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Niddah 44b

נדה מ״ד ע״ב

Learn Niddah 44b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

A one-day-old baby's status (inheritance, the בכור's share, murder, mourning), and the age of three years and one day for a girl's relations to count legally

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an explanation of why a one-day-old baby 'inherits and passes on inheritance': a living baby can inherit his mother and pass it to his paternal brothers, but an עובר is presumed to die before its mother. The גמרא challenges this with a case where a fetus twitched after the mother died, and מר בריה דרב אשי answers that this was like a lizard's severed tail. מר בריה דרב יוסף, quoting רבא, explains that the baby reduces the בכור's double share, while a son born after the father's death does not ('וילדו לו'); in פומבדיתא they taught that a בכור born after his father's death gets no double share ('יכיר'), and the הלכה follows all these versions. The גמרא then learns from 'כל נפש' that killing a one-day-old is murder, and רב פפא explains that his family mourns for him, in a case where we know the pregnancy was full term, which fits even רבן שמעון בן גמליאל. A new משנה rules that from three years and one day, relations with a girl count fully for קידושין, יבום, אשת איש, טומאה, תרומה, כהונה and עריות, and below that age they do not. A ברייתא shows רבי מאיר says three years, and the גמרא offers two explanations of the difference: the school of רבי ינאי (one day) and רבי יוחנן (thirty days counting as a year). The amud ends with a second ברייתא where רבי מאיר allows even two years and one day, challenging the school of רבי ינאי; the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

בַּקֶּבֶר לְהַנְחִיל לְאֶחָיו מִן הָאָב.

in the grave, to pass on to his brothers from the father.

אִינִי?

Is that so?

וְהָא הֲוָה עוֹבָדָא,

But there was an incident,

וּפַרְכֵּס עַד תְּלָת פִּרְכּוּסֵי!

and it twitched up to three twitches!

The steps (20)

  1. StatementFinishing the rule: a son cannot inherit from his mother once he is in the grave
  2. ChallengeChallenge: a fetus was seen moving after its mother died
  3. ResolutionAnswer: like a lizard's tail that twitches after being cut off
  4. StatementA different explanation: the baby reduces the firstborn's portion
  5. StatementA son born after the father's death does not reduce the firstborn's portion
  6. StatementThe פומבדיתא version: a posthumous בכור gets no double portion
  7. ConclusionThe הלכה follows all of רבא's statements
  8. StatementKilling a one-day-old baby makes one liable
  9. QuestionWhat does counting like a full person mean?
  10. ResponseIt is about mourning
  11. ChallengeThis seems to go against רבן שמעון בן גמליאל
  12. ResolutionThe case is a baby born after a full pregnancy
  13. StatementFrom three years and one day, relations with a girl count fully
  14. StatementFurther results: תרומה, disqualifying from כהונה, and עריות
  15. StatementBelow that age the act does not count
  16. StatementA ברייתא: three years versus three years and one day
  17. QuestionWhat is the practical difference between them?
  18. ResponseThe school of רבי ינאי: the difference is the last day of the third year
  19. Responseרבי יוחנן: do thirty days count as a whole year?
  20. ChallengeA challenge: רבי מאיר allows even two years and one day