Niddah 68: Presumptive Status of Ritual Im/Purity and Intermediate Days

To conclude yesterday's conversations, the rabbis consider the halacha regarding a woman who washes her hair before immersion in the mikvah.  Hair washing should be done immediately before immersion, but if immersion is to happen at the end of Shabbat, hair washing cannot take place first for it would be too late in the day to then immerse before being permitted to her husband that same night.  The rabbis rule that a woman must wash her hair and immerse on the same evening unless that is not possible, in which case she is permitted to immerse the following day.

A new Mishna teaches several cases to examine the concept of niddah:

• A woman who examines herself on the seventh day and sees no blood and then immerses in the mikvah without checking herself again at twilight is considered to be ritually pure from the time of examination until the time that she examines herself again to find blood, even if that is only several days after immersion

• A woman who examines herself on the seventh day and finds blood but immerses anyway on the eve of the eighth day is considered to be ritually impure from the point that she found blood until the time that she examines herself again and finds herself to be ritually impure - anything that she touched over that time is also ritually impure

• A woman who examines herself on the morning of the seventh day and finds no blood but then finds blood several days later, her presumptive status is of ritual purity between examinations but she is considered to have imparted ritual impurity to anything that she touched for a twenty-four hour period from examination to examination

• If that last woman has a fixed menstrual cycle, she is considered to be ritually pure from the time she saw blood (there is no retroactive status of ritual impurity)

• Rabbi Yehuda rules stringently, saying that a woman is presumed to be ritually impure if she does not examine herself after mincha on the seventh day following the start of menstruation

• the rabbis rule more leniently, saying that even after only two days of menstruation and then finding blood, a woman is deemed ritually pure between examination and immersion 

In the Gemara, Rav and Levi argue about whether the first woman is a definite greater zava or an uncertain greater zava.  The rabbis debate the presumptive status of a woman who has not checked herself for blood at many different times following the first seven days of one's period.  For people who have never in their lives had a period, they are very intent on describing these facts.

We are introduced to a new Mishna.  It teaches that the zav and zava must examine themselves on each day for seven clean days before purification in a mikvah. Those who are ritually pure on the first day and the seventh day but did not check themselves over the middle days are presumed to be ritually pure by Rabbi Eliezer.  Rabbi Yehoshua says that they must count another seven clean days following the seventh day.  Rabbi Akiva says that they have counted only the seventh day and they must count six more days.

The Gemara begins to explore whether or not a seminal emission during the intermediate days will transmit renewed ritual impurity to a zav.  The rabbis also consider how a zava might be different from or similar to a zav when considering the implications of finding menstrual blood during the intermediate days between counting days.  

Niddah 67: Immersion During the Day When Women are not Safe At Night

Today's daf discusses when a woman should immerse in the mikva.  We know that a woman who is niddah begins counting from the first day of menstruation.  She can immerse at the end of the seventh day, even if her bleeding continues through the week, but Rav teaches that this immersion that must be at the end of the day.  If she waits until the next day, she is permitted to immerse during the day.  Rabbi Yochanan disagrees, noting that her daughter might see this behaviour and believe that it was proper behaviour on the wrong day.

The rabbis discuss exceptions to the rule that women immerse in the evening of their last day:

• Rav Idi says that immersion should be done on the eighth day in Neresh when lions roam that area during the day
• Rav Acha bar Yaakov says that immersion should be done on the eighth day when thieves are in Pappunya 
• Rav Yehuda says that immersion at Pumbedita should happen during the eighth day due to the cold at night
• Rava says that the guards at the city gates of Mechoza are not trustworthy and thus women can immerse on the eighth day at night

The principle is that when there is danger at night, women can immerse during the day following her seventh day of niddah.

Niddah 66: The Menstrual Cycle and Extra Stringencies

Rabbi Zeira says that Jewish women are stringent regarding menstrual blood.  That means that instead of just being ritually impure for the seven days of their periods, they are ritually impure as a zava for an additional week.  Certainly the extra days are an extreme stringency but our tradition insists that women are considered to be ritually impure at least two weeks of each menstrual cycle.  

