Niddah 71a

נדה ע״א ע״א

Learn Niddah 71a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Having sons through conduct and תפילה; why בית שמאי treat all who die as נדות and זבין; the impurity of blood from a woman after death, and דם תבוסה

Overview

The amud opens at the end of רבי יהושע's advice on how to have sons. The advice is to marry a fitting wife and act with holiness during תשמיש. When the questioners say this often does not work, he adds that one must pray to הקב״ה, to Whom children belong. The גמרא concludes that both are needed. רבי חמא ברבי חנינא then explains 'שכר פרי הבטן' as a reward for a husband who puts his wife first. Next, the גמרא asks why בית שמאי say every woman who dies is a נדה. It rejects the idea that fear of the מלאך המות brings on blood. It concludes instead that this is a תקנה to protect the dignity of living נדות, and likewise of living זבין. A new משנה then discusses blood that comes out of a woman after death, with disputes about כתם impurity and אהל impurity. The גמרא explains these disputes through the impurity of the מקור and through דם תבוסה, which a ברייתא then defines. The ברייתא's final case, blood dripping into a hole, continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (25)

1. ResponseSanctify yourself at the time of intimacy
2. ChallengeMany tried this and it did not work
3. ResolutionPray to the One to Whom children belong
4. QuestionThen why give the first advice?
5. ResponseOne without the other is not enough
6. QuestionWhat does 'the fruit of the womb is a reward' mean?
7. ResponseThe reward for a husband who puts his wife first
8. QuestionWhat is the reason of בית שמאי?
9. ResponseFirst suggestion: fear of the Angel of Death brings blood
10. ChallengeBut fear stops blood
11. ResolutionTwo kinds of fear
12. ChallengeThe men's case shows fear cannot be the reason
13. ResponseThe real reason: protecting the honor of living נדות
14. ResponseThe same enactment for dying men
15. StatementNew משנה: blood that comes out of a woman after death
16. Statementרבי יהודה: no כתם impurity, except on the birthing stool
17. Statementרבי יוסי: so the birthing-stool blood is not impure in an אהל
18. ChallengeDoes the תנא קמא really call blood that came loose after death a כתם?
19. ResolutionThe real dispute is whether the womb is an impure place
20. ChallengeDoes רבי יהודה hold that the birthing-stool blood is impure in an אהל?
21. ResolutionThe dispute is about דם תבוסה
22. StatementA ברייתא defines דם תבוסה
23. StatementThe חכמים treat the doubtful blood as a regular doubt
24. StatementThe חכמים's own definition of דם תבוסה
25. StatementBlood dripping into a hole: רבי יהודה against the חכמים