We continue to discuss the sacrifices of a woman who miscarries, following what was stated above (Chapter 1, Mishnah 6). Here we are dealing with a specific and limited "what if" scenario, and to understand it, some preliminary background is required.
Background: Days of Tumah and Days of Taharah:
The days of tumah: A woman who has a normal birth - seven days for a male, fourteen days for a female. This blood is tamei, and she is forbidden to her husband.
The immersion: At the end of these days she immerses in a mikvah and becomes permitted to her husband, even if she is still seeing blood.
The days of taharah: The next thirty-three days for a male, and sixty-six for a female. Even if she sees blood during these days, the blood is not tamei and she remains permitted to her husband.
At the end of this stage - forty days for a male or eighty days for a female - she must bring her sacrifices: a chatas and an olah, on the eighty-first day. These sacrifices remove the last trace of tumah, since until that time she is lacking atonement. Once she has brought them, she becomes completely tahor, and may return to eating kodashim and entering the Beis HaMikdash.
There is a rule that a woman who miscarries during her days of taharah brings only one sacrifice at the end of the first stage, even though there was a birth and a miscarriage, or two miscarriages. One set of a chatas and an olah covers both of them.
The question before us:
What is the law for a woman who gave birth to a daughter and miscarried on the night of the eighty-first, the night before the eighty-first day? Is one set of sacrifices sufficient for both the birth and the miscarriage together, or must she bring two sets, because the first stage of the initial birth has already concluded with the "completion of the days of taharah", and a second stage is now beginning?
The Mishnah specifically deals with a woman who gave birth to a female and is in the middle of her days of taharah. The reason for this: as we learned in previous mishnayos, one who miscarries a fetus that has not reached forty days from conception is not obligated to bring a sacrifice for it. For a male, the period from the time she becomes permitted to her husband until the bringing of the sacrifices is only thirty-three days, and therefore it is never possible for her to have a miscarriage that obligates a sacrifice, since the fetus would not reach forty days.
However, for a female this is possible: a woman who gave birth to a daughter, immersed after fourteen days, was intimate with her husband and conceived again, and reached the seventieth day - for example - and miscarried. She does not bring a second sacrifice for this miscarriage, and her sacrifice for the birth of the daughter exempts both of them.
The question concerns a miscarriage that occurred on the night of the eighty-first, before the daytime hours of the eighty-first day - since the night precedes the day - and sacrifices are not brought at night. On the other hand, the eighty days of the first stage have seemingly been completed. Must she bring a second set of sacrifices for this new miscarriage, or is it included in the first stage with the birth of that baby girl?
The dispute between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel:
Beis Shammai: Until the morning of the eighty-first day, everything is still considered part of the first stage. One who miscarries on the night of the eighty-first is still within the completion of her days of taharah, and brings one sacrifice for both of them - for the miscarriage at night and for the birth that preceded it eighty-one days prior.
Beis Hillel: Once eighty days have passed - they have passed. For one who miscarries on the night of the eighty-first, this is a new matter that is not connected to the previous days of taharah, and she must bring two sets of sacrifices.
Structure of the Mishnah: Beis Hillel raise two arguments against Beis Shammai, and Beis Shammai respond first to the first argument, and then return and respond to the second. Let us look at the Mishnah itself.
"Hamapeles or lishmonim ve'echad" - A woman who gave birth to a daughter, and on the night of the eighty-first day, before morning, at a time when she could not yet bring her required sacrifices, miscarried. "Beis Shammai potrim min hakorban" - This miscarriage does not require an additional set of sacrifices, and the single set of sacrifices that she brings for giving birth covers the miscarriage as well, since we are still in the first stage, as the time for bringing the sacrifice has not yet arrived.
"Uveis Hillel mechayevin" - The first stage is eighty days; once we have reached the eighty-first day, it is a new stage, and she must bring a separate set of sacrifices for this miscarriage as well.
"Amru Beis Hillel leVeis Shammai" - They have two arguments. The first: "Mah shanah or lishmonim ve'echad miyom shmonim ve'echad?" - What is the reason to differentiate between the night of the eighty-first day and the day itself? A day always begins with the night before it. And just as a woman who miscarries on the eighty-first day is obligated in two sacrifices - and Beis Shammai agree to this - so too is a woman who miscarries on the night before it, which is the night of that same day. We do not differentiate between the preceding night and the day; it is all one day, the eighty-first day.
The second argument: "Im shaveh lah tumah lo yishveh lah korban" - You yourselves admit that if she sees blood on the night of the eighty-first day we render her impure and call her a niddah anew. Thus, already on this night the days of purity have ended and a new stage begins. If so, also regarding a sacrifice: A woman who miscarries in this new stage is obligated in a second set of sacrifices.
