Niddah 9a

נדה ט׳ ע״א

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Topic

Women whose time is enough (דיה שעתה): a woman who miscarried, a pregnant woman, a nursing mother, and an elderly woman, with a side discussion on the water of sprinkling

Overview

The amud begins by finishing a question about a מפלת, a woman who miscarried. Does she get the pregnant woman's leniency that her impurity starts only from the moment she sees blood (דיה שעתה)? רב פפי and רב פפא give two answers, and רב פפא ties the rule to the heaviness a pregnant woman feels. רבי זירא uses that reason to rule that a woman who saw blood before her pregnancy was noticeable is impure backward like any woman. רבי יוחנן then proves from the woman in hiding that a pregnant woman need not check herself at her usual period time, because her blood has stopped. Next comes a ברייתא about a nursing mother. רבי מאיר says the leniency lasts as long as she nurses, because the blood turns into milk. רבי יהודה, רבי יוסי and רבי שמעון say it lasts a fixed 24 months, because her body is weakened. A side discussion about the פסוק 'Who can bring a pure thing out of an impure?' leads into the puzzling laws of the water of sprinkling, which even שלמה could not grasp. Finally the גמרא returns to the משנה to define a זקנה and what 'close to her old age' means.

Opening lines

The steps (35)

1. ChallengeFinishing the challenge: labor near birth is pure
2. Resolutionרב פפי: the 24-hour rule is only rabbinic
3. Resolutionרב פפא: her head and limbs were heavy here too
4. QuestionShe saw blood before her pregnancy became noticeable
5. Responseרבי זירא: at that time she did not feel heavy, so she is impure
6. QuestionMust a pregnant woman check herself at her usual period time?
7. Responseרבי יוחנן cites the woman in hiding
8. ConclusionPregnancy is like fear: no check needed
9. StatementA nursing mother whose baby died is like all women
10. StatementNursing for four or five years keeps the leniency
11. StatementThe other view: the leniency lasts only 24 months
12. StatementThe reason behind each view
13. QuestionWhy does רבי מאיר need his 'therefore' clause?
14. ResponseIt is there only to match רבי יוסי's clause
15. QuestionWhy does רבי יוסי need his 'therefore' clause?
16. ResponseSo we do not think רבי יוסי holds both reasons
17. ProofA ברייתא supports the explanation of the dispute
18. StatementThe verse behind רבי מאיר's view
19. QuestionHow do the other Sages read this verse?
20. Responseרבי יוחנן: the verse is about שכבת זרע
21. Responseרבי אלעזר: the verse is about מי הנדה
22. ChallengeBut the תורה says the sprinkler washes his clothes
23. Resolution'מזה' in the verse means one who touches
24. Challenge'מזה' cannot mean one who touches
25. Resolution'מזה' means one who carries the water
26. ChallengeWhy not just write 'one who carries'?
27. ResolutionOnly carrying enough water for a sprinkling makes one impure
28. ChallengeWhat about the view that sprinkling needs no minimum?
29. ResolutionNo minimum on the person, but a minimum in the vessel
30. ProofThe משנה about how much water the vessel needs
31. ConclusionEven שלמה could not fully understand this
32. StatementBack to the משנה: who counts as an elderly woman
33. QuestionWhat does 'close to her old age' mean?
34. Responseרב יהודה: when her friends call her old
35. Responseרבי שמעון begins a different definition