QUESTION: The Gemara asks, "What does Rebbi Yehudah say with regard to Tum'ah?" ("B'Tum'ah, Mah Li Amar Rebbi Yehudah?")

What is the Gemara's question?

ANSWER: According to RASHI, the Gemara is asking, "What does Rebbi Yehudah say about Yemei Tohar for a second birth that occurs Toch Melos (within the Yemei Tohar of the first birth)?" The two sides of the Gemara's question are as follows:

When a woman gives birth to an embryo within the Yemei Tohar for the previous birth, Rebbi Yehudah rules that she does not bring a Korban Yoledes for the second birth. The Gemara is asking what the Halachic status of the second birth is with regard to its own Yemei Tohar and Yemei Tamei.

The first possibility is that the second birth has no effect on the counting of Yemei Tohar for the first birth, even though she must observe Yemei Tum'ah as a result of the second birth. That is, if she miscarried a female fetus and counted two weeks of Tum'ah, she must add another two weeks of Yemei Tohar for the first birth to make up for the intervening days of Tum'ah. After she completes the counting of the full 66 Yemei Tohar for the first birth, she begins to count more Yemei Tohar for the second birth, until she completes the entire requisite number of days.

The second possibility is that she does not have to make up those days of Yemei Tohar (for the first birth) that she lost as a result of having to observe Yemei Tum'ah (for the second birth) in the middle of her count. Rather, if she is counting Yemei Tohar for the birth of a girl, she counts only until the end of 80 days (14 + 66 days) from the first birth and no more, and the Yemei Tohar of the second birth last only until the end of 80 days after the second birth and no more (RASHI DH Oh Dilma).

From the words of Rav Huna mi'Sura, who attempts to answer the question of the Gemara differently from the above two sides of the question, it is evident that there is a third possibility. Since Rebbi Yehudah maintains that she does not bring a Korban for the second birth, perhaps he maintains that she also does not need to count Yemei Tohar for that birth at all. At the end of 80 days after the first birth, the Yemei Tohar are completed and she counts no more. (It seems from Rashi's words (DH b'Tum'ah Mah Li Amar Rebbi Yehudah) that when the Gemara asks its question, it acknowledges that there indeed are three sides to the question, and not just the two mentioned above.)

(TOSFOS, as cited by the Shitah Mekubetzes #3, understands that there are only two sides to the Gemara's question -- the second and third sides mentioned above.)

QUESTION: The Gemara cites a Beraisa that says that a Korban may be slaughtered, and its blood sprinkled, on behalf of a woman on the fortieth day after she gives birth to a male, or on the eightieth day after she gives birth to a female. RASHI (DH Shochtin) explains that the Beraisa refers to the Korban Pesach. The Gemara at this stage understands that the Beraisa refers to the last day of the woman's Yemei Tohar.

The Gemara asks why the Korban Pesach may be offered for her, if she is Mechusar Kaparah since she does not bring her Korban Yoledes until day 41 (see Rashi and Shitah Mekubetzes #33). Rav Chisda answers that the Beraisa follows the view of Rebbi Yehudah (9b), who maintains that the second birth (miscarriage) that occurs within the first 40 days after the birth of a male, or within the first 80 days after the birth of a female, is not considered a birth to require the woman to bring an additional Korban. Rashi (DH Amar Rav Chisda) explains that Rebbi Yehudah understands that the Beraisa is discussing a woman who gave birth to twins on two consecutive days. On day 41 after the birth of the first child, she may bring a Korban for that birth even though it is only day 40 after the birth of the second child. According to Rebbi Yehudah, we do not take into account the fact that the second birth should prevent her from bringing the Korban, and the second twin's birth does not force her to wait until day 42, when the Yemei Tohar of the second birth are finished.

Rashi adds that the Beraisa is teaching two things. It is teaching that a Korban Pesach may be slaughtered for the woman even though she has not yet brought her Korban for the second baby. It is also teaching that she may bring her Korban after the Korban Pesach was slaughtered, and she may eat her share of the Korban Pesach that evening.

What is the intention of the Beraisa's two teachings, according to Rashi? Why would one have thought that a Korban Pesach may not be slaughtered for the woman before she has brought her Korban Yoledes, and why would one have thought that she may not eat the Korban Pesach after she brings her Korban Yoledes?

