menstruating

“What is the positive commandment about the menstruating woman?” Rebbi Abin said, Keep the Children of Israel away from their impurities. Rebbi Jonathan sent to ask Rebbi Simeon ben Rebbi Yose bar Lakonia, from where a warning for one having sex with an impure woman? He wanted to throw a stone after him; he told him, you are asking me something that children recite every day in the synagogue: To a woman in the separation ofher impurity you shall not come near to uncover her nakedness. He answered him, that is not my problem. My only problem is rather “if he was having sex with an impure woman, he is liable. If he was having sex with a pure one and she said to him, I became impure,” if he separates immediately, is he liable? He told him, I and you have the same problem. Let us go out and learn. They went out and heard the voice of a Tanna who stated following Ḥiskiah: If lying a man will lie with her. Not only that if he was having sex with an impure woman, he is liable. If he was having sex with a pure one and she said to him, I became impure, if he separates immediately, is he liable? The verse says, her secretion shall be, even if her secretion starts with him. What should he do? Rav Hoshaia, Rav Jehudah in the name of Samuel, he shall cool down. If he did not cool down? Rebbi Yose said, for him I am reading do not come near as “do not separate”. Closeness is separation. Rav Ḥuna in the name of Rav Abba: Those who say, be close to yourself, do not touch me for I sanctified you. Rebbi Zeˋira said, he should imagine that a sword is cutting into his flesh. Is everybody Rebbi Zeˋira? Rebbi Tanḥuma in the name of Rav Ḥuna: He shall press his fingertips on the wall, then he will cool down.

It was stated: For the 24 hours which were stated, one suspends but one does not burn. Rebbi Ze‘ira enjoyed this [because] he found stated: “A woman who detects a stain makes impure retroactively. What does she make impure? Food, and drinks, and seats, and beds; her count is in disorder, and she makes her sex partner impure retroactively. A woman who detects blood makes impure retroactively. What does she make impure? Food, and drinks, and seats, and beds; her count is not in disorder, and she does not make her sex partner impure retroactively. Rebbi Aqiba says, she makes her sex partner impure retroactively. In both cases, one suspends but one does not burn.” There, they say: For the 24 hours which were stated, her bed is like her touch. How? Like one who sleeps with a menstruating woman who does not make impure by moving and does not make clay vessels impure. It was found stated: He makes clay vessels impure by moving. For the 24 hours which were stated, what is the status of what she touches in the public domain? Let us hear from the following: Pregnant and nursing women are pure for their husbands, as is a woman with a regular period. And all other women are pure for sexual relations but impure in their touch. That means, what she certainly touched in the public domain is impure.

HALAKHAH: “What is a virgin? Any one,” etc. So is the Mishnah: Any one who never did menstruate; they spoke of one virginal for blood, not one virginal for sexual relations. Sometimes she is virginal for blood and not virginal for sexual relations, sometimes she is virginal for sexual relations and not virginal for blood. She is virginal for blood if she started to menstruate before marrying; she is virginal for sexual relations if she married before menstruating.

So far for a girl who reached the age of puberty. “If a girl did not reach the age of puberty but started menstruating? For the first bleeding, her timing is exact. For the second bleeding, her timing is exact. For the third bleeding, her timing is exact; after that it will retroactively impart impurity for 24 hours.” Rav Jeremiah in the name of Rav: At the third time itself it will retroactively impart impurity for 24 hours. “The timing of an old woman who had stopped for three periods is exact. If she then interrupted for three periods and then bled, her timing is exact. If she again interrupted for three periods and then bled, her timing is exact. If the interruption was not exact the same period; if it was less or more. But if it was exactly the same time, she established a [new] period.”

MISHNAH: Even though they said that their timing was exact, she has to check herself, except for the menstruating and one in her period of purity; even one who has intercourse with cloths except one in her period of purity and a virgin whose blood is pure. Twice she has to check herself, morning and evening, and when she goes to have intercourse. In addition, wives of Cohanim when they go to eat heave. Rebbi Jehudah says, also when they stop eating heave.

