Niddah 69: Counting, Forgetting, Alexandrian Questions on Wisdom

We begin today's daf with a discussion about women's counting of days.  There are suggestions that a woman should immerse only on the first and seventh day of her menstrual cycle.  However, the rabbis are aware of the multiple ways in which a woman's cycle might end at twilight, or on the eighth day, or begin again after it has ended.  When does she check, and when does she immerse?  When must she immerse again, or even up to fifteen times?  

The rabbis consider a toah, a woman who is forgetful.  This refers to a woman who is not clear exactly whether or not she had a miscarriage or not, and she doesn't know the sex of the fetus.  This might happen if she were travelling and no-one was present to help her evaluate what was happening.  Is this because a woman's own experience is so traumatizing that she is not expected to take note of these things?  Or is this because a woman's own experience of her body cannot be proof in and of itself; a witness is required?

At the end of amud (a), we are introduced to a new Mishna.  It teaches that the corpses of a zav, a zava, a menstruating woman, a woman after childbirth and a leper who died all transmit ritual impurity when one carries their corpses until the flesh decays.  A Gentile transmits ritual impurity in the way of a zav while he is alive, but after death is considered to be ritually pure.  Beit Shammai say that all women are considered to be ritually impure after death.  Thus their clothing at death must be immersed.  Beit Hillel say that only a woman who died while menstruating is ritually impure and therefore maintains that status after death.

After considering the implications of the word and concept of "carrying", the rabbis consider twelve questions asked of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chinnana by the wise people of Alexandria.  These questions were set into four categories, where the first is wisdom:

• Wisdom
• Until when is one ritually impure due to carrying a dead person who is a zav, zava, menstruating woman, woman after childbirth or leper? Until the flesh decays
• If a divorcee remarries, divorces or is widowed, is remarried to her husband (which is against halacha) and then has a daughter, is that daughter permitted to a kohen?  Yes, because the husband and wife have committed an abomination but their child has not.

These questions and answers continue on tomorrow's daf.