## Niddah Daf 54a

###### Niddah 54a:1
[Niddah 54a:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:1)

שׁוֹטוֹת נִינְהוּ? טוֹעוֹת נִינְהוּ! אֶלָּא תְּנִי: טוֹעוֹת.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
actually **misguided?** Since they are in doubt as to their status, would it not be more accurate to say that **they are mistaken?** The Gemara answers: **Rather,** this is how one should **teach** the statement of Rabbi Yehoshua in the mishna: Instead of making provisions to remedy the uncertainties of the **mistaken,** come and remedy the uncertainties of the competent women.


###### Niddah 54a:2
[Niddah 54a:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:2)

דְּתַנְיָא: יוֹם אֶחָד טָמֵא, וְיוֹם אֶחָד טָהוֹר — מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת שְׁמִינִי וְלֵילוֹ עִמּוֹ.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**As it is taught** in a *baraita* with regard to these competent women: What is the *halakha* in the case of a woman who consistently has the following pattern for each pair of days: **One day** she is **impure,** i.e., she experiences bleeding, **and one day** she is **pure,** she does not experience bleeding? In what manner is it permitted for her to engage in intercourse with her husband? She **may engage in intercourse** with her husband on the **eighth day** from the first time that she experienced bleeding **and its accompanying night.** At that time she is pure from her menstruation, as she immersed and purified herself on the night of the seventh day. It is permitted for her to engage in intercourse during the eighth day and the following night, as she will not experience bleeding until the ninth day.


###### Niddah 54a:3
[Niddah 54a:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:3)

וְאַרְבָּעָה לֵילוֹת מִתּוֹךְ שְׁמוֹנָה עָשָׂר יוֹם. וְאִם הָיְתָה רוֹאָה מִבָּעֶרֶב — אֵינָהּ מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת אֶלָּא שְׁמִינִי בִּלְבַד.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
In addition, she may engage in intercourse **four nights out of** the cycle of **eighteen days,** which consist of the seven menstrual days and the eleven days of the flow of the *zava*. This woman will never become a greater *zava*, as she does not emit blood on consecutive days. Since she must observe a day of purity during the eleven days of *ziva* each time she experiences bleeding, she may engage in intercourse with her husband on the night following the tenth, twelfth, fourteen, and sixteenth days. The night after the eighteenth day is considered part of the next cycle of menstruation and *ziva*. **But if** she **sees** blood **in the evening,** she **may engage in intercourse** with her husband **only** on the **eighth** night and its day. During the eleven days of *ziva* she either experiences bleeding at night or is observing a day of purity for the blood she had emitted earlier.


###### Niddah 54a:4
[Niddah 54a:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:4)

שְׁנֵי יָמִים טְמֵאִין, וּשְׁנֵי יָמִים טְהוֹרִין — מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת שְׁמִינִי, וּשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר, וְשִׁשָּׁה עָשָׂר, וְעֶשְׂרִים.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
If in every set of four days, **two days** she is **impure,** i.e., experiences bleeding, **and two days** she is **pure,** she **may engage in intercourse** with her husband on the **eighth** day, in the day or at night, **and** also on the **twelfth** day, after observing the eleventh as a day of purity for the sightings of the ninth and tenth days, **and** by a similar calculation on the **sixteenth** day **and** on the **twentieth** day, as she has not yet seen the blood of menstruation in this new cycle.


###### Niddah 54a:5
[Niddah 54a:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:5)

וּתְשַׁמֵּשׁ נָמֵי בִּתְשַׁסַר! אָמַר רַב שֵׁשֶׁת: זֹאת אוֹמֶרֶת, ״גַּרְגְּרָן״ דִּתְנַן — אָסוּר.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
The Gemara objects: **And let her also engage in intercourse** with her husband on the **nineteenth** day, as the eleven days of the flow of the *zava* have already passed at the end of the eighteenth day, and she is no longer required to observe a clean day for each day she experiences a discharge. **Rav Sheshet says: That is to say that when we learned** in a mishna (72a) that a husband who could not wait for the conclusion of the day after the last day of *ziva* before engaging in intercourse is **a glutton,** it means that it is actually **prohibited** for them to engage in intercourse.


###### Niddah 54a:6
[Niddah 54a:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:6)

רַב אָשֵׁי אָמַר: נְהִי דְּחַד עֲשַׂר לָא בָּעֵי שִׁימּוּר, עֲשִׂירִי מִיהָא בָּעֵי שִׁימּוּר.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**Rav Ashi says:** In fact, it is not prohibited for a woman to engage in intercourse with her husband on the day after the end of the days of the flow of the *zava* even by rabbinic decree, as it is already the beginning of her menstrual days, and she is no longer required to observe a clean day for each day she experiences a discharge. But **although** there is **no requirement** to **observe** a clean day **for** the **eleventh day** of *ziva*, which is the eighteenth day of the full cycle, **in any event** there is **a requirement** to **observe** a clean day for the **tenth day,** i.e., the seventeenth of the entire cycle. Since she did not observe a clean day on the eighteenth day, as she saw blood on that day as well, she must observe the nineteenth day in purity.


###### Niddah 54a:7
[Niddah 54a:7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:7)

שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים טְמֵאִין וּשְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים טְהוֹרִין, מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת שְׁנֵי יָמִים, וְשׁוּב אֵינָהּ מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת לְעוֹלָם.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
If out of every set of six days, **three days** she is **impure, and three days** she is **pure,** she **may engage in intercourse** with her husband during **two** of the **days, and thereafter** she may **never again engage in intercourse** with him. The eighth and ninth days, which are the first days of the flow of *ziva*, are the second and third of the three days on which she experiences bleeding. Therefore, she can immerse and purify herself on the night of the eleventh, and engage in intercourse with her husband on the eleventh and twelfth days. These are the only two days on which she is permitted to engage in intercourse with her husband, as afterward she will experience bleeding for three days during the days of the flow of the *zava*, and is thereby rendered a greater *zava*. Accordingly, she requires seven clean days to become pure again, which she will never attain, as she never has more than three clean days.


