Niddah 54a (נד.) — the Talmud in English

Are they fools?

Indeed,

they are mistaken!

For they do not know what their status is—whether they are like niddot or like zavot.

Rather, teach as follows:

While you are correcting the

mistaken

come and correct the intelligent ones as well! And regarding which intelligent women did Rabbi Yehoshua say that they must be corrected?

As it was taught:

A woman who, throughout all her days, has

one impure day,

on which she sees blood,

and one pure day,

on which she does not see blood, has the following remedy:

She may engage in marital relations

on the

eighth

day after her first sighting, since she can immerse and purify herself on the night preceding the eighth day, because she does not see blood on that day [and may engage in relations throughout that night and day],

and its night as well,

since she is permitted even on the following night, because she ordinarily sees blood only during the day; consequently, she will become impure only in the morning of the ninth day.

And

Likewise, she can engage in relations on another

four nights out of eighteen days [

which comprise one complete cycle of seven days of niddah and eleven days of zivah], as follows:

a. After she sees blood during the day of the ninth, which is a day of zivah, she observes the tenth day [on which she does not see blood] according to the law of one who observes one day corresponding to one day, and immerses, purifies herself, and engages in relations on the following night [the night preceding the eleventh day].

b. After she sees blood during the eleventh day, she observes the twelfth day, immerses, purifies herself, and engages in relations on the following night [the night preceding the thirteenth day].

c. Likewise, when she sees blood on the thirteenth day, she observes the fourteenth day and engages in relations on the night preceding the fifteenth day.

d. Likewise, when she sees blood on the fifteenth day, she observes the sixteenth day and engages in relations on the night preceding the seventeenth day.

Indeed, when she sees blood on the seventeenth day and observes the eighteenth day, she is also permitted to engage in relations on the following night, the night preceding the nineteenth day. However, since this night is not included within the eighteen days of the preceding cycle of the days of niddah and zivah, but belongs to the following cycle of eighteen days of niddah and zivah, the tanna did not include it among the nights on which she is permitted to engage in relations.

But,

if she would see

blood

from the evening, she may engage in relations only on the eighth day!

On the eighth day she may engage in relations throughout its night and day, but on the other days she cannot engage in relations, since on the day on which she sees blood she sees it from the evening. And on a day on which she does not see blood, she must observe one day corresponding to one day.

And if the pattern of her sightings was

two impure days and two pure days,

her remedy is:

a.

She may engage in relations on the eighth day,

throughout its night and day!

b.

And

after she sees blood on the ninth and tenth days and observes the eleventh day, she may engage in relations during the

twelfth day!

c.

And

after she sees blood on the thirteenth and fourteenth days and observes the fifteenth day, she may engage in relations during the

sixteenth day!

d. But after she sees blood on the seventeenth and eighteenth days, she cannot engage in relations on the nineteenth day, because the eighteenth day is the eleventh day of her days of zivah. And it holds that one who sees blood on the eleventh day of her days of zivah is forbidden to engage in relations on the following day [even though that day is already among the days designated for niddah and the law of one who observes one day corresponding to one day does not apply to it].

And

therefore, she can engage in relations the next time only on the

twentieth day!

When she sees blood again, on the twenty-first day, she is a niddah. From this point onward, another cycle of twenty days begins!

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

Let her also engage in relations on the nineteenth day

[the nineteenth]? For she does not need to observe the nineteenth day by virtue of the law of one who observes one day corresponding to one day, since the eleven days of zivah had already elapsed at the end of the eighteenth day, and she no longer has the status requiring observation!?

It answers:

Rav Sheshet said: That is to say,

“a glutton”

as we learned

[that we learned below in the Mishna, as a derogatory designation for a man with excessive desire who engages in relations with a woman who saw blood on the eleventh day of her days of zivah and immersed the following day],

is forbidden!

That is to say, this is not merely a derogatory designation; rather, the Sages prohibited engaging in relations with a woman who saw blood on the eleventh day of her days of zivah and immersed on the following day, so that people would not err and permit relations with a woman who saw blood in the middle of the days of zivah]. Such a woman is forbidden to engage in relations on the day following the day on which she saw blood, because she must observe one day corresponding to one day, and the entire day is forbidden, even after she has immersed].

Rav Ashi said:

In fact, on the twelfth day of her days of zivah she is not forbidden, not even by rabbinic decree. For the eleventh day never requires observation on the following day, since the following day is always the first day of the days of niddah.

Rather,

although

the

eleventh day does not require observation,

the

tenth day nevertheless requires observation!

And the “observation” can consist only of a pure day. Here, however, the discussion concerns a woman who saw blood on the seventeenth and eighteenth days of her cycle, which are the tenth and eleventh days of her days of zivah. Consequently, the eleventh day on which she saw blood did not serve as an observation for the tenth day on which she saw blood [and therefore, even though the eleventh day itself does not require observation, it nevertheless did not serve as an observation for the tenth day, and the tenth day requires one clean day corresponding to it].

Therefore, she must observe the twelfth day of her zivah [on which she does not see blood], which is the nineteenth day of her cycle!

