Niddah 49a (מט.) — the Talmud in English

And alternatively, Rabbi Shimon

said it.

And after the chapter

his statement applies: Since the signs develop through the growth of pubic hair, the women are believed only to be stringent, but not to be lenient.

And he does not hold of

Rabbi Shimon

Rava’s presumption

and therefore the presumption cannot be combined with their testimony, as Rabbi Yehuda combines it.

We learned in the latter clause of the Mishna: “And the Sages say: She either performs ḥalitza or enters into yibbum” [when the upper sign has appeared].

Because they said: It is possible for the lower sign

to appear before the upper sign, but it is impossible for the upper sign to appear before the lower sign.

And we challenge this:

Why do I need this additional statement? The tanna already taught it in the first clause

namely, that it is impossible for the upper sign to appear before the lower sign?

And if you would say

that the tanna of our Mishna repeated this ruling as an anonymous statement, without presenting a dispute, after presenting in the first clause the dispute between Rabbi Meir and the Rabbis,

because he wanted to state it anonymously in accordance with the Rabbis

and thereby rule in accordance with them [for the halakha follows an anonymous Mishna when a dispute is initially mentioned in the Mishna concerning a particular matter, and in a later Mishna one opinion is presented anonymously rather than as part of a dispute]. This too is difficult:

It is obvious

that the halakha is in accordance with the Sages, since

when there is one individual opposing many, the halakha follows the many.

There was therefore no need to repeat the ruling in order to teach us that the halakha follows them!?

And we answer:

Lest you say: The reasoning of Rabbi Meir is more compelling

because

the verses support him [“Your breasts were formed and your hair grew.” Likewise: “When your breasts were formed, for the sake of your youthful breasts”], therefore

[«Tvoya grud polnela, a volosy tvoei golovy vyrastali». I takzhe: «Kogda grud tvoikh devushestvennykh let napolnyalas»]. Poetomu

it teaches us

through the anonymous formulation of the Mishna that the halakha follows the Rabbis.

And alternatively,

the tanna repeated in the first clause that the upper sign cannot appear without the lower sign

because he wanted to teach

in the continuation of his statement the following Mishna, which states that there are additional matters

similar to it,

in which one occurrence is impossible without the other. He therefore repeated the statement so that this Mishna would be connected with the following Mishnayot.

Mishna:

Similar to it,

concerning the signs of maturity, in which the upper sign depends on the lower sign, whereas the lower sign does not depend on the upper sign, the Sages taught additional laws involving two matters, one of which entails the other, while the other does not entail it.

a.

Any earthenware vessel

that has a hole or crack

through which it admits

water into the vessel [if the empty vessel is placed in water, and the water penetrates from outside into the vessel through this hole or crack] certainly

also expels

through this hole the water contained inside the vessel, to the outside; it is impossible for a hole to admit water without expelling it.

And

conversely,

there is

a vessel that has a hole or crack

through which it expels

the water contained in it to the outside, but

does not admit

water from outside into the vessel through this hole [and the practical difference will be explained in the Gemara].

b.

Every limb,

even an extra limb, such as [a sixth finger on a person’s hand]

that has a fingernail also has

necessarily also

a bone,

and it is therefore a significant limb [despite being an extra limb], and it conveys ritual impurity through a tent over a corpse even when it is not the measure of an olive, like all the limbs of the dead, which convey impurity through a tent even when they are less than an olive-bulk.

And

conversely,

there is

an extra limb

that has a bone,

but

does not have a fingernail,

and such a limb is not significant and does not convey impurity when it is less than an olive-bulk [but an ordinary, non-extra limb conveys the impurity of a limb from a corpse even if it has no fingernail].

c.

Any

vessel

that conveys midras impurity,

being fit to contract the midras impurity of a zav,

also conveys

necessarily also the impurity of

one who came into contact with a corpse.

And

conversely,

there is

a vessel

that conveys

the impurity of

one who came into contact with a corpse,

but

does not convey

the impurity of

a zav’s midras

.

Gemara:

A vessel that was whole and developed a hole of a size through which it

admits

liquid into the vessel is

invalid for the “water of the red heifer”

[the water with which the ashes of the red heifer are mixed], as those waters must first be sanctified in a whole vessel, and this vessel is not whole.

And all the more so if that vessel was not whole before the hole occurred, but was a fragment of a vessel that was still fit for some use, called a “gistera” [which is invalid for the sanctification of the water of the red heifer because it is not whole, but is nevertheless considered a vessel for the purpose of contracting impurity]: if a hole occurs in it through which liquid enters, it completely loses its status as a vessel,

and

it is

invalid on account of being a “gistera.”

That is, it no longer has the status of a vessel at all; it is not even considered a gistera, but has become pure from all impurity.

But if this hole merely

expels

liquid from inside the vessel to the outside, while it does not admit liquid through it into the vessel,

it is valid

for

for the water of the red heifer

if the hole is in a whole vessel, because such a small hole, which does not admit liquid, does not have the power to deprive a whole vessel of its significance as a vessel. However,

it is invalid

on

on account of being a gistera

if such a hole was in a vessel fragment called a gistera [which, as stated, is a vessel fragment fit for some use], this hole has the power to prevent the gistera from retaining the status of a vessel.

Rav Asi said: It was taught

as a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai:

An earthenware vessel

that is whole and fit for the sanctification of the water of the red heifer:

The measure

of the smallest hole that deprives it of the status of a whole vessel fit for the water of the red heifer [while leaving it classified as a vessel for other laws] is

“admitting liquid.”

But if the hole is smaller than this, so that it merely expels liquid but does not admit liquid, it is still fit for the sanctification of the water of the red heifer.

And they said

that even a smaller hole, of the measure

that expels liquid,

renders the vessel invalid

only with regard to a gistera

, for such a small hole has the power to remove the vessel fragment [which is fit for some use] entirely from the category of a vessel.

What is the reason

that they said that a hole of the measure that expels liquid deprives a gistera of its status to a greater extent than it deprives a vessel?

Mar Zutra, son of Rav Naḥman, said: Because one does not say, “Bring a gistera for a gistera.”

That is, if a hole of the measure that expels liquid occurs in a whole vessel, the owner takes pity on the vessel and continues to use it by placing a vessel fragment [a gistera] beneath it to receive the liquid that emerges. But if such a hole occurs in a gistera, its owner no longer uses it and does not take another gistera to place beneath it; rather, he discards it. Therefore, the gistera completely loses its status as a vessel.

The Sages taught: How does one examine an earthenware vessel

that has been perforated with a hole that expels liquid

to determine whether it is perforated

also

with a hole that admits liquid or not?

He brings a basin full of water and places the pot into it. If it absorbs

[that is, if water enters the basin]

it is known that it admits liquid; and if not, it is known that it expels liquid

only.