Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

The commandment of the matter of the impurity of a woman who has given birth: To render a woman who has given birth impure; meaning to say that when a woman gives birth she be impure for her husband — and all the more so for pure items — seven days for a male and two weeks for a female, as it is stated (Leviticus 12:2, Leviticus 12:5), “If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she will be impure for seven days, etc. And if she gives birth to a female, she will be impure for two weeks, etc.”

From the roots of the commandment, [there is a need] for a preface: There is no doubt that all of the sicknesses of people come either because of an excess in the body or from the angle of a deficit that happens from whatever reason it might be. As in truth, so long as [a person’s] constitution is in total equilibrium and it not have a deficit, the body will not become ill. And the sin of people brings them to have an excess or a deficit from what people need for their constitution, and they become sick.

And we have already said in the warning of the “torn” animal (Sefer HaChinukh 73) and in the prohibitions of foods (Sefer HaChinukh 147, 148) that God, blessed be He, distanced His people that He chose from all the things that hurt the body, in that it is a vessel for the soul that knows its Creator. And so too from this root did He distance us from the woman who has given birth, from the menstruant and from the zavah (a woman with an irregular discharge) for a few days, until they become cleansed from that excess that they have, which is a bad and infectious thing. Therefore they, may their memory be blessed, said (Rashi on Leviticus 12:2) that a woman never [experiences] blood unless her head and limbs are heavy upon her. And there is no doubt that this excess makes them, and anyone who comes close to them at all, sick. And all the more so with sexual relations, which is the epitome of physical closeness. And also the offspring that is born [from a union] while that excess overpowers her is destined for bad illnesses. And from this root that we said from the angle of excess, the Torah commanded that she be impure from the male seven [days] and two weeks from the female. As there is no doubt that the excesses of the woman that gives birth to a female are greater than one who gives birth to a male — since conception of a male indicates heat in the female. And [it is] like they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 60a), “‘If a woman conceives (literally, gives seed) and gives birth to a male — [if] a woman gives seed first, she gives birth to a male.” And it is well-known that the excesses of heat are few and its action is always quick — it is a logical thing. And therefore seven days of cleansing suffices with the pregnancy of a male.

And the conception of a female indicates coldness in the constitution of the female. And in coldness, excesses abound; and hence she needs two weeks for the cleansing of her body. And so did I find the matter after I wrote this [in] Ramban, may his memory be blessed, and these are his words (Ramban on Leviticus 12:4): “Because the constitution of the female is cold and wet, and the dampness in the womb of the mother is very great and cold. And therefore, she gave birth to a female. And hence she requires a big cleansing because of the multitude of dampness and the blood decaying in her and because of her coldness. And it is well-known that the cold sicknesses require a longer time to be cleansed than the hot ones.” To here [are his words].

And similar to this is also the matter of the menstruant and the zavah. As the menstruant is purified after seven days — and even if she gushes all of the seven, so long as she stops on the seventh while it is still day — by the law of the Torah. But the zavah requires seven clean [days after her bleeding], because the flow indicates the extent of the excesses of the woman — and that is the continuation of the emptying of blood many days after the days that are customary in most women. And it is possible for us to say that the sickness of discharging blood in women from month to month was so that their weak minds not become haughty. Or [it is] so as to distance their closeness from man a little, so that he not run after them all of the days. As the thing of this messiness that he knows about them will be a little disgusting in his eyes and he will not always err in his love of them.

And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said in Niddah 31b from the angle of the simple understanding — I mean to say that they intended to reveal one of the great benefits that there is in the commandment besides its great and strong principles — and they wrote that there is a benefit in the distancing of the wife a little time so as to make her more beloved to her husband at the fit time, and that they should not get sick one of the other from the great constancy of their closeness and they give their eyes to other bodies — like most of the other nations, who are not restrained by our strict fences, do. And likewise this reason of theirs suffices from the angle of the simple understanding with the woman who has given birth; such that he not disgrace himself with her immediately, and lest she be disgusting in his eyes and he be sick of her, like we said in Niddah 31b.

