Niddah Chapter 3, Mishnah 2: Miscarrying a Piece of Flesh

Listen0:00 / 0:00

Niddah, Chapter 3, Mishnah 2. This perek turns to the laws of a woman who gives birth, and in particular to the question of what happens when a pregnancy ends in a miscarriage. Does what emerged give her the halachic status of a yoledes, a woman who has given birth, or not?

To see what is at stake here, we need to recall the outline of the laws of a yoledes. When a mother delivers a male child, she is temei'ah for seven days. There then follows a stretch of thirty three days in which whatever blood she sees is dam tohar, pure blood, which leaves her tehorah. At the end of those forty days she offers her two korbanos, and from that point her status is no different from that of any other woman. When the child is female, each of those stretches is twice as long: fourteen days of tumah, and then sixty six days in which her blood is dam tohar.

Our mishnah addresses a woman who miscarried something that is not a child. "Hamapeles chatichah": she discharged a piece of flesh. Such a piece is not considered a birth, so she certainly does not receive the status of a yoledes, with its days of tumah and its days of dam tohar.

But there is a second question: is she a niddah? On this the Mishnah rules, "im yesh imah dam, temei'ah". If blood came out together with that piece of flesh, she is temei'ah, not because of the piece itself, but simply because blood emerged from her body. "V'im lav, tehorah": and if no blood accompanied it, she remains tehorah.

"Rabi Yehuda omer: bein kach u'vein kach temei'ah." Rabi Yehuda disagrees. Whether blood was seen along with the piece of flesh or no blood was seen at all, she is temei'ah either way.

His reasoning is a principle stated in the Mishnah itself: "i efshar lifsichas harechem b'lo dam", it is impossible for the womb to open without blood. For a piece of flesh to pass out of the uterus, the cervix must open, and in Rabi Yehuda's view such an opening never occurs without some bleeding. Whether or not blood was actually observed is therefore beside the point. We must assume that blood came out, and she carries the status of temei'ah in every case.

Original maamar

אות נדה ג:ב

הַמַּפֶּלֶת כְּמִין קְלִפָּה, כְּמִין שַׂעֲרָה, כְּמִין עָפָר, כְּמִין יַבְחוּשִׁים אֲדֻמִּים, תַּטִּיל לַמַּיִם. אִם נִמֹּחוּ, טְמֵאָה. וְאִם לָאו, טְהוֹרָה. הַמַּפֶּלֶת כְּמִין דָּגִים, חֲגָבִים, שְׁקָצִים וּרְמָשִׂים, אִם יֵשׁ עִמָּהֶם דָּם, טְמֵאָה. וְאִם לָאו, טְהוֹרָה. הַמַּפֶּלֶת מִין בְּהֵמָה, חַיָּה וָעוֹף, בֵּין טְמֵאִין בֵּין טְהוֹרִים, אִם זָכָר, תֵּשֵׁב לְזָכָר. וְאִם נְקֵבָה, תֵּשֵׁב לִנְקֵבָה. וְאִם אֵין יָדוּעַ, תֵּשֵׁב לְזָכָר וְלִנְקֵבָה, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי מֵאִיר. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים, כֹּל שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ מִצּוּרַת אָדָם, אֵינוֹ וָלָד: In the case of a woman who discharges an item similar to a shell, or similar to a hair, or similar to soil, or similar to mosquitoes, if such items are red, she should cast them into water to ascertain their nature: If they dissolved, it is blood, and the woman is impure with the impurity of a menstruating woman; and if not, she is pure. In the case of a woman who discharges an item similar to fish or to grasshoppers, repugnant creatures, or creeping animals, if there is blood that emerges with them, the woman is impure with the impurity of a menstruating woman. And if not, she is pure. With regard to a woman who discharges tissue in the form of a type of domesticated animal, undomesticated animal, or bird, whether it had the form of a non-kosher species or a kosher species, if it was a male fetus, then she observes the periods of impurity, seven days, and purity, thirty-three days, established in the Torah (see Leviticus 12:2–5) for a woman who gives birth to a male. And if the fetus was a female, the woman observes the periods of impurity, fourteen days, and purity, sixty-six days, established in the Torah for a woman who gives birth to a female. And if the sex of the fetus is unknown, she observes the strictures that apply to a woman who gave birth both to a male and to a female. Accordingly, she is prohibited from engaging in intercourse for fourteen days, but after that, she will be permitted to engage in intercourse despite a discharge of uterine blood until thirty-three days pass after the seven days she would have been prohibited if the fetus were male. The prohibition to enter the Temple will continue until eighty days have passed from the discharge of the fetus. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. And the Rabbis say: Any fetus that is not of human form is not regarded as an offspring with regard to observance of these periods, and she is permitted to engage in intercourse provided that she does not experience a discharge of uterine blood.

Inspired by R' Micah Greenland