ANSWER: The ARUCH LA'NER explains that the first Chidush of the Beraisa is that the Halachah follows the ruling of Rav Yehudah in the name of Rav, who says in Pesachim (90a) that one may slaughter the Korban Pesach and sprinkle the blood on behalf of one who has not yet brought his Korban for Kaparah. The Chidush is that there is no concern that the Yoledes will be negligent and not bring her Korbanos, since she is required to hand over her Korbanos to Beis Din. (That is, she must place the money for the Korbanos into the designated collection box in the Beis ha'Mikdash, and we may assume that the Kohanim will see to it that her money is used to bring her Korban before she eats Kodshim.)

The second Chidush of the Beraisa is that the woman is permitted to bring her Korban for Kaparah after the birth even though she brings it after the Korban Pesach. That is, the law requires that the Korban Pesach be slaughtered after the daily Tamid offering of Minchah. Normally, the Tamid of Minchah must be the last Avodah of the day, with the exception of the Ketores, the lighting of the Menorah, the Korban Pesach, and the Korban of a Mechusar Kipurim on Erev Pesach, who needs to bring his Korban in order to be permitted to eat the Korban Pesach (Pesachim 59a). Even though there is a Mitzvas Aseh to ensure that the Korban Tamid be the last offering of the day, the Mitzvah of eating the Korban Pesach is a more severe Mitzvas Aseh (punishable with Kares), and, therefore, a woman may bring her Korban Yoledes even after the offering of the Tamid, in order permit herself to eat the Korban Pesach. (D. BLOOM)

QUESTION: The Mishnah discusses the Korbanos of Oleh v'Yored. The Gemara cites a Beraisa that lists the categories of people who must bring a Korban Oleh v'Yored. One category may bring either a Korban of a rich person (an animal) or a Korban of a poor person (bird). Another category may bring the Korban of a poor person (bird) or the Korban of a pauper (Minchah offering).

The Beraisa explains that a woman who gave birth brings either the Korban of a rich person (a male sheep as an Olah and a Tor (turtledove) or a Ben Yonah (common dove) as a Chatas), or, if she cannot afford a sheep, then she brings the Korban of a poor person (two Torim or two Bnei Yonah, one as an Olah and one as a Chatas). The Beraisa explains that a Metzora, on the other hand, brings only the Korban of a poor person.

What does the Gemara mean when it says that a Metzora brings only the Korban of a poor person? The Torah (Vayikra 14:10, 21-22) explicitly states that a Metzora, as part of his Taharah process, brings two male sheep (one as an Olah and one as an Asham) and one female sheep (as a Chatas), and if he is poor he brings two Torim or two Bnei Yonah as his Olah and Chatas, but he still brings a sheep as an Asham. Since there is a difference between a rich Metzora and a poor Metzora, why does the Beraisa say that a Metzora always brings the Korbanos of a poor person?

(a) The RASHASH explains that the Beraisa's intention is that a poor Yoledes brings some of her Korbanos the way that a poor person does, and she brings other Korbanos the way that a rich person does. In contrast, a poor Metzora brings all of his Korbanos like a poor man. That is, the Yoledes always brings two Korbanos: an Olah and a Chatas. The Olah of a rich Yoledes is a sheep, while the Olah of a poor Yoledes is a Tor or Ben Yonah. This is what the Beraisa means when it says that a Yoledes bring the Korban of the poor; she brings the Olah of a poor person. The Chatas, though, remains the same. It is always a Tor or Ben Yonah.

In contrast, the poor Metzora brings only Korbanos of the poor; he brings two Torim or two Bnei Yonah as a Chatas and as an Olah, while a rich Metzora brings only sheep as his Chatas and Olah.

The Rashash explains that even though a poor Metzora still brings a sheep as his Asham, this is not considered a rich man's Korban, because the Torah never distinguishes between the rich and the poor with regard to a Korban Asham.

(b) The CHOK NASAN seems to understand the Beraisa's statement about the Korban of a Metzora in the same way that the Rashash understands it. However, he gives a different explanation for the statement that a Yoledes brings both the Korbanos of the rich and the poor. He says that the Beraisa does not refer to a poor Yoledes, but rather to a rich Yoledes. The Beraisa is saying that even a rich Yoledes sometimes brings the Korban of the poor. The Torah says that the woman's Chatas is a Tor or Ben Yonah (Vayikra 12:6), even though bird offerings are usually brought only by the poor. In contrast, the Korbanos of a Metzora are always uniform; if he is rich, he brings only Korbanos of a rich person, and if he is poor, he brings only Korbanos of a poor person. (See SI'ACH HA'SADEH, part 3, of RAV CHAIM KANIESKY shlit'a, who cites a similar explanation in the name of the CHAZON ISH.) (D. BLOOM)