Nidda 64: Fertility and Menstrual Blood

At the very end of today's daf, we are introduced to a new Mishna.  It teaches us that woman's menstrual blood is like a vineyard: some is red and some is black in colour.  Some is abundant and some is meagre.  And just like leaven is good for bread, menstrual blood is good for a woman.

The rabbis discuss the importance of a woman's fertility.  Like all of us, they want to know that they have some sense of understanding of and control over women's bodily functions.

Niddah 63: Blood Stains and Establishing Menstrual Cycles

The Gemara cotinues to discuss the seven substances that remove blood?

1. Tasteless saliva: that which has been in one's mouth overnight; it contains several chemicals/enzymes that help with cleaning
2. Liquid from String Beans comes from chewing up those beans using the warm saliva of one's mouth
3. Urine: must be fermented for three days
4. Natron: Alexandrian
5. Borit: sulfer, one type of ice plant
6. Casmonian earth: earth that is "pull out, stick in"; the meaning is not decidedly defined
7. Potash: found in the shell of a pearl and removed with an iron stick

Some notes:

• if soap is applied after these seven substances and the stain disappears, the item remains ritually impure because of uncertainty - the stain might have disappeared at that point anyway
• the rabbis compare this with the discharge of a zav into a ceramic bowl where the discharge creates ritual impurity everywhere if it is heated and ritual impurity when touched

A first Mishna from today's daf is introduced: A woman has a regular menstrual cycle if she recognizes the start of menstruation by time or by physical sensation.  The sensations might be sneezing, yawning, shuddering, feeling a secretion, etc.  If this happens three cycles in a row, she has established a pattern has a regular cycle.

A second Mishna is introduced: a woman who experiences these signs of menstruation does not have to be named ritually impure retroactively.

Our third Mishna describes a woman who tastes something (onions, garlic, pepper, etc.) which provokes menstruation.  The rabbis debate the meaning of being able to do this three times in a row.

Finally, our fourth Mishna: if a woman menstruates on the fifteenth day of her cycle and then deviates to the twentieth day, she is not permitted to have intercourse with her husband between the fifteenth and twentieth day.  If this happens twice, she is not permitted to her husband on the fifteenth or the twentieth.  If it happens three times, she is permitted to her husband from the fifteenth until the nineteenth at which point the twentieth is a day for herself.

Niddah 62: Seven Substances that Remove Blood

A new Mishna tells us that there are seven substances that will remove blood.  If they remove a bloodstain well, then we know that the stain is from blood rather than from another chemical.  These are saliva, liquid from split beans, urine, neuron (sodium carbonate), borit, cimolean earth (from clay) and potash (from grass).  The Mishna describes how to use these substances (including soaking in saliva for three days, etc.) and in which order to use them.  The process should be repeated three times, in the proper order, for the desired outcome to be achieved.  

Gemara commentary discerns the precise details of each of these substances, their uses, and their parts in determining whether an item is ritually impure or not.  The rabbis share arguments regarding many of these items.  One of these is where Rabbi Yochanan recalls Rabbi Chiyya's teaching that once a garment has gone through each of these cleaning techniques seven times, the garment is either still stained and so the item is ritually pure (not from menstrual blood in the first place) or it is perfectly clear and thus came from blood but that blood is gone.  In both cases, the item should be considered to be ritually pure.  Rabbi Lakish notes that this cannot be a quote from Rabbi Chiyya for his teacher was Rabbi HaNasi who wrote the Mishna and thus ruled more stringently on this matter.  

Niddah 61: Finding the Source of Ritual Impurity; Gedaliah

Today's Mishna tells us about Rabbi's Meir's statement about tameh, ritual impurity.  He says that when there is a tradition that when ritual impurity is found in a given place, we assume that it is there until it is located and removed.  However, when the area has been searched and no source of impurity is found, we can assume that it isn't there.

