Niddah 37a

נדה ל״ז ע״א

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Topic

The end of the story of שילא and רב אסי; whether קושי blood or a birth cancels a זבה's seven clean days, and whether the birth days count toward them

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the story of שילא and רב אסי. שילא dies right after רב אסי, and a flying myrtle at the funeral shows the two have made peace. Then the גמרא returns to the משנה's topic of blood from קושי (labor pains). רבא asks whether such blood cancels a זבה's count of seven clean days. The question is whether cancelling depends on making her impure or on being able to cause זיבה. After a back-and-forth about a זב whose discharge came by אונס, the גמרא concludes that for רבי אליעזר even a discharge that cannot cause זיבה cancels the count, but for the רבנן it does not. אביי rules that קושי blood does not cancel the count. Next, רבי מרינוס teaches that a birth does not cancel the count either. אביי and רבא then argue whether the birth days themselves count toward the seven clean days, and רבא brings two proofs that אביי pushes away. The amud ends in the middle of אביי's explanation of why the תורה needed separate פסוקים for a זב and a זבה, and that explanation continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (26)

1. Statementשילא prepares for his own death
2. ConclusionThe flying myrtle shows the two made peace
3. QuestionDoes labor-pain blood cancel a זבה's clean count?
4. QuestionThe two ways to look at the question
5. Proofאביי proves it from a discharge caused by outside factors
6. Rejectionרבא rejects the proof: an אונס discharge can also cause זיבה
7. Challengeאביי asks about רבי אליעזר, who checks even the third sighting
8. Resolutionרבא accepts it: for רבי אליעזר, it does not cancel
9. ChallengeA ברייתא of רבי אליעזר seems to show that אונס does cancel
10. RejectionNo, the fourth sighting is about impurity through carrying
11. Challengeרבי אליעזר says the checking is only for the offering
12. Questionרבי אליעזר's view is settled; what do the רבנן hold?
13. ProofThe teaching of רבי אבין's father: what it causes, it cancels
14. ProofReading the word 'caused' closely
15. ConclusionConclusion: for the רבנן it does not cancel
16. Conclusionאביי's rule: labor-pain blood does not cancel the count
17. Statementרבי מרינוס: a birth does not cancel the count
18. QuestionDo the birth days count toward the seven?
19. Responseאביי and רבא disagree
20. Proofרבא's source: 'and after, she will be pure'
21. Proofרבא's proof: otherwise the birth would separate
22. Rejectionאביי: only זיבה-טומאה may not separate
23. Proofרבא's second proof: 'from her זיבה and not from her birth'
24. Rejectionאביי removes 'and not from her birth' from the ברייתא
25. Challengeרבא: without 'birth', the leprosy line teaches nothing new
26. Resolutionאביי: one פסוק for a זב, one for a זבה, and both are needed