Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

To not have intercourse with a menstruant woman: To not have intercourse with a woman when she is menstruant, as it is stated (Leviticus 18:19), “And to a woman in menstrual impurity, you shall not approach.” And the time of her menstruation continues for seven days, as it is written (Leviticus 15:19), “seven days shall she be in her menstruation.” And whether she [experiences blood] once during them or gushes all seven, she is a menstruant (Niddah 73a). And the entire time that she does not immerse (in a mikveh) — even after the seven — she is [considered] a menstruant; since the verse made it dependent upon days and immersion, as it is stated with impure people (Leviticus 15:18), “and they shall wash in water.” And they, may their memory be blessed, said [that it is] a constructive paradigm (binyan av) to any impure one, that he is with his impurity until he immerses. (See Rabbenu Bachya on Leviticus 15:19 in the name of the Geonim.) And likewise, they, may their memory be blessed, also expounded (Shabbat 64b), “‘Shall she be in her menstruation’ — she shall be in her menstruation until she goes into water.”

And the content of menstruation is that there is a matter with women, such that blood flows from them through their nakedness (vagina) two or three days or more — up to seven — each and every month. And Scripture commanded that the law is the same with them whether the blood flows from her for one day only or even all of the seven. As if it flows all seven and stopped on the seventh while [it was] still day, she immerses in the evening, which is the night the morrow of which is the eighth day, and is pure. And likewise, if it only flowed one day of all of the seven — and even blood that is a drop the size of a mustard seed — she observes [herself] seven days and immerses in the evening, which is the night of the eighth, and is pure for her husband.

I have written that which I know from the roots of the menstruant in Parashat Zot Tehiyeh (Sefer HaChinukh 166, 182). And the general principle of the matter is that God, may He be blessed, distanced all impurity, all dirt and all damage from His people that He chose. And there I also said what appears to be the substance of God’s, may He be blessed, making women sick with this illness.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Niddah 32a) that a woman becomes impure as a menstruant even on the day of her birth; whereas the law is not like this with a zavah — as a woman does not become impure with a discharge until ten days [of age]. And this thing is by way of the heard tradition. And all women are included in this prohibition, and even Canaanite (gentile) maidservants — since they are included in the commandments, they are like Israelitesses for this matter (Sifra, Metzora Parashat Zavim, Section 5:1). But the women of the [other] nations of the world are not included in the prohibition of menstruation and discharge from Torah writ, but rather [only] rabbinically. As they decreed about them — whether males or whether females — that they be like a zav for all their matters (Niddah 34a). And that which they said in the Gemara (Avodah Zarah 36b) that one who has intercourse with a gentile woman is liable because of her on account of nashgaz (the acrostic of the four prohibitions about to be named) — the explanation of which is a menstruant, a maidservant, a gentile woman and an unfaithful woman (zonah). And this liability is only rabbinic for an Israelite. But for a man who is a priest, he is liable because of her from Torah writ on account of an unfaithful woman (Temurah 29b); and he is lashed because of her.

And that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Niddah 19a) that there are five appearances of blood that the Torah made impure and the rest of the appearances of blood are pure — its content is [that it is] because the Sages knew in their wisdom that every blood that is not of those five appearances is not from an impure place. As there is a specific place in a woman, that only blood which comes from it is impure — it is called “the source.” And in the language of the Sages, it is called, “the room.” And in their days, [since] they were experts in every wisdom, all the women were accustomed to practicing the law of the Torah for menstruation and discharge; such that a zavah would sit [out] for seven clean days, and a menstruant would immerse on the night of the eighth — and even if she was gushing all of the seven — since the blood stopped on the seventh while [it was] still day. And from when the troubles multiplied, the hearts (understanding) of sages and those that know the Torah shrunk and they did not want to rely on their opinions to judge appearances of blood at all. And therefore now at this time, anyone who has [a spot that has] an appearance that is at all red or an appearance of black — whether it is deep or light, meaning, that it is not deep — is impure. But green and white — even if it is thick — behold, it is pure. And a woman is believed to say, “I saw an appearance like this and I lost it.” And if she said [it was] green or white, we render her pure (Niddah 20b).