###### Niddah 54a:8
[Niddah 54a:8](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:8)

אַרְבָּעָה יָמִים טְמֵאִים, וְאַרְבָּעָה יָמִים טְהוֹרִין — מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת יוֹם אֶחָד, וְשׁוּב אֵינָהּ מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת לְעוֹלָם.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
If out of every set of eight days, **four days** she is **impure, and four days** she is **pure,** she **may engage in intercourse** with her husband during **one** of the **days,** the eighth, after her purification for menstruation, as it is the last of her first set of four days without blood, **and thereafter** she may **never again engage in intercourse** with him, as she will be rendered a greater *zava* by experiencing bleeding on the next three days.


###### Niddah 54a:9
[Niddah 54a:9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:9)

חֲמִשָּׁה יָמִים טְמֵאִים, וַחֲמִשָּׁה יָמִים טְהוֹרִין — מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים, וְשׁוּב אֵינָהּ מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת לְעוֹלָם. שִׁשָּׁה יָמִים טְמֵאִין, וְשִׁשָּׁה יָמִים טְהוֹרִין — מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת חֲמִשָּׁה יָמִים, וְשׁוּב אֵינָהּ מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת לָעוֹלָם.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
If out of every set of ten days, **five days** she is **impure, and five days** she is **pure,** she **may engage in intercourse** with her husband during **three** of the **days,** i.e., the eighth, ninth, and tenth, as she has completed her menstruation period and has not yet emitted the blood of *ziva*, **and thereafter** she may **never again engage in intercourse** with him. Similarly, if out of every set of twelve days, **six days** she is **impure, and six days** she is **pure,** she **may engage in intercourse** with her husband during **five** of the **days,** i.e., the eighth to the twelfth, **and thereafter** she may **never again engage in intercourse** with him.


###### Niddah 54a:10
[Niddah 54a:10](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:10)

שִׁבְעָה יָמִים טְמֵאִין, וְשִׁבְעָה יָמִים טְהוֹרִין — מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת רְבִיעַ יָמֶיהָ, מִתּוֹךְ עֶשְׂרִים וּשְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
If out of every set of fourteen days, **seven days** she is **impure, and seven days** she is **pure,** she **may engage in intercourse** with her husband during **a quarter** of the **days of her** life, i.e., seven **out of** every **twenty-eight days.** In the first seven days she is a menstruating woman, but during the next seven days she is pure. In the third set of seven days, when she again experiences bleeding, she becomes a *zava*, which means that in her last seven days, which are without blood, she counts the clean days for her *ziva*, after which this cycle of twenty-eight days begins afresh.


###### Niddah 54a:11
[Niddah 54a:11](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:11)

שְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים טְמֵאִין, וּשְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים טְהוֹרִין — מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת חֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם מִתּוֹךְ אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁמוֹנָה.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
If out of every set of sixteen days, **eight days** she is **impure, and eight days** she is **pure,** she **may engage in intercourse** with her husband **fifteen days out of** every **forty-eight** days. The first eight days during which she experiences bleeding are the seven days of menstruation and one day of *ziva*, which renders her a lesser *zava*. Therefore, she must observe one clean day, after which she is pure for seven days. The first two days of the third set of eight are her last days of *ziva*, and the bleeding she experiences renders her again a lesser *zava*, while the next six are during her days of menstruation. Then she starts her fourth set of eight days, which are without blood. The first of these completes her days of menstruation, after which she may engage in intercourse for the subsequent seven days. During the fifth set of eight days she experiences bleeding, rendering her a greater *zava*. She counts her clean days in the sixth set, leaving her one day of purity, after which the cycle of forty-eight days starts again.


###### Niddah 54a:12
[Niddah 54a:12](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:12)

הָנֵי אַרְבֵּיסַר הָווּ!

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
The Gemara objects: **But** the days during which she is permitted **are** actually only **fourteen,** not fifteen. This objection is based on the assumption that a woman cannot count her clean days for *ziva* during days that are fit for menstruation. Consequently, the last four days of the fifth cycle are actually part of her days of menstruation, as her eleven days of *ziva* ended after the fourth day of that cycle. If so, the sixth set of eight days consists of three menstrual days followed by five days of *ziva*. Although she is not a menstruating woman in those three days, as she did not previously count seven clean days, they still do not count for her seven clean days of *ziva*, since they are fit to be menstrual days. She can start counting her seven clean days only on day forty-four, but on day forty-nine, before the seven clean days are finished, she will again experience bleeding. Therefore, it should not be permitted for her to engage in intercourse with her husband on the forty-eighth night.


###### Niddah 54a:13
[Niddah 54a:13](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Niddah/r/54a:13)

אָמַר רַב אַדָּא בַּר יִצְחָק: זֹאת אוֹמֶרֶת, יְמֵי נִדָּתָהּ שֶׁאֵין רוֹאָה בָּהֶן עוֹלִין לִסְפִירַת זִיבָתָהּ, דְּאִיבַּעְיָא לְהוּ:

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**Rav Adda bar Yitzḥak says** that this premise should be rejected: **That is to say** that **her menstrual days on which she does not** actually **see** blood **do count toward her counting of her** seven clean days of ***ziva*.** In other words, she begins counting the seven clean days during these menstrual days. **As a dilemma was raised before** the Sages with regard to this issue: