ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
prepared by Rabbi Eliezer Chrysler
Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Jerusalem
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Nidah 17
Questions
1)
(a) No! It is not necessary to chase away the mice from under the bed
before Tashmish; Rebbi Shimon is referring to human beings - and that
includes even one's own slaves.
(b) Certain people put slaves on a par with donkeys, because of the Pasuk
"Shevu Lachem Poh Im ha'Chamor" which Avraham said to Yishmael and Eliezer.
(c) Some of the Amora'im actually used to chase away the flies from their
beds, but that is no more than a Chumra.
2)
(a) One should not eat peeled garlic, onions or eggs which have been left
peeled overnight.
(b) The danger no longer exists when one places some of the ends or the
peels together with them.
(c) The same applies to diluted wine, but only if one leaves it overnight
in a metal or clay vessel.
3)
(a) It is dangerous to sleep in a cemetery, when one's intention is to
attract the evil spirits (to put on some form of magician show), and
sometimes the spirits try to kill him.
(b) Throwing out one's finger or toe-nails into the street will endanger
the lives of the fetuses, when pregnant women walk over them. Nor is there
any difference whether one cuts them with scissors or bites them etc.,
whether he cuts both sets of nails or only one, or whether he cuts
something after them or not. It is always prohibited.
(c) A Chasid burns his nails (destroys them completely), a Tzadik buries
them, and a Rasha throws them away.
(d) Someone who is Meshamesh after bloodletting, will have children who are
very weak. If both parents let blood before Tashmish, then the child will
have a Sheretz in his brain.
This does not apply, if he eats something first.
4)
(a) One should not be Meshamesh by day either because one may come to
despise or hate his wife, as we learnt earlier (the Gemara now adds the
Pasuk - "ve'Ahavta le'Rei'acha Kamocha"), or because 'Yisrael Kedoshim
Heim'.
It is permitted in a dark room; a Talmid-Chacham, who behaves with
additional Tzenius, is permitted even in a light room, provided he covers
the bodies with his cloak.
(b) Beis Shamai in our Mishnah, does not permit Tashmish by the light of a
lamp, we must change the Lashon to 'O *Tivdok* le'Or ha'Ner'.
(c) And the same applies to the Beraisa, where we need to change the Lashon
to '*ha'Bodek* Mitaso le'Or ha'Ner, Harei Zeh Meguneh'.
(d ) It is Meguneh to make a Bedikah by the light of a lamp, because it is
difficult to be Bodek properly by such a dim light - in spite of which,
Beis Shamai permits it.
5 )
(a) There is a good side to being Meshamesh by the light of day (even
though the Gemara forbids it), inasmuch as when a man is tired, he might
indulge in Tashmish purely in order to satisfy his wife's needs, but not
with any feeling. As a result, he may come to despise his wife. In the
daytime, he is more likely to be intimate with his wife with more desire,
which will increase his love for her. That is why we thought that perhaps
the members of Moonbaz' household were actually praised for making Tashmish
by day.
(b) When they used to announce 'Ma'an Ba'ei Pikuli be'Nahama'? they meant
who needs cotton (or linen) for Tashmish (which in more refined speech, is
referred to as bread) - They would announce this every Friday, because
Friday night is the time of Onah for Talmidei-Chachamim.
(c) Fresh linen and worn-out linen garments are good to use as Eidim
(because they are very white); new linen garments, which are not so white,
are not.
(d) Clean wool is also a good agent for Bedikah.
6)
(a) Snow is more of a liquid than it is a solid. Consequently, if someone
thinks to eat it, it does not become a food, whereas if he thinks to drink
it, it does become a Mashkeh.
(b) If someone passes some snow into the air of an earthenware oven in
which there is a Sheretz, the whole batch becomes a Rishon le'Tum'ah,
because the Torah reckons the entire air of the oven as an Av ha'Tum'ah.
17b---------------------------------------17b
Questions
7)
(a) The Cheder and the Perozdor are placed one behind the other - the
Perozdor in front and the Cheder behind it. The Aliyah, as its name
suggests, is above them, and any blood from there (which is Tahor), flows
into the Perozdor.
The blood from the Cheder (which is the Mekor) is Tamei.
(b) The Lul is the passage between the Aliyah and the Perozdor; It leads,
not to the back of the Perozdor, but to the middle, so that some of the
Perozdor is in front of the Lul and some of it is behind it. According to
Rami bar Shmuel and Rav Yitzchak b'Rebbi Yehudah, any blood found in the
Perozdor behind the Lul, is Safek Tamei (because, had it flowed down from
the Aliyah, it would have flowed down to the front. And any blood found in
front of the Lul, is Tahor. 'Nimtza bi'Perozdor, Sefeiko Tamei' now refers
to the part of the Perozdor which is behind the Lul.
(c) Raba bar Rav Huna objected to that interpretation, because the Mishnah
writes, regarding blood found in the Perozdor 'Chezkaso min ha'Mekor',
which suggests that it has a Din of Vaday Tamei (at least behind the Lul);
so how could they learn that even blood found in the Perozdor behind the
Lul is only a Safek?
Rav Huna himself told Raba his son that he had indeed taught that blood
found behind the Lul is Vaday Tamei; in front of the Lul, is only Safek
Tamei.
According to Rav Huna too, the Din of Perozdor in the Mishnah refers only
to the part of the Perozdor which is behind the Lul.
(d) According to Abaye, if we follow the Chazakah, then the blood at the
back of the Perozdor will be Tamei Vaday (since it must have come from the
Mekor), and the blood found in front of the Perozdor is Vaday Tahor,
because it must have come from the Aliyah (it is not clear why, unless we
say that Abaye learns that the Sugya is speaking about the top of the
Perozdor, and, as the Gemara will explain later, the blood found there
always comes from the Aliyah).
Whereas if we suspect that the blood at the front of the Perozdor is Safek
Tamei, because she may have leaned forward, allowing the blood to flow from
the Mekor to the front of the Perozdor, then, by the same token, we ought
to suspect that the blood found at the back of the womb, may have come from
the Aliyah whilst she was lying on her back, and which should then be Safek
Tamei and not Vaday.
8)
(a) No! Nobody holds that they bring a Korban for blood which is found in
front of the Lul.
(b) Yes! Rami bar Shmuel and Rav Yitzchak b'Rebbi Yehudah can conform with
Rebbi Chiya, who says that behind the Lul is Vaday Tamei; because he is
speaking at the floor of the Perozdor, which is where the blood falls
naturally when it leaves the Cheder. They follow the Chazakah, and
therefore do not suspect that maybe she lay on her back etc.
But if the blood is found on the roof of the Perozdor, then even if it is
behind the Lul, she is only a Safek Tamei. Why?
Because, if the blood had come from the Cheder, it should have flowed onto
the floor of the Perozdor; since it was found on the roof, it could just
have well have fallen from the Aliyah as from the Cheder, so there is no
Chezkas Tum'ah.
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