Niddah 75
אפי' ימים הראויין לספירת סתירת זבה
even the days that are suitable for counting after the previous counting had been rendered void<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., for ever, since any seven days following a discharge that occurred within any seven days counted after a previous discharge are suitable for counting. ');"><sup>1</sup></span>
תנן כמה הוא קשויה
are also clean.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Once labour began within the eleven days of zibah all subsequent days are clean unless the woman was relieved from her pain for the prescribed period, prior to the birth of the child. ');"><sup>2</sup></span>
ר"מ אומר
We have learnt: HOW LONG MAY PROTRACTED LABOUR CONTINUE? R. MEIR RULED: EVEN FORTY OR FIFTY DAYS. Now this might quite possibly happen according to Rab on R. Adda b. Ahabah's interpretation,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since the counting of the days may sometimes continue for a very long time (cf. prev. n. but one). ');"><sup>3</sup></span>
בשלמא לרב משכחת לה כרב אדא בר אהבה אלא ללוי קשיא אמר לך לוי מי קתני טהורה בכולן
does not this present a difficulty?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sc. how is it possible for a woman to be clean when labour is protracted for forty or fifty days? ');"><sup>5</sup></span>
אין הולד מטהר אלא ימים הראויין להיות בהן זבה גדולה מ"ט (ויקרא טו, כה) דמה ימים רבים כתיב
she is regarded as a menstruant and only when it occurs in the days of her <i>zibah</i><span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' After the protracted labour. ');"><sup>7</sup></span>
אבא שאול משמיה דרב אמר
is she clean.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The purport of R. Meir's ruling being that there is no obligation to bring a sacrifice or to count the prescribed number of clean days even though labour continued for forty or fifty days; but the woman remains clean only where the birth occurred in the days of zibah. If it occurs, however, in the days of menstruation she becomes unclean. ');"><sup>8</sup></span>
אפילו ימים הראויין להיות בהן זבה קטנה מ"ט ימי וכל ימי התם כתיבי
Another reading. R. Levi ruled: [The birth of] a child is a cause of cleanness<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Exempting the woman from a sacrifice and from the counting of seven clean days. ');"><sup>9</sup></span>
תנן כמה הוא קשויה
in those days only in which a woman may normally become a major zabah.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., where she experienced a discharge on three consecutive days in the course of the eleven days' period. If the discharge, however, appeared only on one day. she need not wait more than one clean day corresponding to the one unclean day. ');"><sup>10</sup></span>
קשתה בימי נדתה נדה בימי זיבתה טהורה
ruled: Even in the days in which she may normally become a minor zabah. What is the reason? Days<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XV, 25; instead of 'days' the text has 'all the days' and from this is derived (infra 73a) the law of a minor zabah. ');"><sup>14</sup></span>
כיצד שנים בלא עת ושבעה נדה ושנים של אחר הנדה וחמשים שהולד מטהר ושמונים של נקבה ושבעה נדה ושנים של אחר הנדה
We have learnt: HOW LONG MAY PROTRACTED LABOUR CONTINUE? R. MEIR RULED: EVEN FORTY OR FIFTY DAYS. Does not this present a difficulty against both of them?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rab and Levi both of whom confined the period of cleanness within the eleven days of zibah. ');"><sup>16</sup></span>
א"כ יש מקשה כל ימיה ואין זיבה עולה בהן
[No;] if she was in labour during the days of her menstruation she is regarded a menstruant and only where this occurred during the days of her <i>zibah</i><span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' After the third day according to Levi, and after the first or second one according to Rab. ');"><sup>18</sup></span>
מאי דעתייכו משום נפלים אין קושי לנפלים
It was taught: R. Meir used to say. A woman may sometimes bleed<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'be in protracted labour', labour extending over a part of the period. ');"><sup>19</sup></span>
מאי קמ"ל
preceding the period of her menstruation,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As zibah is not established unless a discharge appeared on three consecutive days in the zibah period, and as the third day was already one of the menstruation period, none of the days can be counted as one of a major zibah. ');"><sup>23</sup></span>
לאפוקי ממ"ד אי אפשר לפתיחת הקבר בלא דם קמ"ל
the seven days of menstruation, two days after menstruation,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' These two days which begin a new zibah period are not sufficient to establish a major zibah (cf. prev. n. mut. mut). ');"><sup>24</sup></span>
כיצד קשתה שנים בסוף שמיני ואחד בתחלת תשיעי ואפילו בתחלת תשיעי ילדה הרי זו יולדת בזוב אבל קשתה יום אחד בסוף שמיני ושתים בתחלת תשיעי ואפילו בסוף תשיעי ילדה אין זו יולדת בזוב
and the two days<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V.supra n. 11. ');"><sup>29</sup></span>
אין אשה מתעברת ויולדת אלא למאתים ושבעים ואחד יום או למאתים ושבעים ושנים יום או למאתים ושבעים ושלשה
said to him, might not a woman bleed all the days of her life and no major <i>zibah</i> would occur in them?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Owing to frequent abortions. ');"><sup>33</sup></span>
הוא דאמר כחסידים הראשונים דתניא
— He replied: 'What is it that you have in mind? Is it the possibility of frequent abortions? The law of protracted labour<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sc. that childbirth at their termination renders them all clean. ');"><sup>34</sup></span>
חסידים הראשונים לא היו משמשין מטותיהן אלא ברביעי בשבת שלא יבואו נשותיהן
