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Nidah 57

57b

1. HALACHAH: THE SENSATION THAT MAKES A WOMAN TEMEI'AH OPINIONS: Shmuel rules that if a woman did not feel the blood come out of her womb, we learn from the verse in Vayikra 15:19 that she is Tehorah. She is only considered to be a Nidah mid'Rabanan. If she felt the blood come out, she is Temei'ah mid'Oraisa, even if she did not actually find blood upon an internal examination.

   What does it mean that a woman feels that the blood came out of the womb? The PISCHEI TESHUVAH (Yoreh De'ah 183:1) cites three opinions:

   1. The SHULCHAN ARUCH (ibid. 190:1) and the REMA (ibid. 188:1) write that the woman feels her womb opening. The Acharonim explain that this feeling is similar to the sensation felt upon urinating, which concurs with our Gemara, that compares the two.
   2. RAMBAM (Hilchos Isurei Bi'ah 5:17, 9:1) states that a woman feels her body tremble with the flow of blood.
   3. NODA B'YEHUDAH (Yoreh De'ah 1:55) explains that she feels the flow of a liquid inside her body. CHASAM SOFER (Yoreh De'ah, Teshuvah #145), citing his Rebbi, argues and rules that feeling the flow of liquid does not make a woman into a Nidah mid'Oraisa. (Feeling dampness or a flow of liquid outside of her body certainly does not make her Temei'ah mid'Oraisa. MAR'EH KOHEN 1:3.)

      HALACHAH: The Poskim write that all of these feelings make a woman a Nidah mid'Oraisa. When a woman does not experience one of these feelings, she is only Temei'ah mid'Rabanan.

      If she finds blood during a Bedikah or upon wiping herself immediately after urinating, she is also Temei'ah mid'Oraisa even if she did not experience any of these sensations, in accordance with the Gemara which states that the feeling of blood exiting the womb can be obscured by the sensation of a Bedikah or of urination.

2. A HARGASHAH THAT GOES UNNOTICED
   • Question: The Gemara asks a question on Shmuel's ruling, that a bloodstain does not make a woman Tamei unless she actually feels the blood coming from her body, from a Beraisa. The Beraisa rules that if a woman finds blood on her body and she is in doubt as to whether she is Temei'ah or Tehorah, she is Temei'ah. Why is she Temei'ah? She did not feel the blood come from her body! The Gemara proves from this that even according to Shmuel the woman is Temei'ah mid'Rabanan.

     Earlier, the Gemara asked a question on Shmuel from the ruling of the Beraisa that a if woman often bleeds, she must accord to any items that she touches the status that she herself retains during the majority of her life; if she is a Nidah more often than not, these items are Temei'im. The Gemara asks why the items are Temei'im if the woman did not experience a Hargashah recently, and the Gemara answers that the woman may have had a Hargashah recently and not noticed it.

     Why does the Gemara not answer the question from a bloodstain on the woman's skin in the same manner, by saying that she perhaps experienced a Hargashah not did not notice it? (TOSFOS DH Ketani)

   • Answer: TOSFOS (ibid.) explains that we only use this answer in the third case, where the woman is Temei'ah for the majority of her days. In such a case there is substantial cause to assume that she may have had a Hargashah without realizing it, since she is Temei'ah so often. However, there is no reason to assume that she did not notice a Hargashah in the case of the woman who finds blood on her body.

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