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Niddah 57b

נדה נ״ז ע״ב

Learn Niddah 57b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Where a כתם makes a woman טמאה, and שמואל's rule that she must feel the blood (הרגשה)

Overview

The משנה gives a simple test for a כתם (blood stain): could blood from בית התורפה have reached the spot where it was found? It applies this test to her body, her legs and feet, her robe and sleeve, and finally to a robe she sleeps under and a kerchief, where a stain anywhere counts. The גמרא opens with שמואל's rule: a woman is טמאה only if she feels the blood leave her body. He learns this from the word ״בִּבְשָׂרָהּ״, and the גמרא shows that this one word can teach several laws at once. Next the גמרא tests שמואל against three sources: blood while urinating, a בדיקה cloth under the pillow, and blood found after relations. Each time it answers that she did feel something, but the feeling could have had another cause. A ברייתא about three doubtful cases is answered the same way: 'follow the majority' means she usually feels it when she bleeds. Along the way, the גמרא explains how a doubtful stain can be טמא on her body but טהור on her garment, by setting the case in a butchers' market or after she jumped. Finally, stain cases themselves seem to make her טמאה without any feeling. רב ירמיה מדפתי answers that שמואל agrees she is טמאה, and his explanation continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מַתְנִי' הָרוֹאָה כֶּתֶם עַל בְּשָׂרָה

MISHNA: A woman who sees a stain on her flesh

כְּנֶגֶד בֵּית הַתּוּרְפָּה — טְמֵאָה,

across from her vagina is impure,

וְשֶׁלֹּא כְּנֶגֶד בֵּית הַתּוּרְפָּה — טְהוֹרָה.

and if not across from her vagina, she is pure.

עַל עֲקֵבָהּ וְעַל רֹאשׁ גּוּדָלָהּ — טְמֵאָה.

On her heel or on the tip of her big toe, she is impure.

The steps (28)

  1. StatementA stain on her body: near the opening or not
  2. StatementA stain on her legs or feet: inside, outside, or sides
  3. StatementA stain on her robe or its sleeve
  4. StatementA robe used as a blanket at night, and a kerchief
  5. Statementשמואל: No sensation, no טומאה
  6. ChallengeThe word is already needed for another law
  7. ResolutionThe extra 'her' teaches sensation
  8. ChallengeStill another law from the same word
  9. ResolutionLearn both laws from the word
  10. ChallengeBringing a משנה about blood while urinating
  11. ChallengeThe urination case must be one where she felt nothing
  12. ResolutionShe did feel it, but the feeling may have been the urine
  13. ChallengeA new source: a בדיקה cloth found under the pillow
  14. ChallengeThe pillow-cloth case must be one where she felt nothing
  15. ResolutionShe felt it, but the feeling may have come from the cloth
  16. ChallengeA new משנה: blood found on cloths after relations
  17. ChallengeProving the משנה is a case where she felt nothing
  18. ResolutionShe felt it, but it may have been the feeling of relations
  19. ChallengeA ברייתא about three kinds of doubt with a woman
  20. ChallengeDoes 'follow the majority' mean impure even without a feeling?
  21. ResolutionThe majority means she usually sees with a feeling
  22. StatementQuoting the body-versus-garment line of the ברייתא
  23. ChallengeWhere was the stain: below the belt or above it?
  24. ResolutionFirst answer: below the belt, after a butchers' market
  25. ResolutionSecond answer: above the belt, after she jumped
  26. ChallengeThe ברייתא calls her טמאה without a feeling
  27. ChallengeA משנה also says a stain makes her טמאה
  28. Resolutionשמואל agrees she is טמאה