HALAKHAH: “Even though they said that their timing was exact,” etc. So is the Mishnah: Except for the menstruating woman whose period was not interrupted by purity. “Even one who has intercourse with cloths,” so is the Mishnah: She is required to have intercourse with cloths. “And a virgin whose blood is pure,” so is the Mishnah: A girl who has not reached puberty but was married.

HALAKHAH: “How is red,” etc. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa, Rebbi Ulla from Caesarea in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina; Rebbi Abba in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Menasia: Like blood of a wound which was hit a second time. Rebbi Jacob bar Sosai said before Rebbi Yose: The Mishnah implies this, “red like blood from a wound.” Rebbi Isaac bar Naḥman and Rebbi Eudaimon from Haifa were sitting together when a man passed by them. Rebbi Isaac bar Naḥman said to Rebbi Eudaimon from Haifa: That one is close to produce blood of a menstruating woman. Does he disagree? If he would be hit a second time, it would be like menstrual blood.

Rebbi Isaac bar Naḥman learned from Rebbi Eleazar the kinds of pure blood. Does this mean, not the impure kinds? But did not Rebbi Isaac bar Naḥman say to Rebbi Eudaimon from Haifa: That one is close to produce blood of a menstruating woman? But one who learns one kind, learns at the same time the other kind. Isaac bar Jonathan and Rav Huna were sitting together when a woman came and asked them. Isaac bar Jonathan said to her, did you see it more smoky than that? Rav Huna said to him, so says Rav: Instruct according to what comes before you! Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa said in the name of Rebbi Simeon bar Abba: A number of chests full of problems came before Rebbi Ḥanina and about what came before him, he did pronounce.

HALAKHAH: “If a woman miscarried an amnion full of water,” etc. It was stated: Full of water, she is impure for a birth; full of blood, she is impure as menstruating; full of flesh, she is impure as menstruating. But did we not state: “If a woman miscarried an amnion full of water, or blood, or flakes, she does not have to consider this as a child”? Rebbi Bevai in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: The Mishnah if [the contents are] clear; the baraita if [the contents are] turbid. Rebbi Simon in the name of R. Joshua ben Levi: Even if all was clear, since only humans have an amnion! That is what is written: “When I gave clouds as his garment and fog as his diapers.” “His garment” is the amnion, “and fog his diapers” that is the placenta.

HALAKHAH: “If a woman miscarried an amnion full of water,” etc. It was stated: Full of water, she is impure for a birth; full of blood, she is impure as menstruating; full of flesh, she is impure as menstruating. But did we not state: “If a woman miscarried an amnion full of water, or blood, or flakes, she does not have to consider this as a child”? Rebbi Bevai in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: The Mishnah if [the contents are] clear; the baraita if [the contents are] turbid. Rebbi Simon in the name of R. Joshua ben Levi: Even if all was clear, since only humans have an amnion! That is what is written: “When I gave clouds as his garment and fog as his diapers.” “His garment” is the amnion, “and fog his diapers” that is the placenta.

MISHNAH: The daughters of Samaritans are menstruating from their cribs, and Samaritan men make impure bottoms like uppers because they sleep with menstruating woman since they sit for every blood. But one is not guilty about them for entering the Temple and one does not burn heave because of them since their impurity is one of doubt.

MISHNAH: The daughters of Samaritans are menstruating from their cribs, and Samaritan men make impure bottoms like uppers because they sleep with menstruating woman since they sit for every blood. But one is not guilty about them for entering the Temple and one does not burn heave because of them since their impurity is one of doubt.

HALAKHAH: “The daughters of Samaritans are menstruating from their cribs,” etc. Menstrual blood is dirty, virginal blood is not dirty. Menstrual blood is red, virginal blood is not red. Menstrual blood is from the womb, virginal blood is not from the womb but from the side.