The Gemara continues by citing the continuation of the beraita:

A woman whose pattern of sightings was

three impure days and three pure days may engage in relations for two days, and thereafter may never engage in relations again!

For at the conclusion of the seventh day of her niddah she cannot become pure, since the eighth day is the second of the three days on which she sees blood. The sightings on the eighth and ninth days are sightings of zivah, and when she stops seeing blood on the tenth day, she still cannot immerse, because she must observe the tenth day under the law of one who observes one day corresponding to one day. Consequently, she can immerse only on the night preceding the eleventh day and engage in relations throughout the eleventh day, and likewise on the following day, the twelfth day. From that point onward, once she sees blood for three days [beginning on the thirteenth day], she is a major zava and can never become pure, since she is never able to count seven consecutive clean days!

And if the pattern of her sightings was

four impure days and four pure days, she may engage in relations for one day

only,

and thereafter may never engage in relations again.

For she can immerse only on the night preceding the eighth day, which is the last of the days on which she does not see blood; afterward, once she becomes impure during her days of zivah, she is a zava who can never count seven consecutive clean days, and she remains impure forever.

And if the pattern of her sightings was

five impure days and five pure days,

she immerses on the night preceding the eighth day, and

may engage in relations for three days

[the eighth, ninth, and tenth days]. When she sees blood on the eleventh day, she becomes a zava who cannot become pure,

and thereafter may never engage in relations again.

And if the pattern of her sightings was

six impure days and six pure days, she may engage in relations for five days

[the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth days]

and thereafter may never engage in relations again.

And if the pattern of her sightings was

seven impure days and seven pure days, she may engage in relations for a quarter of her days out of a cycle of twenty-eight days.

That is to say, the cycle from the beginning of her niddah until the beginning of her next niddah is twenty-eight days.

For after she immerses for her niddah at the end of the first seven impure days, she may engage in relations for seven days. Then she again becomes impure for seven days, four of which fall within her eleven days of zivah, causing her to become a major zava, and she must then count seven clean days, after which she again sees blood at the beginning of niddah.

Consequently, out of the twenty-eight days of her cycle, she may engage in relations for only one week—that is, “a quarter of her days out of twenty-eight days.”

And if the pattern of her sightings was

eight impure days and eight pure days, she may engage in relations for fifteen days out of forty-eight.

That is:

a. At the conclusion of the first eight impure days, the eight days free of blood begin. She observes the ninth day [which is a clean day] corresponding to the eighth day on which she saw blood [which is the first day of her eleven days of zivah], and from that point onward she is permitted for the following seven days.

b. At the conclusion of the first eight pure days, she becomes impure for an additional eight days [during which she sees blood every day], but she does not become a major zava during them. Since the initial sighting was on the tenth day of her days of zivah, she saw blood on only two of the eleven days of zivah [the tenth and eleventh days]; therefore, the final six days on which she saw blood are six days of niddah.

c. After the second eight impure days have elapsed, six of which were days of niddah, the second eight days free of blood begin, and she is now on the seventh day of her niddah. Therefore, she immerses in the evening, and once again has seven days during which she is permitted to engage in relations. [By this point, thirty-two days have passed: two sets of eight impure days and two sets of eight pure days].

d. At the conclusion of the second eight pure days [the first of which was a day of niddah, while the remaining seven were days two through seven of the eleven days designated for zivah], the third eight impure days begin [the first four of which are the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh days of the days designated for zivah], and during them she becomes a major zava [so that forty days have passed by this point].

e. At the conclusion of the third eight impure days, the third eight days free of blood begin, and she counts, as required of a major zava, seven clean days out of the eight days free of blood.

In the evening, on the night preceding the eighth clean day, she immerses and is permitted for only one day! For on the following day, an additional eight impure days begin.

Consequently, during the forty-eight days she was permitted to engage in relations:

For seven of the first eight pure days.

For seven of the second eight pure days.

And for one day of the third eight pure days.

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

There were fourteen days!?

The one raising the difficulty assumed that she is not permitted to engage in relations on the final day of the third eight pure days, because the sighting during the third eight impure days began on days eight, nine, ten, and eleven of the days of zivah and continued on days one, two, three, and four of the days of niddah. Consequently, the counting of seven clean days began on day five of niddah and continued on days six and seven of niddah, and so on, through day eight, which was already among the days designated for zivah.

The one raising the difficulty assumed that it is impossible to count the seven clean days of a zava during the days of niddah when she had already seen blood at the beginning of her days of niddah, even though the subsequent days of niddah were clean. Rather, she must wait until the days designated for zivah begin and then start counting the seven clean days.

The Gemara answers:

Rav Adda bar Yitzhak said: That is to say, the days of her niddah during which she does not see blood count toward the counting of

seven clean days for purification from the impurity of

her zivah!

Therefore, although the counting of the seven clean days began on the fifth day of her niddah, after she had already seen blood during the first four days of niddah, she can nevertheless count seven clean days beginning with the sixth day of her niddah and purify herself on the eighth day.

They raised a dilemma: