Niddah 66a

נדה ס״ו ע״א

Learn Niddah 66a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

A woman who bleeds from תשמיש and how she is tested, stories of cures, and when a woman must count שבעה נקיים (רבי's decree, the women's stringency, a miscarriage, a new כלה)

Overview

This amud finishes a ברייתא about a woman who bleeds every time she has תשמיש. After three times with her first or second husband she must get divorced and may remarry. After three times with her third husband she must do a בדיקה with a lead tube to see whether the blood comes from the מקור (impure) or from the sides (pure). A wound or a fixed וסת can also explain the blood, and רבן שמעון בן גמליאל and the Sages argue whether wound blood from the מקור is טמא. ריש לקיש and רבי יוחנן discuss why the test is delayed. Then come stories of women brought to רבי, שמואל and רבי יוחנן for cures. Next, the גמרא turns to counting days: רבי's decree for the outlying fields, and רבי זירא's report that Jewish women count שבעה נקיים for even a mustard-seed drop of blood. רבא rules on a miscarriage after two days of labor and says that a woman who accepts a marriage proposal must count שבעה נקיים, which רבינא applies even to a young bride. A new teaching of רבא about a woman begins at the end and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (37)

1. StatementAfter the first husband: she may marry someone else
2. StatementWith the second husband: the same three-time limit applies
3. StatementWith the third husband: she must now examine herself
4. QuestionHow is the examination done?
5. ResponseThe tube test and how to read the result
6. StatementBlaming the blood on a wound or on a fixed cycle
7. StatementWound blood must match, and she is believed about a wound
8. StatementIs wound blood from the uterus impure or pure
9. QuestionWhat is the difference between them
10. ResponseThey argue whether the uterus itself makes blood impure
11. ChallengeWon't the tube scratch her
12. ResolutionA smooth lead tube with a folded-in edge
13. ChallengeWhy not test her already with the first husband?
14. ResolutionNot all husbands are the same
15. ChallengeWhy not test after the first time with the third husband?
16. ResolutionOne time is not enough to show a pattern
17. Statementרבי cures a woman by frightening her
18. Statementשמואל tries the same method, but nothing comes out
19. Statementשמואל: a woman who fills and empties has no cure
20. StatementA woman who bleeds after every טבילה comes to רבי יוחנן
21. StatementSecond version: tell your friends so they come over to your side
22. StatementThird version: tell your friends so they will pray for you
23. Statementרב יוסף: a similar case in פומבדיתא, and she was healed
24. Statementרבי's decree for the outlying fields: one day of blood means six more days
25. Statementרבי's decree continued: two days or three days of bleeding
26. StatementJewish women's stringency: even a mustard-seed drop needs seven clean days
27. StatementLabor pains for two days, then a miscarriage on the third
28. Challengeרב פפא: why mention two days of labor at all?
29. ResolutionA real prohibition is different from a custom
30. StatementA memory list for the coming teachings
31. StatementAccepting a marriage proposal requires seven clean days
32. Statementרבינא delays his son's wedding by a week
33. Questionרב חנינא asks why the wedding was delayed
34. Responseרבינא explains: רבא's rule of seven clean days
35. ChallengeMaybe רבא meant only an adult woman
36. Resolutionרבא's rule covers young girls too
37. Statementרבא begins a new teaching about a woman