The Gemara tells us many stories to describe this statement.  In every example, the impurity is found after the search has been completed.  The Gemara teaches us that in each case the search must have been done incorrectly.  There is one story that stands out relating to an incident at the close of the First Temple period.

Abba Shaul teaches Beit Horon's surrounding areas were thought to be ritually impure. An old man named Rabbi Yehoshua bar Chananya knew how to address this and he found a put full of bones.  The Gemara said that this was a pit that Yishmael ben Nataniah had filled with corpses from the side of Gedaliah.  Who killed them, Gedaliah or Yishmael?  

Steinsaltz teaches the story of Gedaliah's murder at the hands of Yishmael ben Netaniah in Ch.41-42 of Yirmiyahu.  After the first Temple was destroyed and the Israelites were exiled under Judean leadership, the Babylonian king appointed Gedaliah to govern the Jews who stayed in the Land of Israel.  Under the encouragement of King Baalis of Amon, Yishmael ben Netaniah assassinated Gedaliah.

The remaining Jews fled for Egypt.  We now commemorate the emptied land of Israel with the Fast of Gedaliah which falls on the day after Rosh HaShana.

Niddah 60: Three Women in the Same Bed: Public or Private?

We know that the rabbis decided that a woman should behave as if she is niddah even in situations where the Torah deems her ritually pure.  Today's daf ask a question about public verses private instances of finding kedamim, blood stains:  If three women slept in a single bed and blood was found under one of the them they are all ritually impure.  If one of them examined herself with a cloth and was found to be impure, she herself is deemed ritually impure while the other two are considered to be pure.  

The rabbis ask why any of the women should be considered to be ritually impure if the stain is under just one of them and they are permitted to be lenient.  They introduce a principal: safek tumah b'reshut harabbim, tahor: doubtful impurity in a public pace is considered to be ritually impure.  A public place is one with at least three people.  Because of this, the three women sleeping together are sleeping in a public place and questionable impurity should be treated with leniency.

Several answers are offered to address this question.  Here are three examples:

• three people might not constitute a reshut harabim, a public place.  If the three are in a hidden place, like these women in bed, it is considered to be a private place.
• the rule that doubtful impurity in the public domain is considered to be ritually pure only applies when the impurity comes from the outside, for example when someone stepped over a grave, but does not apply when that impurity comes from a person her/himself, like in the case of a ketem.
• If the women presented their cases separately they might have been deemed ritually pure.  When they all came together, one of them had to be the sources of the ketem and so they are all declared to be ritually impure.

Again, the rabbis are balancing their desire to allow women to be intimate with their husbands as frequently as possible with their felt need for providing structure and stringency.

Niddah 59: Bloodstains Found in Lent Clothing: Opportunities for Leniencies and Stringencies

When a woman finds a ketam, a blood stain, in her clothing, the rabbis are permitted to rule leniently about her status as ritually impure.  If she borrows a cloak from a friend, she is still considered to be ritually pure as long as she has a reason that the blood could belong to someone else.  The blood might even belong to her, but if it likely comes from an opened wound, it does not render her ritually impure.  

Today's daf considers when three women present with questions about ritual purity.  If two of the women are deemed ritually pure, the third will have to be deemed ritually impure.  The rabbis are permitted to look for leniencies; however, they are encouraged to keep stringency in mind.

The rabbis argue about the exact meaning of the Gemara's descriptions of these three women.  It is difficult to discern the narratives of this example.

Niddah 57: Ritual Impurity Based on Where Blood is Found

We begin a new Mishna on daf 57(b).  It teaches that blood found adjacent to one's vagina must have come from her uterus and thus renders her ritually impure.  Women are also considered to be ritually impure if a blood stain is found anywhere on the inside of her legs or on her feet, heels, big toe - anywhere that the blood could have fallen.  If the blood is found on the outside of her legs, she is considered to be ritually pure because the blood could not have come from her uterus.  If blood is found on her robe or sleeves where the robe could touch her vagina, she is considered to be ritually impure.