And when Rebbe arrived and saw that wisdom shrunk in the world, and that the Sages were [no longer] expert in appearances of blood, and that the women were acting in accordance with the law of the Torah, and were counting the days of menstruation for menstruation and the days of discharge for discharge, he was concerned about the thing. [As] sometimes a woman will [experience] blood which is pure [according to] the Torah, but because she will not find a sage who would recognize it, she would be concerned about it [based on] the doubt and sit [out] for it. And if you have her practice the Torah law, behold she will count seven days from that day that she starts [experiencing] the blood, and on the night of the eighth — even if she was gushing all of the seven — if the blood stopped on the seventh, she will immerse in the evening, as we said above. And it will come out that sometimes we would come to a prohibition of excision because of her — as we should be concerned that all of the blood that she [experienced] on the [first] six days was pure blood, and [only that] of the seventh was impure blood. And [so] she began to count the seven days of menstruation from the first day that she [experienced] it, whereas she should have started to count from the seventh, as that is the beginning of her menstruation, since [only] it was impure blood. And from this mistake, she will come to err many times from menstruation to discharge and from discharge to menstruation — that she will figure that she is in the days of menstruation whereas she is [actually] in the days of discharge. Therefore Rebbe rose and ordained (Niddah 66a) that every woman that [experiences blood] one day, sit [out] six clean days, and likewise if she [experienced] two days, she also sits six clean ones. When she sits six clean days for them, there is no longer any room for doubt: As if both of those days were in the days of menstruation, she will be pure at the end of seven days. And if they are in the days of discharge, there was only a need to wait one day. And even if the first was in the days of discharge and the second was in the days of menstruation, there is no [problem] with this — as behold, she sits after this six clean days, and one of those six clean days counts for that day of discharge. And even though all of them were in the days of menstruation, the law is that days of menstruation in which she does not [experience blood] count for the days of discharge. And if she [experienced blood] three days, he ordained that she sit seven clean days, as we should be concerned that all of the three days are in the days of discharge, and behold she [would be] a big zavah, which requires sitting seven clean [days] from Torah law.

That was the ordinance of Rebbe, and with that ordinance, no doubt in the matter remained. And after that ordinance, the Daughters of Israel added [to it] further and were stringent upon themselves (Niddah 66a), such that even if they [experienced] a drop of blood like a mustard seed — meaning to say even with one appearance — they would sit [out] seven clean days, as they did not want to differentiate between [experiencing] blood one or two days, and [experiencing it] three days. And the matter of the stringency about which they were stringent is not on account of the blood being little as a mustard seed, as from the law of the Torah, there is no distinction between a little blood and much blood — as she always needs to sit seven consecutive days [regardless], as we said. [Rather,] the stringency is that they made themselves to be like a zavah even with one appearance. And this stringency that they took upon themselves is mentioned in many places in the Talmud; and it appears from this that the Sages saw their stringency as good and needed, and they conceded to the words of [the Daughters of Israel].

And it comes out that all women today are like a big zavah and need to count seven clean days, even with one appearance; and likewise any woman that found a [blood] stain in a place that it is fitting to be concerned about it. Even though stains are rabbinic (Niddah 58b) — as from Torah writ, a woman does not become impure until she feels impure blood herself, as it is stated (Leviticus 15:19), “blood flowing in her flesh,” meaning that she feels the impure blood in herself — nonetheless, the Sages were already stringent about stains and required the counting of seven [clean days] and a break of purity (hefsek taharah) for them. And therefore if she found a stain of the size that forbids in a place that it is fitting to be concerned about it, she also needs to sit seven clean days for it. And from when does a woman count her seven clean days? From the morrow of the day that the blood stopped completely. How is this? If she [experienced blood] for two or three days, she checks herself constantly. If the blood stopped on the second day or on the third day — even in the morning — she does not count her seven from that day in which the blood stopped, but rather she checks herself another time on the morrow and begins to count seven from that day. And what are these words speaking about? When she [experienced blood] two days or three or more. But if she only [experienced it] one day — even though she checked herself on that day and she had a break of purity, she does not count from the next day. As there is an assumption that the first day will be completely impure and the source is assumed to be open that whole day, and [so,] we are concerned lest her blood came back to her after her checking, and she was gushing the whole night. And [so] this second day from her [experiencing blood] is not from the number [of clean days]. And even if she checked herself from the evening, we are concerned lest with the removal of her hands [to check], she [experienced blood. This is] except if her hands were between her “eyes” all of the twilight (bein hashmashot) — meaning to say that she checked herself and left the [checking cloth] inside while it was still day and it stayed there all of the twilight until the night - and she did not find blood on it at all. In such a way, it is possible that we should say that she starts counting from the next day. (See Mishneh Torah, Laws of Forbidden Intercourse 6:20.)

