Niddah 17b (יז:) — the Talmud in English

Even

the foods and liquids that he does not touch—for example, if the earthenware vessel was

full

of mustard

seeds,

each of which is itself a food, and the vessel did not touch all the mustard, nevertheless all the mustard became impure by being inside the vessel.

Mishna:

The Sages drew a parable concerning a woman

with regard to her internal structure, which resembles a house containing:

a.

The room —

a metaphor for the womb itself.

b.

The corridor —

a metaphor for the passageway from the womb outward.

c.

The upper chamber —

a metaphor for a separate place situated above the womb and above the corridor, from which there is a passage called the “lul” to the corridor.

Two different types of blood emerge from that same “house”: one blood emerges from the room [the womb], and the second blood emerges from the upper chamber.

The blood of the room —

impure.

The blood of the upper chamber —

pure.

If

the blood is found on the cloth with which she examined herself

in the corridor,

and it is not known whether it is impure blood coming from the room or pure blood coming from the upper chamber—

its status is impure! According

to the presumption

that the blood came

from the source

and not from the upper chamber, since most of the blood emerging from a woman’s body comes from the womb itself and not from the upper chamber above it.

Gemara:

Rami bar Shmuel and Rav Yitzhak, son of Rav Yehuda, taught

the tractate

Niddah in the school of Rav Huna:

Rabba bar Rav Huna found them sitting,

while they were studying our Mishna,

and saying:

The room

is

inside,

on the woman’s inner side.

The corridor is outside,

on the woman’s outer side.

And the upper chamber —

is built over both of them,

above them.

And the lul,

a passage,

is open between the upper chamber and the corridor,

through which the pure blood of the upper chamber emerges and descends into the corridor.

The room is located on the inner side of the body, near the woman’s back; the corridor is in front of it, near the abdomen; and the upper chamber is above both of them . There are three openings in the corridor. One brings blood from the upper chamber; it is located in the upper part of the corridor, called the roof of the corridor. This opening is the lul mentioned in our passage. The second brings blood from the room; it is located at the bottom of the room, near the floor of the corridor. The third carries both types of blood from the body to the outside.

It follows that two types of blood pass through the corridor on their way out: the blood of the room, which is impure, and the blood of the upper chamber, which is pure. Therefore, when a woman finds blood in the corridor, there is uncertainty as to her status. Four approaches to this matter will be explained in the course of the discussion .

If

the blood is found

on an examination performed in the inner part of the corridor, which is

from the lul inward,

that is, toward the inner room—

its

status, since we are uncertain whether it came from the room or from the lul, is

impure!

But if the examination was performed in the “outer” part of the corridor, which is

from the lul outward,

and blood was found there—

its status is pure,

for we may say that this blood came only from the upper chamber, and it is pure blood. The impure blood coming from the room reaches the middle of the corridor, and from there exits through the opening in the “walls of the womb”; it does not continue toward the outer part of the corridor!

Rabba bar Rav Huna came

after hearing the words of Rami bar Shmuel and Rav Yitzhak, son of Rav Yehuda, who had taught them in the school of Rav Huna, his father.

And he said to his father

[Rav Huna]: “Did you say to us, ‘If the blood is found from the lul inward,

its status is uncertainly impure’—

you, my master!?”

[This was what I heard the students studying in your school.]

But did we not learn, ‘whose presumption is that it came from the source’

in our Mishna—

and if so, it is certainly impure , not merely uncertainly so?!

Rav Huna said to him,

Rabba, his son:

I

did not teach my students what they said. Rather,

this is what I say:

[The second approach to the law of blood found in the corridor]

If the blood is found in the corridor

from the lul inward—

certainly impure,

for its presumption is that it came from the source.

From the lul outward —

its status is uncertainly impure,

because it is uncertain whether the blood came from the room or from the upper chamber.

Abaye said: What is different about from the lul outward, whose status is uncertainly impure, as perhaps she bent over,

lying on her stomach,

and it came from the room!?

In that case, the blood descended through the corridor toward its “outer” side and did not exit through the opening for the blood’s exit in the “walls of the womb.”

If so, when the blood is found

from the lul inward as well—

why is it certainly impure?

Say that she arched backward,

lying on her back,

and it came from the upper chamber 148 ,

so that it should be only uncertainly impure?

Rather, Abaye said:

[The third approach to the law of blood found in the corridor]

If you follow the concern,

that one must be concerned that she changed her body’s usual position [such as the concern that she bent over or arched backward]—

both this and that,

whether the blood is found in the inner part of the corridor, inward of the lul, or in the outer part —

are uncertain!

The location of the blood varies according to changes in her body position, and we do not know how her position changed.

[Abaye raised another possibility, which is the fourth approach in our passage:]

And if you follow the presumption,

without being concerned about changes in her body position—

from the lul inward, certainly impure,

because blood emerging from the upper chamber does not flow back toward the interior ; therefore, the blood found must certainly have come only from the room.

And from the lul outward —

certainly pure,

since only blood from the upper chamber reaches there.

Rabbi Hiyya taught: With regard to blood found in the corridor, one is liable for entering the Temple because of it [ if she entered the Temple after finding the blood in the corridor],

if she entered the Temple after finding the blood in the corridor,

and they burn

the teruma because of it

that came into contact with it.

And Rav Ketina said: One is not liable for entering the Temple because of it, and they do not burn the teruma because of it,

since it is only a matter of uncertainty.

And the Gemara explains how the four approaches cited above will interpret the beraita: [

a]

According to this formulation [ the third approach]

the third view,

that Abaye said, “If you follow concern

—both are uncertain” —

it supports Rav Ketina, and it disagrees with Rabbi Hiyya

with regard to Abaye, since according to Abaye it is always a matter of uncertainty, whereas Rabbi Hiyya renders it certainly impure. [

b]

According to this formulation [ the fourth approach]

the fourth view,

that you said, “If you follow presumptive status

—from the opening and inward, it is certainly impure” —

it supports Rabbi Hiyya

who renders it certainly impure, and Rabbi Hiyya was speaking of blood found from the opening and inward.