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Nidah 47

47b

1. "ME'ES LE'ES," AND NOT WHAT?
   • Question: Many of the Mishnayos in our Perek deal with ages which are relevant to various laws, such as Nidah, Yibum and so forth. Rav rules that all of the ages recorded in our Perek are "me'Es le'Es". RASHI (DH b'Kulei) explains that Rav means to say by this that the years of our Perek must be full years, and not just one day into the final year (i.e. Yom Echad b'Shanah Harei Hu k'Shanah, or the first day of the year is already considered a year).

     Later, the Gemara quotes a Beraisa which lists several cases where the Torah states that a time period of a certain amount of years must be calculated me'Es le'Es. This time, Rashi says that me'Es le'Es excludes a third way of calculating. It means that the years of the Beraisa do not end on Rosh Hashanah. Rather, each year begins on the moment that a particular action (such as a birth or sale) takes place, and ends one entire year hence.

     Why did Rashi explain earlier that me'Es le'Es excludes one way of calculating, and then explain later that it excludes another way of calculating?

   • Answer: From TOSFOS (38 DH Shipurah) it may be learned that these two issues of me'Es le'Es are mutually dependent. Tosfos explains that we only say Yom Echad b'Shanah Harei Hu k'Shanah (or Yom Echad b'Chodesh Harei Hu k'Chodesh) when we are dealing with years that start on a fixed date, such as Rosh Hashanah. However, when we are dealing with a number of years that start from a day in a person's life, we do not say Yom Echad b'Shanah Harei Hu k'Shanah.

     Rashi's two statements are therefore based on the same premise. Because the years of the Mishnah or Beraisa are calculated me'Es le'Es and do not begin on Rosh Hashanah, therefore we are not able to apply to these cases the rule of Yom Echad b'Shanah Harei Hu k'Shanah. (See Rashash, who seems to have understood differently.)

     Why then, when explaining the Beraisa, did Rashi mention only that we do not calculate the beginning of the year from Rosh Hashanah? Why did he not specify, as he did earlier, that because the years of the Beraisa are calculated "me'Es le'Es" we do not apply to them the rule of Yom Echad b'Shanah Harei Hu k'Shanah?

     The MAHARAM answers that the Beraisa discusses, among other things, laws which deal not with a number of years, but with a single year (such as the age of a sheep for Korbanos, and the time during which one may redeem a house in a walled city). In such cases, it is obvious that even if the year is not me'Es le'Es we cannot count one day into the year as an entire year.

2. MOST OF HIS LIFE OPINIONS: The Gemara explains that if a person reaches twenty years of age and has Simanei Seris, he is a Gadol. If he had neither two pubic hairs nor Simanei Seris, then he becomes a Gadol only when "most of his years" pass. At what age do we consider most of his years to have passed?

   The verse in Tehilim (90:10) says, "The days of our years ... are seventy years." From this the Rishonim learn that "most of his years" means 35+ years. However, there is a difference of opinion among the Rishonim as to how we calculate the 35+ years.

   1. The RAMBAM (Hilchos Ishus 2;4,12) and SHULCHAN ARUCH (Even ha'Ezer 155:13) say that when he is 35 years old and one day, we consider most of his years to have passed.
   2. The RIVASH (Teshuvah #465) says that when he is 35 years and 30 days old, we consider most of his years to have passed.
   3. The RAN (and the Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 235:11) says that when he is 36 full years old we consider most of his years to have passed.

      What is the logical basis for this difference of opinion?

   1. The RAMBAM explains that "most of his years" is not referring literally to a number of years. It means one day past the mid-point of his life.

   2. The RIVASH holds that "most of his years" means one year past the mid-point of his years, but he counts thirty days into a year as a year (as does Rebbi Yosi Ben Kiper in our Gemara).
   3. The RAN, too, learns that most of the person's years must pass, but he maintains that the 36th year also must be a full year.

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