallengeThen maybe his bedding is as strongly impure as hers
16. ResolutionHis bedding is impure, but only in a lighter way
17. ResolutionThe extra phrase about his bed lowers its impurity to food and drink only
18. Challengeרב אחאי: maybe the lowering is smaller
19. Resolutionרב אסי: the word 'יטמא' means a light impurity
20. ChallengeMaybe the פסוק is a general statement limited by a detail
21. Resolutionאביי: the general statement and detail are too far apart
22. Resolutionרבא: The word 'and every' widens the rule
23. Challengeרבי יעקב: Maybe his touch and bedding should both be lenient
24. Resolutionרבא: 'Upon him' means a heavy rule
25. ChallengeAre all of them really men who live with a נדה?
26. ResolutionThe משנה means married men only
27. StatementQuoting the משנה: they keep impurity for blood
28. Statementרבי מאיר: the problem is finishing the old count after red blood
29. StatementAnother explanation: counting the day she stops
30. Challengeרמי בר חמא: we count that day too
31. Challengeרבא asks how a seminal emission could ever cancel a day
32. RejectionThe rule is about an emission right before sunset
33. ChallengeCan a whole verse be limited to sunset?
34. ResolutionYes, the verse is forced into that narrow case
35. QuestionDoes a woman who discharges semen cancel a day of her count?