Beis Shammai respond first to the first argument, and will later return to discuss the law of tumah. "Amru lahem Beis Shammai: im amartem bemapeles yom shmonim ve'echad sheyatzah beshaah shehi re'uyah lehavi bah korban" - This miscarriage occurred at a time when she could already bring her sacrifice for the birth that preceded it by eighty-one days, and it is certainly a new stage: this is the old stage and this is the new one. "Tomru bemapeles or lishmonim ve'echad shelo yatzah beshaah shehi re'uyah lehavi bah korban" - How can you compare to this a woman who miscarries on the night of the eighty-first day, who still had no possibility of bringing a sacrifice for her birth? We have not yet exited the first stage, and as long as it was not possible to bring the sacrifice that concludes it, we cannot say that we have entered another stage.
"Amru lahem Beis Hillel: vaharei hamapeles beyom shmonim ve'echad shechal lihyos beShabbos" - There is proof from a woman who miscarried on the eighty-first day that fell on Shabbos, "shelo yatzah beshaah shehi re'uyah lehavi bah korban, vechayeves bekorban". She too cannot bring a sacrifice on that day, since we do not offer an individual's sacrifice - such as the olah and the chatas that she must bring - on Shabbos; and nevertheless you admit that if she miscarried on the eighty-first day she is obligated in a separate set of sacrifices for the new miscarriage. Thus, the matter does not depend solely on the possibility of bringing a sacrifice, but rather once we have entered the eighty-first day - it is a new day and a new period, and therefore even a miscarriage on the night of the eighty-first day obligates her in a second set of sacrifices.
"Amru lahem" Beis Shammai to Beis Hillel: "Lo. Im amarta bemapeles yom shmonim ve'echad shechal lihyos beShabbos, sha'af al pi she'eino ra'ui lekorban yachid - ra'ui lekorban tzibbur" - It is true that the individual cannot bring her sacrifice, but it is a time fit for bringing sacrifices in and of itself, since communal sacrifices, the chatas and the olah of the tamid and musaf, are offered on it. "Tomar bemapeles or lishmonim ve'echad, she'ein halaylah ra'ui lekorban yachid ulekorban tzibbur" - How can you compare to this the night, in which there are no sacrifices at all, neither for an individual nor for the community? Shabbos is merely a technical prevention, and is no different from a woman who has no money to buy a sacrifice, or who became ill and cannot go up to the Beis Hamikdash; this does not mean that it is not a time for bringing sacrifices.
Indeed, even though the Mishnah did not say this, the law is that if a kohen made a mistake and offered the sacrifices of this woman on Shabbos - even though it is forbidden to do so - she has fulfilled her obligation. Thus, fundamentally they can be brought on the eighty-first day itself, and there is only the prevention of Shabbos here. The daytime hours are a time for bringing sacrifices, whereas the night before is not yet a time; and therefore regarding a woman who miscarries on the night of the eighty-first day - according to Beis Shammai the first period has not yet ended and we have not moved on to the second stage.
And regarding the second argument, that the law of tumah should prove it - Beis Shammai respond: There is no proof from the fact that one who sees blood on the night of the eighty-first day becomes impure, for even a woman who miscarries on the seventieth day, in the middle of the eighty days following the birth of a daughter, becomes impure with the blood of the miscarriage, and nevertheless she brings only one set of sacrifices for the birth and the miscarriage together at the end of the process. Thus we find that tumah is not a proof: It is possible that she becomes impure and yet we have not exited the first stage. Here too, if she saw blood on the night of the eighty-first day she indeed becomes impure, but this does not teach that we have exited the first stage regarding sacrifices.
From here onward there is no response from Beis Hillel, and seemingly Beis Shammai have the upper hand, and there would be room to say that the halachah follows them. However, in practice the halachah follows Beis Hillel, and they do not retract their opinion, even though there is no hint of this in the Mishnah. The reason for this: Beis Hillel also have a derivation from a verse. The Gemara teaches that there is an extra word in the verse - the word "o" (or) in the verse dealing with bringing her sacrifice, "es korbanah" - and it comes to include even the night of the eighty-first.
In summary: The halachah follows Beis Hillel, that a woman who gave birth to a daughter and miscarried on the night of the eighty-first day, before the eighty-first day following that birth - aside from being impure, she must bring, once she becomes pure, a second set of sacrifices for that miscarriage, in addition to the first set of sacrifices that she is obligated in for the birth of the daughter eighty-one days earlier.