Notable is the word beit haturpa, a euphemism for vagina.  It either refers to to the most shameful part of a woman's body, or the part of her body that feels most vulnerable to shame or embarrassment.  It could also be related to the word toref, essence, or turpa, weakness.  There is no need to share a feminist interpretation of these words; it goes without saying. 

The rabbis again argue about the status of a woman who examines the ground, sits down, and rises, finding blood beneath her.  Many rabbis say that she is ritually pure because she felt nothing "in her flesh", which is required by both Torah and rabbinic halacha.  They try to reconcile the requirement to feel a flow of blood and the fact that a woman is considered to be ritually pure if there is a blood stain on the lower half of her clothing.  The rabbis note that a woman might have walked past a butcher and her clothing was stained from that interaction.  They also note that the shape of a blood stain next to one's vagina should be long rather than round to indicate that it is blood from one's uterus. 

Niddah 56: On a Beit Haperas and When Kutim are Trusted with Halacha

Today's daf has a Mishna that tells us to turn to the Kutim for advice on the status of a ketem, stained item of clothing.  Many examples are shared regarding what is trusted and not trusted when it comes to the opinions of Kutim.

Kutim are trusted when they say that that they buried a still-born infant in a certain place.  They are also trusted when they testify regarding markings on grave sites.  They are not trusted regarding to questions about overhanging boughs or protrusions that jut out of stone fences when a grave might sit beneath it.  They are also not trusted when deciding whether or not a field is a beit haperas, a field that might hold a dead body.  We must be careful when fields are plowed in case their former use was as a grave site.  

We learn that in general, the Kutim are trusted in areas of Jewish law that they agree with bu that they are not trusted in areas where they disagree with Jewish law. 

Niddah 55: Wet and Dry Sources of RItual Impurity

We begin a new Perek today and we carry on with the Mishna that begun yesterday.  We had learned that menstrual blood and the flesh of a corpse impart ritual impurity when they are moist.  Even if they are dried, the ritual impurity returns if the item is soaked in water for twenty-four hours.  

The rabbis discuss other sources of ritual impurities that can be transferred when wet or dry.  One of the examples is discussion about the secretions of a zav, a man with an STI.  The rabbis determine that his semen, mucous from the mouth or nose and spittle can impart ritual impurity only when wet.  

Why aren't tears one of the wet secretions that impart a zav's ritual impurity?  The Gemara repeats Rav's words: He who wishes to blind his eye shall have it painted by a gentile, and Levi stated that he who wishes to die shall have his eyes painted by a gentile.

Steinsaltz teaches us about kohl, the black-blue makeup used in Talmudic times.  Ti was used around the eyes to make them appear larger.  It was also used as medicine.  In the Talmud Yerushalmi, we learn that Rav did not use kohl but Levi did.  Kohl was made of mercury and it may have been used as a poison.

Niddah 54: When Intercourse is Permitted

Today's daf ends Perek VI.  It focuses on two main issues: the number of days that a woman can have intercourse with her husband, and when a woman may have miscarried and how to know whether that fetus was male or female. 

The rabbis are very specific about the number of days that a woman might be permitted to have intercourse with her husband.  She is ritually impure and thus untouchable from the first day of bleeding for eight days including one clean day of being a lesser ziva.  Then she is ritually pure for seven more days.  Then she is watching for blood, and finally she is ritually impure again.  There are larger periods of time counted, as well - fourty-eight days and one hundred days.  Within each time period the rabbis determine for how many days women and their husbands are permitted to have intercourse.  There is acknowledgement that some women are ritually impure for ten days and then ritually pure for ten days.  Finally, it is notable that if the couple has intercourse within times of ritual impurity, the husband is never permitted to have intercourse with his wife again.  That is a serious repercussion. 

All of this suggests that women are eager to have intercourse with their husbands.  There is one sentence that addresses a husband's desire: a man who does not wait for his wife to be completely ritually pure is considered to be a glutton and thus should not be permitted to have intercourse at all.

