1) (Vayikra 15:25) ("And a woman, if the flow of her blood flows many days, not in the time of her niddah period; or if she flows beyond her niddah period, then all the days of the flow of her uncleanliness, as the days of her niddah state shall she be; she is unclean.") "a woman": whether a Jewess, or a convert, or a maidservant, or a free maid-servant. "if there flows the flow of her blood": "her blood": the blood which is attributable to her, and not that which is attributable to the onset of childbirth (in the possible zivah days, i.e., the three days after the seven-day niddah period). — But perhaps the meaning is: because of herself (i.e., her bodily state [including the onset of childbirth]), and not her blood which is attributable to some (external) accident! — (This cannot be,) for the redundant "flow" includes external accidents. How then am I to understand "her blood"? As that which is attributable to her, and not to the (pressure of) the fetus. 2) How long (before birth) may she be in kishui (protracted travail) and the blood of that kishui be attributable to the fetus alone (and not to a zivah flow)? R. Meir says: Even forty-five days. R. Yehudah says: Her (ninth) month suffices (for that assumption). (Non-zivah) kishui may be assumed for more than two weeks (preceding childbirth). Therefore, if she was in kishui for seventeen days (preceding childbirth), the first three are susceptible of zivah, and she is presumed to have given birth in a state of zivah. 3) And there are those in kishui for twenty-five days and yet are not in a state of zivah because of them: two out of her niddah time (i.e., in the eleven days separating her niddah periods), seven of her niddah time, two after her niddah time, and fourteen days in which the fetus cleanses her (i.e., days which are attributable to kishui and not to zivah). But it is impossible that she be (bleeding) in kishui for twenty-six days without giving birth in a state of zivah. 4) And there are those who see blood (without kishui) a hundred days and yet are not in a state of zivah because of them: two out of her niddah time, seven of her niddah time, two after her niddah time, and eighty days after the birth of a female (viz. Vayikra 12:5), seven of her niddah time and two after her niddah time. 5) ("and if her blood flows many days") "days": two (and "many" makes it three). I might think (that it means) many (more) days. (Concerning this) R. Akiva says: Anything that can be (understood as connoting) either a maximum or a minimum, if you have seized the maximum, you may not have caught it; if you have seized the minimum, you have caught it, (at least a minimum being subsumed in the maximum). 6) R. Yehudah b. Betheirah says: Of two parameters, one finite; the other, infinite, we choose the finite and not the infinite. 7) R. Nechemiah says: Does Scripture come to open (i.e., to open the way to understanding) or to close (the way)? If you say that "days" is ten, (this can be challenged:) "Perhaps it means a hundred!" "Perhaps two hundred!" "Perhaps a thousand!" "Perhaps ten thousand!" And when you say "days" is two, you have opened (the way to understanding). 8) R. Mona says in the name of R. Yehudah: "Days" signifies two. If you would say that "many" is intended, this is already written. It must mean, then, the minimum of days, i.e., two. 9) "many" — three. I might think (that it signifies) ten. (This cannot be, for) it is written "days" and it is written "many." Just as "days" signifies the minimum of days, "many" must signify the minimum (of the increase [i.e., one] so that (in total) "many days" must signify) three. I might think "two" and "three" — five. (This cannot be, for) is it written "days and many"? "Many days" is what is written. How is "many days" to be understood then? (As) these "many" make it more than two, so that the sum total is three.
Sifra Metzora Zavim Section 5
Tap any verse to see what it echoes — and start a chain or echo from it.