does not apply to abortions'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Only a viable child confers the privilege. ');"><sup>35</sup></span> Our Rabbis taught: A woman may sometimes<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the absence of protracted labour. ');"><sup>36</sup></span> observe a discharge on a hundred days and yet no major <i>zibah</i> would result from it. How? The two days<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The last of the eleven days. ');"><sup>37</sup></span> prior to the time of menstruation,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. p. 263. n. 10. ');"><sup>38</sup></span> the seven days of menstruation, two days after menstruation,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. p. 263. n. 11. ');"><sup>39</sup></span> eighty days following the birth of a female child,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' During which there can be no zibah. ');"><sup>40</sup></span> seven days of menstruation and the two days<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. p. 263. n. 11. ');"><sup>39</sup></span> after menstruation. What new law does this<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which is self-evident. ');"><sup>41</sup></span> teach us? — That the law differs<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'to exclude'. ');"><sup>42</sup></span> from him who ruled that it was impossible for the uterus to open without some bleeding, [since thereby]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By implying that a birth on the day following the first two days of the zibah period on each of which a discharge was observed, does not cause zibah. ');"><sup>43</sup></span> we were informed that it is possible for the uterus to open without previous bleeding.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Had there been bleeding it would have been regarded, in the absence of the pains of labour, as a discharge on the third day (cf. prev. n.) which turns the woman into a confirmed or major zabah. ');"><sup>44</sup></span> R. JUDAH RULED: … SUFFICES FOR HER etc. It was taught: R. Judah citing R. Tarfon ruled, Her [ninth] month suffices for her<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. relevant n. on our Mishnah. ');"><sup>45</sup></span> and in this there is one aspect of a relaxation of the law<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A month and one day being sometimes regarded as clean. ');"><sup>46</sup></span> and one of restriction.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The cleanness sometimes does not extend even to one day. ');"><sup>47</sup></span> How? If she was in labour for two days at the end of the eighth month and for one day at the beginning of the ninth month, even though she gave birth to the child at the beginning of the ninth month, she is regarded as having born it in <i>zibah</i>;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since the greater part of the duration of the labour (two days out of three) was in the eighth month when labour is no cause of cleanness. ');"><sup>48</sup></span> but if she was in labour for one day at the end of the eighth month and for two days at the beginning of the ninth, even though she bore the child at the end of the ninth month,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' During all of which, with the exception of the first two days, she had complete relief from pain. ');"><sup>49</sup></span> she is not regarded as having given birth in <i>zibah</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Provided only that there was no bleeding during the time she was free from pain. The reason follows. ');"><sup>50</sup></span> Said R. Adda b. Ahabah: From this<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The ruling that two days of labour in the ninth month are a cause of uncleanness. ');"><sup>51</sup></span> it may be inferred that R. Judah holds that it is the <i>shofar</i><span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The trumpet that announces the beginning of a new month. ');"><sup>52</sup></span> that is the cause.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Of the birth of the child; sc. as soon as the ninth month begins the process of bearing begins with it, irrespective of the moment when birth actually took place. Hence all the blood of labour in that month must be attributed to the child, however long the interval of relief may have lasted. ');"><sup>53</sup></span> But could this<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That birth should take place at the beginning of the ninth month. ');"><sup>54</sup></span> be right,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'I am not'. ');"><sup>55</sup></span> seeing that Samuel stated: A woman can conceive and bear only on the two hundred and seventy-first day<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Full nine months (of thirty days each) plus one day after intercourse. ');"><sup>56</sup></span> or on the two hundred and seventy-second day<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Conception being sometimes delayed one or two days (cf. prev. n.). ');"><sup>57</sup></span> or on the two hundred and seventy-third day?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Conception being sometimes delayed one or two days (cf. prev. n.). ');"><sup>57</sup></span> He<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Samuel, in differing from R. Judah. ');"><sup>58</sup></span> follows the view of the pious men of old; for it was taught: The pious men of old performed their marital duty on a Wednesday only, in order that their wives<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By bearing on a weekday. 271, 272 and 273 days make up 38 weeks and 5, 6 and 7 days respectively, so that a conception on a Wednesday results in a birth on a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. ');"><sup>59</sup></span> should not be led to<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'come into the hand of', by bearing on the Saturday. ');"><sup>60</sup></span>