Niddah 53: Women Finding a Blood Stain

We have already learned that becoming ritually impure as a niddah is learned from Vayikra (15:19), where it says, "And if a woman has an issue, and her issue in her flesh is blood, she will be in her ritual impurity seven days; and anyone who touches her will be ritually impure until the evening".  

The rabbis understand this passage as referring to 

• a flow of blood
• the sensation of the flow of blood

If a woman finds a ketem, stain, on her clothing, the Torah does not say that she is a niddah.  However, the Sages ruled that she is a niddah based on their rabbinic ruling alone.  The Gemara say that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi taught: if a woman sees a bloodstain and then sees a discharge of blood, she is permitted to assume that the blood has flowed within twenty-four hours. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar ruled that it must be during the same day.  Thus the status of niddah does not extend back to when the clothing was washed but only since the moment it was found, as long as these events were within a twenty-four hour period.  Rabbi Elazar limits this to one day.   

Rabbi Betzalel Ranschberg teaches that there is no clear ruling on this matter.  However, it is irrelevant because Rabbi Zeira ruled successfully that women must wait seven "clean" days after seeing even one spot of blood.  

Niddah 51: Ritual Impurity/Kashrut/Tithing of Birds and Fish; When Blessings Must be Recited

In Niddah 50, we learned about some of the laws of pe'a as they overlap with the laws regarding tithes.  Today's daf focuses on the kashrut of birds.  when discussing birds, the rabbis note that contact with the carcass of a non-kosher bird does not impart ritual impurity until at least an olive bulk passes down one's throat.  Further, they consider imparting ritual impurity through one of seven liquids: water, dew, milk, blood, wine, oil or honey must drop onto the owner's clothing without his/her knowledge.

There are several Mishnayot that consider the status of different items: tithing and shearing of certain first-born animals, the kashrut around fish with scales and fins, and the generalization that if a blessing is required following an action, it is also required before the action.  However, it may not be necessary to bless an action after it taken place if the blessing was given beforehand. 

Niddah 49: Can Women be Judges?

We learn in the first of three Mishnayot in today's daf that a vessel with a hole in it can both let in water and allow water to escape, and thus it cannot be sanctified.  Similarly, when a limb is pierced by a nail, there must be a bone in that limb and thus if it is a corpse, it will impart ritual impurity.  The second and third Mishnayot focus on what is permitted of adjudicators.  One might be qualified to adjudicate in certain types of offenses but not in others. 

To that last point, the rabbis wonder about Deborah, the judge.  First, Tosafot say that this Mishna refers to men only.  Any judge can serve as a witness, but some who can serve as witnesses cannot be judges.  Tosafot then argue that Devorah was a special circumstance because she was given Heavenly approval to judge.  Thirdly, Tosafot teach that Devorah did not actually serve as a judge.  Instead, she taught the laws of judgement to the Jewish people. 

This last argument seems unlikely considering that people lined up to hear her judgements.  How is that different from other judges?

Niddah 48: Young Women's Breasts Again

We begin Perek VI today with a new Mishna.  It teaches that two pubic hairs are the definitive sign of womanhood.  If a woman's childless husband died, she is permitted to perform chalitza with her husband's brother.  If upper signs of puberty appear first, Rabbi Meir says that it must be that the two hairs fell out.  Thus she cannot perform chalitza nor marry her husband's brother.  The rabbis teach that she is permitted to perform chalitza or enter into levirate marriage.  In fact, the lower signs of puberty can appear before the upper signs but not the other way around.

The rabbis discuss the timing of lower and upper signs of puberty.  They turn to writings that order the development of these secondary sexual characteristics as proofs.  The rabbis then turn to the development of one breast before the other.  They note that this might have to do with the responsibilities that come with poverty, childcare, and physical labour.  An example of one young woman is shared.  At the end of our daf, we learn that women are considered by most of our rabbis to be those who will check for these signs of sexual maturity.  Rabbi Yehuda disagrees, not trusting women to judge young women accurately.  The rabbis agree that women are permitted to evaluated as long as they judge more stringently than leniently.