And we are not so stringent with one who finds a stain to require her a day of a break of purity besides the day upon which she found the stain, as we said about one who [experienced blood] only one day. Rather, certainly since she checked herself after she found the stain and found it pure, she counts seven clean ones besides that day that she found the stain. [This is] meaning to say that she counts her tally from the morrow of the day upon which she found the stain, like the law of a woman who [experienced] blood two or three days, as we said above. From the outset, a woman needs an examination on each and every day of all seven days (Niddah 68b). But ex post facto, if she only checked on the first day — which is the morrow of the day she stopped [bleeding] — and she did not check again, even if several days after the seven passed, she checks herself at the time of immersion; and that is enough for her, as she already had a pause of purity before then. [If] she did not check herself on the first day, but rather only on the day of her stopping alone (the day before the first day), she checks herself on the seventh day; and that is enough for her, and [so] she immerses on the night of the eighth. [If] she did not check herself, neither on the first day nor on the seventh day — even if she checked herself on the night of the eighth — even though she made a pause of purity before then (before the first day), those seven days that passed do not count for her at all. As she did not check during them, not at the beginning and not at the end, and she needs to count seven clean days from the time that she checked. And it is possible that the essence of this matter is because the Torah commanded (Leviticus 15:28), “and she shall count for herself [...] and she shall become pure.” And since she did not check — not at the beginning and not at the end — there is no counting here.

And a woman needs to do this examination with cotton, which is called coton in the vernacular, or with clean and soft wool or with an old flax garment that is soft because of its oldness. And they all should be white, so that any appearance of redness be properly recognized upon it (Niddah 17a). And these cloths that she checks with are called, “witnesses,” in the Talmud. And when she checks, she needs to insert the witness into all of the holes and cracks that are in that place. And if she found any appearance of red on it afterwards, she is impure. Any examination that is not done like this is not an examination. Even if she inserts the witness into that place, but she did not check in the holes and cracks, it is not a proper examination, as that is only called a wiping — and all the more so does a change of her cloak not count for her as an examination. These seven clean days need to be consecutive, such that impurity not intervene between them. Even if she sat all of the days and she did not [experience blood], but on the seventh day [towards] the evening, she [experienced blood] — behold, this breaks up her whole count, and she needs to count seven consecutive clean days afterwards.

And the laws of the measure of the stain (Niddah 58b), and in which case it is attributed to a stain [from something else] and in which case it is not attributed [to it]. And one who has a wound in that place, if she attributes the blood to it until the wound heals. And the matter of what is the law of a girl minor who has had intercourse and has blood flow from her (Niddah 64b). And the blood of virginity (breaking the hymen), that the Sages determined to be like menstrual blood (Niddah 65b). And the many laws of the regular times, and the law of separation before her regular time, which is the [menstrual] period — meaning to say that day or that night that she is accustomed to [experiencing blood] upon it — is forbidden for sexual relations. [This is] from that which it is written (Leviticus 15:31), “And you shall separate the Children of Israel from their impurity,” and the explanation came that they should separate from their wives before their regular times. But after the period of the regular time has passed [without blood], they are permitted in sexual relations. And the matter of the distancing from the wife that they, may their memory be blessed, commanded (Shabbat 11a) regarding the matter of menstruation, in order that a man not stumble in sin — and it is that a man should not eat with his menstruant wife from the same tray, nor pass a thing from his hand to her hand (Shabbat 13a), nor speak to her about things that often cause sin nor similar to these things.

And the matter of their immersion that the Sages required them to immerse at night. And even though the immersion of a zavah is even during the day by Torah writ and they are all today like a zavah; nonetheless the Sages said that the immersion of all of them is at night, because her daughter (who will misconstrue the law) might follow, and as the topic is explained in the Gemara (Niddah 67b). And in a place of duress — for example that the gates of the city are closed at night, and similar to this — they permitted to immerse even during the day. But nonetheless, she is forbidden to have sexual relations until the night, lest she [experience blood before then] and break up her whole count; and it [would] come out that he had intercourse with an impure woman — as Scripture made her purity dependent on days and immersion.

And this prohibition is practiced in every place and at all times. And one who transgresses it and volitionally laid with a menstruant is liable excision from when he inserts himself in her; inadvertently he brings a fixed sin-offering. And the son of a menstruant (who was conceived while she was impure), is not called a mamzer, but rather a defective offspring. And we shall elucidate this in the negative commandment of “a mamzer shall not enter” in the Order of Ki Tetseh (Sefer HaChinukh 465), with God’s help.