Traité Niddah

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Job out of the tempest, and said” (Job 38:1–3) to him: Greatest imbecile in the world! I have created many hairs on a person’s head, and for each and every hair I created its own distinct follicle, so that two hairs should not draw sustenance from one follicle. As, were two hairs to draw sustenance from one follicle, it would weaken a man’s vision. Now if I did not confuse one follicle with another, would I confuse a man named Iyyov with oyev? This indicates that two hairs do not grow from one follicle.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara answers: It is not difficult; that statement above, that two hairs in one follicle is a valid sign of adulthood, is referring to the hairs in the rest of a person’s body, whereas this statement, that there cannot be two hairs in one follicle, is referring to the hairs on a person’s head.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: The two hairs that the Sages said are signs of adulthood are valid signs even if they are not adjacent; but rather one hair is on the spoon-shaped area above his organ and one is on the young boy’s testicles.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara notes that this is also taught in a baraita: The two hairs that the Sages said are signs of adulthood are valid signs even if one hair is on the young girl’s back, below her pubic area, and one on her lower abdomen. The same applies if one hair is on the finger joints of her hand and one hair is on the toe joints of her foot. This is the statement of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda, of the village of Akko, who said it in the name of Rabbi Shimon. And what do the Rabbis say about this matter? Rav Ḥisda says: According to the Rabbis, they are not a valid sign of adulthood unless the two hairs are in one place.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : § The mishna teaches that Rabbi Yehuda and the Rabbis disagree with regard to when a young girl can perform refusal. According to the Rabbis, it is until she grows two pubic hairs after she reaches the age of twelve years and one day. According to Rabbi Yehuda she still retains the right to perform refusal at that point, until the majority of the pubic area is filled with hair. In this regard, the Sages taught in a baraita: Until when can a young girl perform refusal? Until she grows two pubic hairs; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says: She can perform refusal until the area covered by the black pubic hairs is greater than the white skin of the genital area. Rabbi Yosei says: Until the nipple is surrounded by hair. Ben Shelakot says: Until the pubic area is filled with hair.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : And Rabbi Shimon said: Ḥanina ben Ḥakhinai found me in the city of Tzaidan and said to me: When you reach Rabbi Akiva, say to him: Until when can a young girl perform refusal? If he says to you that she may perform refusal until she grows two pubic hairs, say to him: But didn’t ben Shelakot testify in the presence of all of you in Yavne that she may perform refusal until the pubic area is filled with hair [shetekhalkel], and you did not say anything to him, thereby indicating that you conceded to him?

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rabbi Shimon continued: When I reached Rabbi Akiva, and I said what I had been told to say to him, he said to me: I do not know what this filling with hair [kilkul] is, I don’t know any ben Shelakot, and my opinion with regard to your question, until when can a young girl perform refusal, is that she can perform refusal until she grows two pubic hairs.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : MISHNA: The two white or black hairs that are mentioned with regard to disqualification of a red heifer; and the two white hairs mentioned with regard to leprous marks, i.e., that if they grow within a white leprous mark, it is impure; and the two hairs that are mentioned in every place, i.e., with regard to a young boy and girl, are significant only if they are long enough to bend the top of the hairs to reach their roots. This is the statement of Rabbi Yishmael. Rabbi Eliezer says: They must be long enough to grasp them and cut them with a fingernail. Rabbi Akiva says: They must be long enough to be cut with a pair [bezug] of scissors.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : GEMARA: Rav Ḥisda says that Mar Ukva says with regard to the various opinions in the mishna on the measure of hairs: The halakha is in accordance with the statements of all of them to be stringent. One should consider it hair only if all of the criteria are met, or consider it to be hair if any one condition is met, depending on which standard yields the more stringent result.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : MISHNA: With regard to a woman who sees a red stain on her garment, that woman’s reckoning is distorted. Since she does not know when the blood that caused the stain appeared, she does not know when the seven days of menstrual flow end and when the eleven days of the flow of the zava begin.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : And therefore she must be concerned due to the possibility that it might have been caused by the flow of a zava. If she wore the same garment for three days on which she can assume the status of a zava, and subsequently discovered a stain with an area that is the size of at least three split beans, the concern is that on each of those three days a stain with the area of at least one split bean, the minimum area that transmits impurity, was formed. The result is that she is a greater zava and is required to count seven clean days before immersion. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. And the Rabbis say: No configuration of stains leads to concern due to the flow of a zava.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : GEMARA: The Gemara asks: Who are the Rabbis in this mishna? It is Rabbi Ḥanina ben Antigonus, as it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Ḥanina ben Antigonus says: Stains do not lead to concern due to the flow of a zava, but stains can sometimes lead to ziva.