Again, we are forced to face the reality of young women's lives.  There is an understanding that young women's breasts will be watched, touched and evaluated by others even at the age of eleven. We know that scrutiny and evaluation of our bodies continues, and that it damage both women and men: women focus on the value of our bodies over all else, and men learn that women's bodies are somehow detached from our emotional and intellectual experiences.

Niddah 47: Young Women's Breasts; Status of the Aylonit

Our new Mishna returns to the concept of womanhood and what defines sexual maturity.  A woman is compared with a fig: a child up to age twelve and one day is like an unripened fig.  Between ages twelve and one day and thirteen, a girl is a ripening fig. Add the development of secondary sex characteristics from age thirteen on, a girl is like a ripe fig.  We are reminded that a minor and a young woman are both under their father's control.  He can own any options that she finds, nullify her vows, and take her earnings.  Once she is a woman, he can do none of these things any longer.

The rabbis have a terribly uncomfortable conversation about the development of breasts.  They question what indicates the development of breasts: is it a line beneath the breast? Is it the breast hanging over? Is it the darkening of the nipples?  Is it nipples that return to their shape slowly when pressed down by someone?

There are two disturbing features to this discussion.  The first is the permission that is given for fathers to examine and even touch their daughters' bodies.  This is the same daf that speaks about fathers' ownership of their daughters' income, found items and vows.  Would that not suggest that fathers own their daughters' bodies?  Secondly, this gives men permission to talk about, to discuss, and to stare at young women's developing breasts.  Disgusting.

Today's daf also examines the aylonit, sexual underdeveloped woman who cannot have children. It briefly looks at the saris, sexually underdeveloped men who have no secondary sex characteristics by the age of twenty.  Steinsaltz teaches that the root of aylonit is ayil, a male ram, who is thought of as masculine.  We learn that an aylonit cannot become a yevama, a childless widow who marries her brother-in-law, because the point of yibum is to have children who continue the family line (Devarim 25:6).  

The Gemara discusses the genetic origin of an aylonit.  An akara, barren woman, is different because her sexual and physical development are normal but she cannot have children for a different reason.  An aylonit is missing secondary sex characteristics, like pubic hair.  She might have more male hormones than usual or she may have only one X chromosome (Turner syndrome).  We learn in the Koren Talmud that 98% of fetuses with Turner syndrome spontaneously abort.   The rabbis ask many questions about the determination of the status of aylonit because it cannot be determined until adulthood, which affects a woman's status and functioning within society.

Niddah 46: Contraception for Those at Risk

Today's daf looks at birth control.  A moch, an observant cloth, can be inserted into (or clean out) the vagina in three cases: a minor, a pregnant woman and a woman who is nursing.  A minor could die from a pregnancy. A pregnant woman could become pregnant a second time and the fetus could become deformed like a sandal fish.  A woman who is nursing could stop nursing if she became pregnant which could kill the live infant.  Rabbi Meir says that a minor girl is one who is between eleven and twelve years old.  One who is older or younger than that should partake in intercourse.  The chachamim say that all women should take part in regular intercourse.

Niddah 45: Death of Infants and Inheritance

The rabbis discuss whether or not a baby take on the inheritance of his mother's belongings if she dies before the infant.  They seem to agree that the baby must be born and alive before its mother dies if such a change will be made.  What if a baby seems to convulse after its mother's birth?  An example is given of a lizard's tail or a human hand, which might continue to twitch after its tail has been removed from its body.  A baby is understood to be reliant on its mother until at least immediately after it has been born.  

One explanation for this is that a developing embryo is fully reliant on its mother for nourishment, oxygen, etc.  If her body is not functioning, then the embryo dies. 

Today's conversation in addition to conversations in Massecht Oholot leads us to better understand origins of organ harvesting when a person has been declared brain dead.

Niddah 43: Ritual Defilement by Sheretz or Shichvat Zeva

The Gemara teaches us about different types of tumah, ritual impurity.  

