Niddah 34a

נדה ל״ד ע״א

Learn Niddah 34a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Whether the blood and fluids of non-Jews make impure, and the idea of a היכרא that shows an impurity is only rabbinic

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier story. The כהן גדול was not worried about the spit of a plain עם הארץ, because it was a רגל. On a רגל the רבנן treated every Jew as a חבר, based on a פסוק in שופטים. A new משנה then brings two disputes between בית שמאי and בית הלל. The first is about the blood of a נכרית and the דם טהרה of a מצורעת. The second is about the blood of a יולדת who has not yet immersed. It also gives a case where everyone agrees, a יולדת בזוב. The גמרא asks how בית שמאי can call a נכרית's blood pure when חז"ל decreed that גוים are like זבין. It explains that any decree on her blood would confuse people about the Torah rule, so her pure blood serves as a היכרא. רבא then rules that a נכרי man's זוב is impure even for בית שמאי, and his קרי is pure even for בית הלל, with the pure קרי acting as the sign. The גמרא tries to support רבא, first from a משנה, which is rejected, and then from a ברייתא that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (19)

1. ResolutionIt was a רגל, so an עם הארץ counted as pure
2. ProofThe פסוק calls all of Israel חברים when they gather
3. Statementמשנה: blood of a gentile woman and a leper's days of purity
4. Statementמשנה: blood of a new mother who has not immersed
5. Statementבית שמאי agree about a woman who gave birth as a זבה
6. ChallengeDon't בית שמאי accept the decree that גוים are like זבין?
7. ResolutionNo good way to decree on a נכרית's blood
8. ChallengeThen her רוק and urine should also be pure
9. ResolutionThe pure blood is the sign
10. ChallengeWhy not make the sign with רוק and urine instead?
11. ResolutionDecrees are made on common things
12. Statementרבא's ruling on a gentile man's discharge and semen
13. StatementWhy his discharge is impure even for בית שמאי
14. StatementWhy his semen is pure even for בית הלל
15. ChallengeWhy not reverse it: discharge pure, semen impure?
16. ResolutionDischarge comes on its own; semen depends on an action
17. ProofA משנה seems to support רבא: semen from a נכרי is pure
18. RejectionRejected: 'pure' may only mean pure by Torah law
19. ProofA second attempt: a ברייתא about a Jew's semen