From the laws of the commandment is, for example, that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Niddah 66a) that all women who give birth are impure — and even if they did not see blood, as it is impossible to have an opening of the womb without blood. And it is one whether the woman gives birth to a live [baby] or to a dead one, and even if she miscarried — and that is when its form is completed — she is impure with the impurity of birth. And even if she miscarried a placenta or an amnion full of water or blood, behold this one [must be] concerned about a birth; as it established for us that there is no placenta without a fetus. And even though they do not find the fetus in the placenta now, we are concerned lest it dissolved inside it. And from the doubt, she sits [out] the days of impurity for a female which is two weeks, and the days of purification for a male which are thirty-three days and not more - as from a doubt, we are stringent [to this side] and [that side]. And this that we say that she must be concerned about a birth is specifically when forty days have passed over her since she conceived. But if forty days have not passed over her, she does not concern herself about a birth — and even on the actual fortieth day, as the fortieth day is considered like before the [end of] forty days. And nonetheless even though she does not concern herself about a birth — meaning to say, and she will not have the days of purification like a woman who has given birth — she concerns herself, nonetheless, about the impurity of a menstruant. And even if the birth was a dry birth — meaning to say that she did not see blood at all — we say that since she gave birth, it is impossible to have an opening of the womb without blood, and lest it was little and it got lost. And any woman that has days of birth for impurity has days of purification from Torah writ. And the days of purification are thirty-three for a male and sixty-six for a female. And the matter is like this [regarding] the law of the Torah: That after she gave birth, the woman counts seven days from the day she gave birth. And whether she gave birth at the beginning of the night or at midday or even near sunset, she counts that day of birth as one day and completes six [more] days upon it. And whether she [experiences blood] a few of the days of the seven or all of the seven, she immerses on the evening of the seventh, which is the eighth night, and she is pure for her husband. And even if she is gushing blood on that eighth night, she immerses and is pure for her husband; as the Torah permitted all blood that a woman has given birth will see after the seven days within the thirty-three days for a male, and after fourteen within sixty-six days for a female.

And about this they, may their memory be blessed, said (Niddah 35b) that there is one “wellspring” and the Torah made it impure, and the Torah [also] made it pure. [This is] meaning to say that the blood of birth that the Torah made impure and the blood of purification that the Torah made pure are from one place; and that is [that] both of them come out from the source (the uterus), which is a place of impurity. However the Torah made the matter depend on time and made impure the blood that comes from her at one time and made [it] pure at a second time. And blessed is the One that knows all wisdom, as He did every thing for a correct and necessary reason. And He, blessed be He, knows that up to a certain time, the blood is damaging; and [that] from then on, it is not damaging.

But now all of Israel has girded itself and has become accustomed to treat the blood of purification like the blood of impurity. And the general principle of the matter is that a woman today does not ever emerge from her impurity until she undergoes seven full days clean from all blood. And she begins counting them from the evening. And this is a great principle and it is practiced until this day in all the places of the proper Israelites. And through this, we are saved from several doubts. And the laws of the doubts that sometimes arise upon the woman giving birth — for example, if she is obligated to sit [out] for the impurity of a male or the impurity of a female, as sometimes she must sit [out] for a male and a female and for [being] a menstruant from the doubt; the law of what is the law of one who has a miscarriage of a type of beast or bird; what is the law if their faces are like the faces of people or if their faces are not like the faces of people; what is the law of one who has a miscarriage of types of gnats [or] types of hairs; one who has a miscarriage of the image of a man that has wings of flesh; likewise one who has a miscarriage of the image of a man with one eye and one thigh; one who has a miscarriage of a male together with a sandal, and that is a creature that is not recognizable whether it is male or female; the law of a woman that goes out full and comes back empty and errs in her calculation — and the rest of its many details regarding her impurity are all in Tractate Niddah. (See Tur, Yoreh Deah 191.) And the matter of the laws of sacrifices are scattered in many tractates, and many of them are in Zevachim, Arakhin, Keritot and Negaim.

And this commandment is practiced in every place and at all times regarding that women giving birth are impure. And one who transgresses it and has sexual relations with her volitionally during the time specified for prohibition — or even after the specified time, so long as she has not immersed — has violated this positive commandment, besides that he has violated a negative commandment, as with a menstruant. And [it is] like the matter that is written (Leviticus 12:2), “like the days of her menstrual illness, shall she be impure.” And [so] he is liable for excision. If inadvertent, he is liable to bring a fixed sin-offering at the time of the [Temple].