Traité Niddah

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : What is the halakha in the case of a woman who gave birth when she was a zava? There are seven days of impurity following the birth of a son and fourteen days of impurity following the birth of a daughter, during which the mother is impure even if she did not experience bleeding. With regard to those days during this period on which she does not see blood, are they reckoned in the counting of her seven clean days required to become purified from the status of ziva?

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rav Kahana says: Come and hear a baraita: A woman saw blood on two consecutive days during the period of ziva, and on the third day she miscarried, but she does not know what she miscarried, i.e., whether it was a stillborn human fetus for which a woman contracts the impurity of childbirth, or whether she discharged an amorphous piece of tissue. In addition, she does not know whether she emitted blood during the miscarriage.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : In such a case, it is uncertain whether she has the status of one who experienced ziva or whether she has the status of a woman who gave birth. If she gave birth to a fetus and did not emit blood, she is a woman after childbirth but not a zava. If the discharge was an amorphous piece of tissue and she saw blood, she is a zava. If it was a human fetus and she saw blood, she is one who gives birth as a zava. Finally, if she did not emit blood and it was a discharge of an amorphous piece of tissue, she is not obligated to bring an offering at all.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Consequently, she brings an offering but it is not eaten by the priests, as it is uncertain whether it is an offering of ziva or an offering for her childbirth, or whether it is non-sacred. And the days of impurity following this uncertain birth, on which she does not see blood, are reckoned in the counting of her seven clean days required to become purified from the status of ziva. This resolves the dilemma raised by the Sages.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rav Pappa says that this does not resolve the dilemma, as it is different there, since it can be said that she is a woman who gave birth to a male, and it is only for that reason that all of these additional seven days that we give her due to the concern that she might have given birth to a female, which would render her impure for fourteen days, are reckoned in the counting of her seven clean days of ziva. But if it was certain that she gave birth to a female, those days after the birth would not count toward her period of ziva.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said to Rav Pappa: Is there uncertainty that perhaps she is a woman who gave birth to a male, but there is no uncertainty that she might be a woman who gave birth to a female? In fact, both possibilities must be taken into account. And yet, despite the fact that she might have given birth to a female, these seven days are included in the counting of her seven clean days. Rather, isn’t it correct to conclude from it that such days are reckoned in the counting? The Gemara comments: Indeed, conclude from the baraita that these days do count.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara concludes its citation of the baraita: In the case of a woman whose set pattern is that nine days she is impure, i.e., experiences bleeding, and nine days she is pure, she may engage in intercourse with her husband during eight days out of eighteen. The last two days of the nine with blood are part of her ziva period, after which she must observe one clean day, leaving her with eight days when she may engage in intercourse before the cycle begins again.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : In the case of a woman whose set pattern is that ten days she is impure and ten days she is pure, the number of days of her being permitted to engage in intercourse with her husband is equivalent to the number of days of her experiencing the flow of ziva. In the first seven days she is a menstruating woman, followed by three days of blood that render her a zava. She must count seven of the ten days without blood to be purified from her ziva, which leaves her three days in which she may engage in intercourse, exactly the same as the three days of ziva on which she saw blood. And so too, the same applies in the case of one hundred days, as she experiences bleeding of ziva for ninety-three days, and is subsequently permitted to her husband for ninety-three days, and so too in the case of one thousand days.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) :

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : MISHNA: The blood of a menstruating woman and the flesh of a corpse transmit impurity by contact and by carrying when they are moist, and likewise transmit impurity when they are dry. But with regard to the gonorrhea-like discharge of a zav [ziva], and the mucus and the saliva of a zav, and the carcass of a creeping animal, and an animal carcass, and semen, all transmit impurity when they are moist but do not transmit impurity when they are dry. And if one could soak those dry substances in water and thereby restore them to their previous state, they transmit impurity when moist and transmit impurity when dry.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The mishna asks: And how long is the process of soaking these substances that determines whether they can be restored to their previous state? This is referring to soaking them in lukewarm water for a twenty-four-hour period. Rabbi Yosei says: With regard to the flesh of a corpse that is dry and cannot be soaked to restore it to its previous state, it is ritually pure, in the sense that an olive-bulk of the flesh does not transmit impurity imparted by a corpse. But a ladleful of the flesh transmits the impurity of the decayed flesh of a corpse.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : GEMARA: The mishna teaches that the blood of a menstruating woman transmits impurity by contact and by carrying both when moist and when dry. The Gemara asks: From where are these matters derived? Ḥizkiyya says: They are derived from a verse, as the verse states with regard to a menstruating woman: “This is the law of him that has an issue…And of her who experiences the flow of her menstrual impurity” (Leviticus 15:32–33). The verse compares the status of the menstrual flow to that of the menstruating woman. This teaches that the status of the menstrual flow is like the status of the woman herself: Just as she transmits impurity by contact and by carrying, so too, the menstrual flow transmits impurity by contact and by carrying.