Niddah 58b

נדה נ״ח ע״ב

Learn Niddah 58b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

When a woman may blame a blood stain (כתם) on an outside source and stay טהורה

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the case of רב ששת. The גמרא explains that the case of two women and one bird is different, because the bird could explain only one סלע of blood. A ברייתא then teaches that a stain on layered robes can be blamed on an outside source only if one really exists, like the butchers' market. A new משנה lists things a woman may blame a stain on: slaughtering, handling stains, a louse, or a wound that could reopen. It also tells how רבי עקיבא ruled leniently, explaining that by Torah law only 'דם' makes her טמאה, not a stain. The גמרא reads the משנה closely: she may blame a source only if she was surely exposed to it. On the louse, it brings the argument between רבן שמעון בן גמליאל and the חכמים, which is settled by the split-bean limit of רבי חנינא בן אנטיגנוס, and it describes the bedbug and a town with pigs. Finally רב הונא and רב חסדא argue whether a stain exactly the size of a גריס may be blamed, and a challenge begins that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (39)

1. ChallengeWhy is this different from the two women and one bird?
2. ResolutionIn the bird case there is an extra סלע
3. StatementThree checked robes: what matters is whether she can blame something
4. StatementExample: walking through the butchers' market
5. Statementמשנה: things a woman may blame a stain on
6. QuestionHow large a stain can be blamed?
7. ResponseUp to the size of a split bean
8. StatementBlaming a stain on a wound
9. Proofרבי עקיבא purifies a woman with a healed wound
10. QuestionThe students are surprised
11. ResponseStains were made טמא only to be applied leniently
12. StatementA checking cloth found with blood under the pillow
13. ProofThe משנה already teaches the ברייתא about the eye salve and the sycamore sap
14. StatementOnly if she definitely sat near the women cleaning bloodstains
15. ProofThe משנה matches the ברייתא about the butchers' market
16. StatementOnly if she definitely killed a louse
17. QuestionWhose opinion is the משנה?
18. ResponseIt is רבן שמעון בן גמליאל; the חכמים are more lenient
19. StatementBoth views have a problem
20. StatementProblem with his own strict view
21. StatementProblem with the lenient view
22. ConclusionAccepting the split-bean size limit
23. QuestionWhat is the size limit for the רבנן?
24. ResponseBedbug, up to a lupine bean
25. StatementA teaching describing the bedbug
26. StatementWhy the bedbug's shape matters: stains
27. StatementWhy the bedbug's taste matters: תרומה
28. QuestionHow does he know it is a bedbug?
29. ResponseIts taste is like its smell
30. QuestionBut how does he know the smell?
31. ResponseEveryone who crushes one smells it
32. StatementA town with pigs: no worry about stains
33. StatementThe town of דרוקרת counts as a pig town
34. Statementרב הונא: a stain the size of a split bean may not be blamed
35. Statementרב חסדא: a split-bean stain may still be blamed
36. QuestionDo they argue about whether 'up to' includes the limit?
37. Rejectionרב הונא: 'up to' is always read the strict way
38. Rejectionרב חסדא: stains are a lenient exception, following רבי אבהו
39. StatementA second version: the argument stated on its own