1) (Vayikra 12:5) "And if a female she shall bear": This tells me only of (a child that is clearly) a female. Whence do I derive the same for one whose sex is in doubt and for a hermaphrodite? From "she shall bear." The criterion (for what follows) is the bearing (And since the sex here is in doubt, we assign her the days of cleanliness for a male, and the days of uncleanliness for a female.) "then she shall be unclean shvuayim": two weeks, fourteen days. 2) R. Yehudah b. Roetz was asked by his disciples: We hear "shivim" ("seventy," for we follow the written form [without a vav after the beth]). Is it possible that she is unclean for seventy days? He answered: "Tumah" and "taharah" (cleanliness) are mentioned both in respect to a male and in respect to a female. Just as the days of her taharah (sixty-six) are double those for a male, so the days of her tumah (fourteen) are double those for a male. After they left, he went after them and said to them: What I told you was not really necessary, for we follow the spoken form (and not the written), but this is the reasoning behind it: "Tumah" and "taharah" are mentioned both in respect to a male and in respect to a female. Just as the days of her taharah are double those for a male, so the days of her tumah are double those for a male. — But perhaps go in this direction: A male, whose days of taharah are few (thirty-three), its days of tumah are few (seven). A female, whose days of taharah are many (sixty-six), how much more so should its days of tumah be few! It is, therefore, (to negate this) written: "then she shall be unclean shvuayim" (the spoken form), two weeks, fourteen days. 3) (Vayikra 12:5) "and sixty days, etc.": I might think, either consecutive or scattered; it is, therefore, written "sixty day" (lit.) — Just as one day is consecutive, so are sixty. I might think that the sixty are consecutive, but the six may be either consecutive or scattered; it is, therefore, written "and sixty days and six days." — Just as the sixty are consecutive, so the six are consecutive. Why need "sixty-six days" be written? (I would know that it is double the thirty-three of a male.) (For I would reason:) If for a male, for which the days of uncleanliness are few (seven), the days of cleanliness are few (thirty-three), then for a female, for which the days of uncleanliness are many (fourteen), how much more so should the days of cleanliness be few. It is, therefore, written "and sixty-six days she shall abide." 4) "she shall abide in the blood of cleanliness": to include one who travails (and bleeds) in the midst of the eighty (days) for a female, (where a child remains in the womb two and a half months after the birth of another, one being fully formed in the middle of the seventh month and the other at the end of the ninth) — All the blood that she sees (during that two and a half month period) is clean, until the child is born, (at which time she assumes birth uncleanliness). R. Eliezer rules that it is unclean. They said to R. Eliezer: If in a place where we are stringent, (ruling tamei [zivah tumah]), with a relaxed blood flow — before the birth — we are lenient, (ruling tahor) with a relaxed blood flow — after the birth (in the days of cleanliness) — then, in a place where we are lenient, with a constricted blood flow — before the birth — (if she were in her zivah period and she bled because of the child) — how much more so should we be lenient with a constricted blood flow after the birth! He responded: "It is sufficient that what is derived a fortiori (constricted bleeding within the "fulfillment" [melos] period) be like that which it is derived from" (constricted bleeding before the birth). In what respect were they lenient with her? In respect to the tumah of zivah; but she remains tamei with the tumah of niddah. They responded: We will answer you with different terminology, (which is not open to your objection), viz.: If in a place, where we are stringent with a relaxed blood flow — before the birth — we are more lenient with a constricted blood flow than with a relaxed one, then, in a place where we are lenient with a relaxed blood flow — after the birth — how much more so should we be lenient with a constricted one! He responded: Even if you answer me the whole day, "It is sufficient that what is derived a fortiori be like that which it is derived from." Just as in the instance of the first constriction, she sustains the tumah of niddah, so, in the instance of the second constriction, she sustains the tumah of niddah. "in the blood of cleanliness": Even if she sees (blood), she is clean.
Sifra Tazria Yoledet Chapter 2
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