Niddah 65a

נדה ס״ה ע״א

Learn Niddah 65a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Niddah 65a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

How רבי's four nights of דם בתולים are counted, a story about misapplying רב's ruling, and how long an עונה שלמה is for a girl who already saw blood.

Overview

The גמרא tries to explain an earlier case where רבי gave a newly married girl four nights, spread over twelve months, in which her blood was blamed on the torn hymen and not treated as נדה blood. It tests and rejects several timings: all four nights as a minor, all four as a נערה (שמואל says נערות lasts exactly six months), two and two (רב counts all relations during minority as one night), and one-two-one. The final answer is one night for her minor years and three during נערות, with each period counted as two months. Next comes a story: מנימין סקסנאה planned to apply רב's lenient first-night ruling even to a woman who had already seen blood, but he died on the road, and שמואל said about רב, 'No mishap shall befall the righteous.' After a side teaching from רב about losing one's teeth, the גמרא returns to the משנה. A ברייתא says that a girl who saw blood in her father's house gets an עונה שלמה, which רבן שמעון בן גמליאל defines as a night and half a day. The גמרא then asks whether that much time is really needed, and begins a contrasting ברייתא about purifying winepresses that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (17)

1. RejectionThe minor option fails: the משנה gives more than four nights
2. ResolutionNew suggestion: all four nights were in her young-woman stage
3. ChallengeThere is no twelve-month young-woman stage
4. ResolutionMaybe שמואל only meant 'at least six months'
5. RejectionThe word 'only' rules out a longer stage
6. ResolutionNew suggestion: two nights as a minor, two as a young woman
7. ChallengeChallenge from רב חיננא בר שלמיא's question to רב
8. Responseרב: all relations as a minor count as just one night
9. ResolutionA new split: one, two, and one
10. ChallengeDoes a regular grown woman get more than one night?
11. ResolutionOne night as a minor, three as a נערה
12. Statementמנימין סקסנאה wants to rule like רב
13. Conclusionמנימין dies before ruling, and שמואל praises רב
14. StatementWhen teeth fall out, food decreases
15. StatementA girl who saw blood in her father's house gets a full period
16. ResponseA complete period is a night and half a day
17. ChallengeDo we really need that much time? A contrast from winepresses