Similarly, if it did not rain upon a certain city, etc. Said R. Judah in the name of Rab: Both cities are here (in the verse of Amos quoted in the Mishnah) pointed out as being punished. "Jerusalem is among them as one unclean" (Lament., 1. 17). Said R. Judah in the name of Rab, this verse contains a promise of (future) blessing, for just as an unclean (menstruating) woman becomes clean again, so also Jerusalem. "She is become as a widow" (ib., 1. 1). Said R. Judah in the name of Rab, this verse also is meant as a blessing, for Scripture says, 'as a widow', not a 'widow', but as a woman whose husband went to a country beyond the sea and intends to come back to her. "Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people" (Malachi, 2. 9). Said R. Judah in the name of Rab, this is also meant as a blessing, for (in thus despising us) they do not appoint us as overseers of rivers, and as bailiffs. "The Lord will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water" (I Kings, 14. 15). Said R. Judah in the name of Rab, this too is meant in a good sense, for R. Samuel b. Naḥamani said in the name of R. Jonathan: What is the meaning of the verse (Prov., 27. 6): "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are importunate"? It means to say that the curse uttered by Ahijah the Shilonite against Israel was better than the blessing given them by the wicked Balaam; Ahijah the Shilonite cursed them by comparing them to a reed; now the reed rises in water, always drives young shoots and has many roots, so that even if all the winds of the world come and blow against it, the reed will move with the winds hither and thither, and when the winds have subsided the reed still stands firm in its place. Not so wicked Balaam. He blessed them by comparing them to a cedar tree, as is said (Numbers, 24. 6): "As cedars beside the waters;" now the cedar tree does not grow in water, does not drive young shoots and its roots are not many, and when the winds come and blow against it, it does not yield to them; hence when a strong southern wind arises, it uproots it and turns it upside down.

R. Beroḳah of Khuza frequented the market of Lapet. One day Elijah appeared to him there, and R. Beroḳah asked him: "Is there among the people of this market any one that is destined to share in the world to come?" Elijah replied, "There is none." In the meantime there came a man who wore black shoes and had no fringes on his garment. "This man," Elijah remarked, "is one who will share in the world to come." R. Beroḳah thereupon called to the man, but the latter did not heed the call, so R. Beroḳah went over to him and asked him what his occupation was. "I am a jailer," the man declared, "and I keep men and women separate. At night I place my bed between the men and the women, so that no wrong be committed. When I see among the prisoners a Jewish woman, upon whom the Gentiles around her have fixed their eyes, I risk my life for her and save her. One day a betrothed maiden happened to be placed in my prison and the Gentiles were about to assault her, so I took lees of red wine and put them around the lower part of her skirt, saying to them that she was menstruating." R. Beroḳah then asked him, "Why do you wear black shoes?" "Because I mourn for Jerusalem." "And why did you not put fringes on your garment?" "In order that the people should not recognize me as a Jew, so that when they have some secret plot against us and are about to issue hard decrees, they may reveal it to me and I would advise the Rabbis thereof, in order that they may pray to God and avert the menace." "But why did you not come when I called you?", R. Beroḳah continued. "At that moment," he replied, "they had just issued a decree, and I thought I must first find out what it was and send word to the Rabbis, in order that they may pray to God (and thus frustrate the plan)."

MISHNA: And these are the ones who receive lashes. One who cohabits with his sister, with his father's sister, with his mother's sister with his brother' wife's sister, with his brother's wife, with his father's brother's wife, or with a nidda [i.e. a menstruating lady]. A widow with a high priest, a divorcee or a arkham who received chalutzah with a regular priest, a mamzeres [i.e. illegitimate woman] or nasina [i.e. a Gibeonite woman] with an Israelite, the daughter if a priest with a nasan or a mamzer. [All of these aforementioned cohabitations are subject to lashes.]