Niddah 50
וטורדין אותו אלא בודקין אותו בשמן שהשמן רך ומצחצחו
and disturbs its shape. It must rather be examined in oil because oil is mild and makes it clear. Furthermore, it must be examined in sunlight only. How is it to be examined? 'How is it to be examined' [you ask]! Of course as has just been described. — Rather, wherewith is it to be examined in order to ascertain whether it was male or female? — Abba Saul b. Nashor, as others say, Abba Saul b. Ramash replied: One brings a splinter with a smooth top and moves it [in an upward direction] in that place.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Euphemism. ');"><sup>1</sup></span>
כדאמרינן
but if sideways [it is no reliable test, since] it may be assumed [that the obstruction] was caused by the sides of the womb. R. Adda b. Ahaba stated: A Tanna taught, If the foetus was a female the organ has the appearance of the [longitudinal] slit of a barley grain.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. the reading supra 25a, ad fin. The latter reading adds 'slit' which is wanting in the original of the former. ');"><sup>4</sup></span>
מביא קיסם שראשו חלק ומנענע באותו מקום
the testes? — Abaye replied: Since the testes themselves are indistinguishable, would the depression between them be distinguishable?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Obviously not. ');"><sup>7</sup></span>
א"ר נחמן אמר רבה בר אבוה ל"ש אלא מלמטה למעלה אבל מן הצדדין אימא
two thighs are like two silk threads', and in connection with this R. Amram explained: Like those of the woof;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The threads of the woof are thicker than those of the warp. ');"><sup>9</sup></span>
כותלי בית הרחם נינהו
'and its two arms are like two threads of silk', in connection with which R. Amram explained: Like those of the warp.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The threads of the woof are thicker than those of the warp. ');"><sup>9</sup></span>
תנא אם היתה נקבה נדונה כשעורה סדוקה
give no practical decision [on the validity of a birth] unless the embryo has hair [on its head]. But could Samuel have said such a thing, seeing that he ruled, 'In either case must she consider the possibility of a valid birth'? — R. Ammi b. Samuel replied: This was explained to me by the Master Samuel: She must indeed take into consideration the possibility of a valid birth;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sc. to remain unclean for fourteen days. ');"><sup>11</sup></span>
אמר אביי
But is it not a fact that when a certain sac was submitted to the Master Samuel he said, 'This is forty-one days old', but on calculating the time since the woman had gone to perform her ritual immersion<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Following the conclusion of her menstrual period. ');"><sup>14</sup></span>
וא"ר עמרם עלה
— Samuel was different from other people because his knowledge was exceptional.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'because his strength is great'. Other people, however, whose physiological knowledge is not so great must adopt a cautious course and take into consideration the possibility suggested. ');"><sup>18</sup></span>
ושני זרועותיו כב' חוטין של זהורית וא"ר עמרם עלה
At first it is a normal foetus but later it is crushed. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: A sandal resembles the tongue of a big ox. In the name of our Masters it was testified: A sandal<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If it is to be deemed a valid birth. ');"><sup>20</sup></span>
האי בנדה בעל
R. Ze'ira observed: R. Bibi was lucky [to be the first] with his reported traditions, for both I and he were sitting in the presence of R. Johanan when he discoursed upon this tradition, but he<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Bebai. ');"><sup>30</sup></span>
המפלת סנדל וכו'
at all mentioned, seeing that there can be no birth of a sandal without that of an embryo with it?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that the woman would be unclean even in the absence of a sandal. ');"><sup>32</sup></span>
ת"ר סנדל דומה לדג של ים מתחלתו ולד הוא אלא שנרצף
— If a female child were to be born with it this would be so indeed,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' There would have been no necessity at all to mention the sandal (cf. prev. n. but one), since it could add no uncleanness, whatever its sex: If it is a female it would subject the woman to the very same uncleanness as the female that was born with it, and if it is a male, the period of uncleanness it causes is a lesser one than that of the female. ');"><sup>33</sup></span>
רשב"ג אומר
but here we are dealing with one with which a male was born.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that if the sandal were a female the period of the woman's uncleanness would extend over a longer period. ');"><sup>34</sup></span>
סנדל דומה ללשון של שור הגדול
As it might have been presumed that, since R. Isaac b. Ammi stated, 'If the woman is first to emit the semen she bears a male child and if the male is first to do it she bears a female child', the one<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The sandal. ');"><sup>35</sup></span>
סנדל צריך צורת פנים
hence we were informed [that no such assumption is made, for] it might equally be assumed that both emitted their semen simultaneously so that one might be a male while the other<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The sandal. ');"><sup>35</sup></span>
א"ר יהודה אמר שמואל
is a female.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hence the law of the sandal which imposes the restrictions of a female birth (fourteen unclean days instead of seven) as well as those of a male birth (thirty-three days of cleanness instead of sixty-six). ');"><sup>37</sup></span>
סנדל צריך צורת פנים ואפי' מאחוריו
was mentioned] in order that if a woman bore a female child before sunset and a sandal after sunset<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The day concluding at sunset, when another day begins, and the sandal being thus born a day later than the female child. ');"><sup>40</sup></span>
משל לאדם שסטר את חבירו והחזיר פניו לאחוריו
she must count the beginning of her period of menstruation in accordance with the first birth and in accordance with the second birth.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the restrictions of both are imposed upon her: As the sandal might be a male the eighty-first day from the female birth (if there was a discharge) is regarded as the first day of menstruation though that day is still the eightieth from the sandal's birth which in the case of a female is one (the last) of the clean days. The seventh day after the eightieth again is not regarded as the termination of the seven days of menstruation (which began on the eightieth day) since it is possible that the sandal was a female whose eightieth day coincided with the eighty-first of the female child and in accordance with which the woman's seven days of menstruation began a day later (the eighty-second day after the first birth) and consequently terminated a day later. ');"><sup>41</sup></span>