One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
הִלְכוֹת אִסּוּרֵי בִּיאָה · פֶּרֶק ה
Forbidden Intercourse 5
Sefer Kedushah · What renders a woman impure • The five colors • The sage’s eye • Blood that is not niddah
5
Colors of blood that
render a woman impure
1:2
Wine to water in the
diluted wine standard
4
Days granted to a young bride
who never menstruated
1
Mustard seed of blood
is enough for impurity
5:1-5The Source and Its Chambers
- Any cause, any amount. She is impure even when bleeding was brought on by an outside cause, and even from a drop the size of a mustard seed. (5:1-2)
- Within her flesh. Blood that has reached the outer chamber makes her impure even before it leaves her body, as the verse says, “a discharge of blood within her flesh.” (5:3)
- The Sages’ metaphors. The source is called the room; the uterine channel, the antechamber; the area above them, the loft; and the opening between loft and antechamber, the passageway. (5:4)
- Where the blood is found. Blood from the room is impure, except blood of purity; from the loft it is pure, like blood of a wound. In the antechamber, blood beyond the passageway is impure by Torah law, and blood nearer the entrance is impure out of doubt, without burning terumah. (5:5)
RememberNiddah is not bleeding in general. It is blood from the source, the place where life is formed.
5:6-11Five Colors and the Sage’s Eye
- Only blood. White or green fluid from the source is pure even if it is thick. Five colors are impure: red, black, bright saffron, muddy water and diluted wine; all others are pure. (5:6)
- The standards. Red like the first blood of bloodletting; black like dried ink; saffron like the middle leaf of a fresh plant; muddy water from reddish earth stirred into water; diluted wine as one part Sharon wine to two of water. (5:7-9)
- Darker or lighter. Matching or darker than the first four is impure, lighter is pure, such as black like an olive or a raven. For diluted wine, only the exact shade is impure. (5:9)
- Her word and the comparison. If she says she had a stain of a certain color and lost it, she is believed and the sage rules. He compares on a white cloth in sunlight, shading it with his hand, though an experienced sage knows at a glance. (5:10-11)
RememberStand in the light and shade your eyes. Too much glare or too much shadow both hide the truth.
5:12-17What Is Not Niddah
- Tissue. A discharged piece of tissue without blood leaves her pure, even if blood is inside it; if it is torn with blood collected in it, she is impure. (5:12)
- Particles. Red particles go into lukewarm water: dissolving means congealed blood and impurity; dissolving only after a day is a doubt; not dissolving means a wound. (5:13-14)
- Not the ordinary way. Blood passed through a tube is pure, since the verse speaks of the ordinary way. Blood with urine is pure even with a sensation, since it comes from the urinary tract. (5:15-16)
- Hymeneal bleeding. It is the blood of a wound, not of niddah or zivah, and is pure. (5:17)
RememberThe Torah’s category follows the nature of the body. What does not come from the source in the ordinary way is not niddah.
5:18-endThe Beginning of a Marriage
- By age and history. A bride married as a minor is permitted until the wound heals. A na’arah who never menstruated is granted four days; one who already menstruated must separate after the first time; a bogeret who never menstruated is granted the first night. (5:18-20)
- Not necessarily consecutive. The days granted need not be consecutive while the wound has not healed, and a minor who becomes a na’arah completes the four days. (5:21-22)
- Has the wound healed? Bleeding when standing but not when sitting on cushions means it has not healed; bleeding even on cushions, or no bleeding at all, means it has. (5:23)
- Later bleeding. If the first time brought no bleeding and a later time did, it is menstrual, since hymeneal bleeding would have appeared at first. (5:24 and following)
RememberThese allowances applied in Talmudic times. Today any such bleeding requires seven clean days.