Gemara Clarity

Niddah 3a

נדה ג׳ ע״א

Learn Niddah 3a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Niddah 3a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The lacking מקוה learned from סוטה, and the reasons behind שמאי's rule that a woman is טמאה only from when she sees blood.

Overview

The amud opens with a מקוה that was found lacking water, and asks about items that were immersed in it earlier. Both רבנן and רבי שמעון learn their views from the case of a סוטה. רבנן say a doubt can be treated like a certainty. They explain why neither the public-place rule of סוטה nor the general rule for ספק טומאה in רשות הרבים helps here, since two weakening factors make it like definite טומאה. רבי שמעון learns the public-place leniency from סוטה but not the private-place strictness, or else he learns the end of טומאה from its beginning. רבנן reject that comparison: a person keeps his starting status, whether טהור or טמא. The גמרא then returns to שמאי's rule that a woman is טמאה only from when she sees blood. It answers the challenge of the שרץ in the alleyway, then explains שמאי's reason either as 'she would feel it' or as 'earlier blood would have come out.' Along the way it shows that a sleeping woman is still covered, since she would wake up, and it limits the rule for a שוטה, כתמים, and a woman using a מוך, and finally asks what practical difference there is between the explanations.

Opening lines

וּשְׁנֵיהֶם לֹא לְמָדוּהָ אֶלָּא מִסּוֹטָה.

And both of them learned it only from the case of a sota.

רַבָּנַן סָבְרִי: כִּי סוֹטָה,

The Rabbis hold: it is like a sota.

מָה סוֹטָה סָפֵק הִיא,

Just as a sota is a case of doubt,

וַעֲשָׂאוּהָ כְּוַדַּאי —

and yet they treated her as a certainty,

The steps (32)

  1. StatementBoth sides learn from the case of a סוטה
  2. Statementרבנן's reasoning: a doubt treated as a certainty
  3. ChallengeChallenge: then the public-domain rule should also apply
  4. ResolutionAnswer: סוטה depends on seclusion, the מקוה depends on lacking water
  5. ChallengeBut a doubt in a public place is normally pure
  6. ResolutionTwo weaknesses make it like definite impurity
  7. Statementרבי שמעון learns from סוטה that a public place is pure
  8. ChallengeThen a private place should be definitely impure
  9. ResolutionA סוטה has real grounds for suspicion; a מקוה does not
  10. ResolutionA second reason for רבי שמעון: learning the end of impurity from its beginning
  11. Rejectionרבנן reject the comparison: it depends on where the person started
  12. ChallengeChallenge to שמאי from a שרץ found in an alleyway
  13. ResolutionThe alleyway case has two weakening factors
  14. ResolutionA second reason: a woman feels her own flow
  15. ChallengeWhat about a sleeping woman?
  16. ResolutionThe discomfort wakes her up
  17. ChallengeWhat about a mentally incompetent woman?
  18. Resolutionשמאי agrees about a שׁוֹטָה
  19. ChallengeBut the משנה says 'all women'
  20. Resolution'All women' means all competent women
  21. ChallengeWhy not just say 'women'?
  22. Resolution'All' rejects רבי אליעזר's list of four women
  23. ChallengeWhat about blood stains?
  24. Resolutionשמאי agrees about stains
  25. QuestionWhy does שמאי agree about stains?
  26. ResponseThe stain must have come from her
  27. StatementAnother reason for שמאי: earlier blood would have come out
  28. StatementThe real dispute: can the womb's walls hold blood back?
  29. ChallengeWhat about a woman using a מוך?
  30. Resolutionשמאי agrees about a woman using a מוך
  31. Resolutionרבא: a מוך shrinks from sweat, so blood could still come out
  32. QuestionWhat difference is there between the explanations of שמאי?