One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
הִלְכוֹת אִסּוּרֵי בִּיאָה
Forbidden Intercourse 6
Sefer Kedushah · Issurei Biah, Chapter 6 • One source, two calendars, and the laws of counting
7
Days of niddah
from the fixed time
11
Days of zivah, a
halachah from Sinai
1
Day watched for one
or two days seen
7
Clean days counted
by a major zavah
6:1-6One Source, Three Names
- The same substance. The bleeding of niddah, of zivah, before childbirth and the pure blood after it are one kind, from one source. Only the time makes a woman pure, a niddah or a zavah. (6:1)
- Seven, then eleven. At her first or fixed time she is a niddah for seven full days, whether she sees once or throughout. Blood after the seven is zivah, and by a halachah from Sinai there are no more than eleven days between one niddah period and the next. (6:2-3)
- Named by time, not by events. The seven are days of niddah and the eleven days of zivah whether or not she sees on them. “Take care with regard to these names.” (6:4-5)
- A lifelong count. From the time her pattern is set she counts seven and eleven, again and again, until a birth resets it. Rashi and the Ramban count from each month's events; in practice seven clean days are kept after any bleeding. (6:6)
RememberThe Torah does not ask what it is. It asks when it is.
6:7-16Counting Day by Day
- Minor and major. One or two days in her days of zivah: a minor zavah, who watches a day for a day. Three consecutive days: a major zavah, who counts seven clean days and brings an offering. Both are equally forbidden to their husbands. (6:7-8)
- Inside a single day. She watches through the night, immerses after sunrise and watches the whole day. One clean day balances one or two impure days. A major zavah immerses on the seventh day after sunrise; immersion at night does not count. (6:9-12)
- Tentative purity. Relations after an immersion at the proper time carry no karet even if she sees later that day, but what she touched becomes impure retroactively, so she waits until evening. (6:13-14)
- The broken seventh. Bleeding on the seventh clean day, even near sunset, cancels the whole count and she begins seven anew. A discharge of semen during the count cancels one day. (6:15-16)
RememberSeven clean days are one achievement that takes seven days, not seven separate ones.
6:16-22What We Last Knew
- The twelfth belongs to niddah. Bleeding on the tenth, eleventh and twelfth days of zivah does not make her a major zavah, since the twelfth begins her days of niddah. “After the time for niddah” means the eighth, ninth and tenth days. (6:16-17)
- The twelfth morning. One who sees on the eleventh and immerses that night is impure but not liable; immersing on the twelfth after sunrise, she is forbidden until evening by Rabbinic law. (6:17-18)
- Twilight doubts. A sighting at bein hashamashot that might complete three consecutive days of zivah leaves an unresolved doubt whether she is a major zavah. (6:19)
- Presumptions. Once bleeding is known to have stopped, she is presumed pure until it is found again; impurity at both ends is presumed continuous; on the first day, even a clean check counts as impure. A zavah clean on the first and seventh days is clean throughout. (6:20-21)
- When in doubt. Whenever it is unclear whether she is a niddah or a zavah, she counts seven clean days, immerses at night, and brings an offering that is not eaten. (6:22)
RememberIn the gap you could not see, stand on the last thing you truly knew.