What the Torah Calls Blood

About This Talk

Chapter 5 defines what renders a woman impure as a niddah or zavah. She becomes impure even when bleeding was brought on by an outside cause, such as jumping or arousal, and from even a drop the size of a mustard seed. Blood makes her impure once it reaches the outer chamber, even before it leaves her body, as the verse says, a discharge of blood within her flesh. The Rambam explains the Sages' metaphors for the inner anatomy: the room, the antechamber, the loft and the passageway. Blood from the room is impure, except blood of purity after childbirth; blood from the loft is pure, like blood of a wound. Blood found in the antechamber beyond the passageway is impure by Torah law, while blood found nearer the entrance is impure out of doubt, so terumah is not burned because of it and she is not liable for entering the Temple. Only blood renders her impure, not white or green fluid, and only five colors: red, black, bright saffron, muddy water and diluted wine, each defined by a precise standard. A stain matching or darker than one of the first four is impure and a lighter one is pure, such as black like an olive or a raven; for diluted wine only the exact shade is impure. A woman who describes a lost stain is believed, and the sage rules on her description. The sage compares stains on a white cloth in sunlight, shading them with his hand, though an experienced sage may rule at a glance. A discharged piece of tissue without blood leaves her pure, but torn tissue with blood collected in it makes her impure. Red particles that dissolve in lukewarm water are congealed blood and make her impure; if they dissolve only after a day it is a doubt, and if they do not dissolve they come from a wound. Blood passed through a tube is pure because it is not the ordinary way, and blood with urine is pure even with a sensation. Hymeneal bleeding is the blood of a wound and is pure. A bride married as a minor is permitted until the wound heals; a na'arah who never menstruated is granted four days, which need not be consecutive; one who already menstruated must separate after the first time; and a bogeret who never menstruated is granted the first night. The chapter explains how to tell whether the wound has healed, and rules that bleeding which appears only after an earlier time without bleeding is menstrual. Today, as later chapters explain, any such bleeding requires seven clean days, and any reddish stain is treated as impure.