• the smallest amount of semen causes ritual impurity imparted by shichvat zera 
• coming into contact with a sheretz, a creeping animal, by just the size of a lentil is required for one to become tameh
• Sheretz are small creatures that crawl including rodents, lizards, insects, small creatures that crawl
• The smallest of the eight animals called sheretz must be at least the size of a lentil at birth
• Shichvat zera is "divided in its ritual defilement", where its laws apply only to Jews
• in the laws of sheretz a "land mouse" imparts ritual impurity but a "sea mouse"* does not
• Thus laws of shichvat zera apply to adults
• The laws of shichvat apply to new born creatures and adults

*possibly a snail or a fish that looks like a mouse.

Niddah 42: When Circumcision is Permitted

Today we learn about brit, circumcision, which is commanded to take place eight days after a child's birth - the same day of the week as the birth itself. The rabbis ask what should be done if a baby is born on the twilight between erev Shabbat and Shabbat.  We learn though the Gemara that it is permitted to perform a circumcision on Shabbat, but if there is a doubt as to when the baby was born, we do not opt for a brit on Shabbat.  Instead, we wait for Sunday or another day for the brit.  Of course, if there are any medical issues, the birt is postponed until the infant is well.

Niddah 41: Cesarean Birth and Sanctity

A brief note on today's daf: the rabbis discuss the status of a cesarean birth regarding sanctity.  A cesarean birth is not considered to be normal.  To discuss this point, the rabbis turn to their understanding of sanctified animals.  A newborn carries the status of its mother.  A cesarean-born newborn does not carry that sanctity.

Very interesting that travel through the vagina is necessary regarding status, both with ritual purity and with sanctity.  Is this about what is "usual", or is this about some magic power held in the vagina?

Niddah 40: Cesarean Section and Ritual Impurity

Today's daf is the beginning of Perek V.  We learn that following a cesarean section, a woman need not wait for the seven or fourteen days of ritual impurity, nor is she required to bring an offering after thirty-three or sixty-six days.  Rabbi Shimon disagrees, saying that she is subject to the same halacha as that following normal childbirth.  

We are then reminded that all women become ritually impure when blood flows from the uterus into the outer chamber, the vagina, even when it has not left the woman's body: "And her issue in her flesh shall be blood, she shall be in her menstruation seven days", (Leviticus 15:19).  A zav, one who experiences any discharge and one who has a seminal emission (even the size of a mustard seed) do not become ritually impure until the emission of impurity leaves the body.  Thus women are subject to ritual impurity much more easily than men.  

Finally, the Mishna teaches that a priest taking teruma who feels quaking in his limbs or another predictor of an emission should hold his penis firmly to prevent the emission from leaving his body and swallow the teruma while he is still ritually pure.  

Is a woman considered to be ritually impure following a cesarean section?  She would normally be called ritually impure with tum'at leida, the impurity of childbirth (Vayikra 12:1-5).  This would be the case even if there is no blood in the vaginal canal, says Rabbi Shimon.  But the Tanna Kamma of the Mishna say that if the child born is a yotze dofen, that it emerges from the side of the body, then the laws of tum'at leida do do not apply to its mother.  

Steinsaltz teaches us that a yotze dofen refers to any birth that does not progress in an ordinary way.  Cesarian sections were performed on mothers who had already died.  It has only been in modern times that women have survived cesarean sections done while they are alive.  However, the Gemara seems to discuss several cases where a mother survives this surgery and goes on to have more children.  It is difficult to know the details of this critical part of our history.

Niddah 39: The Presumptive Status of Ritual Purity

Today's daf starts with a Misha that again is concerned with the laws of niddah, a zava, and the presumptive status of ritual purity. A niddah bleeds either once or many times over a seven day period followed by immersion and ritual purity.  The following eleven days are called yemei ziva, where any bleeding at that time will render her a zava.  

If a woman is in hiding and does not check herself, she is considered to be ritually pure for fear is said to inhibit menstrual bleeding. Rabbi Meir states this without any opposition or debate, but the commentaries do not accept this ruling and so the Sages may have disagreed with him.