(Beraisa): If Reuven's wife sees blood due to Bi'ah, they may have Bi'ah three times. He must divorce her after this. She may remarry;

If she married Shimon and again sees blood due to Bi'ah, they may have Bi'ah three times. He must divorce her. She may remarry;

If she married Levi and sees due to Bi'ah, they may have Bi'ah three times. After this, she may not have Bi'ah (with anyone) until she checks herself:

To check, she takes a (wooden) tube and inserts a stick with a tuft at the end. She inserts it into her Ervah (to simulate Bi'ah).

If she finds blood on the end of the tuft, it is from the Makor. (Bi'ah is forbidden until she is cured of this);

If she does not find blood on the end, the blood was from the walls (or she became cured. She is permitted).

If she has a wound (inside her Ervah) or if she saw blood due to Bi'ah close to the time of her Veses, she is Toleh on the wound or Veses. (She need not check herself.)

If the blood from her wound is unlike the blood she has been seeing, she may not be Toleh on it.

Rebbi says, a woman is believed to say that she has a wound in the Makor from which blood comes;

R. Shimon ben Gamliel says, blood of a wound that comes from the Makor is Tamei;

Chachamim testified that blood of a wound that comes from the Makor is Tahor. (End of Beraisa)

Question: What is the difference between R. Shimon and Chachamim?

Answer (Ula): They argue about whether or not the Makor is Tamei (Metamei whatever it touches).

Question: A (wooden) tube will (scratch her and) cause her to bleed!

Answer (Shmuel): She uses a lead tube. The opening is folded over to the inside (it is perfectly smooth outside).

Question (Reish Lakish): She should check herself after the third Bi'ah with Reuven! (Why must he divorce her?)!

Answer (R. Yochanan): Perhaps his Ever causes her to see blood, but another man's will not. (Tosfos - if she knows how to check, she may, in order to stay with Reuven. The Beraisa teaches that if she does not know how (or want) to check, she may remarry without checking. Rashi - Reuven must divorce her in any case, even if she would not find blood on the tuft, lest she continue to see blood with him. Shimon is not Muchzak to cause her to see.)

Question: She should have to check herself before a second Bi'ah with Levi! (She has seen with three different men. She is Muchzak to see always! Tosfos - we could have asked similarly regarding Shimon. Tosfos ha'Rosh disagrees.)

Answer: Sometimes a man is Bo'el more forcefully than other times. He is not (yet) Muchzak to cause her to see every time.

Leah was seeing blood due to Bi'ah. She came in front of Rebbi. He told Avdan (an overseer of the Beis Medrash) to frighten her suddenly. A cake of blood fell from her Ervah. Rebbi declared that she is healed.

Rachel came in front of Shmuel (with the same problem). Nothing happened when she was scared.

Shmuel: She is full of blood. Some comes out during Bi'ah. There is no solution for her.

Sarah came in front of R. Yochanan. Whenever she returned from immersing she would see blood.

R. Yochanan: Perhaps there is an Ayin Ra'ah on you. (Other women envy how dear you are to your husband. Me'iri - your frequent immersions show this. Alternatively, your desire for your husband causes the blood);

Note: Why would they envy her dearness? An idle man is obligated to be intimate with his wife every day (Kesuvos 61b)! We must say that they knew that her husband is not idle. (PF)

Version #1: Have Bi'ah with him near the river (where you immerse, before other women see you coming, or before your desire wells up).

Version #2: Reverse it. (Make them think that your husband hates you.)

Version #3: Tell them your problem, and they will pray for you;

(Beraisa): "Tamei Tamei Yikra" -- a Metzora announces his plight, so people will pray for him.

(Rav Yosef): A similar case occurred in Pumbedisa. She publicized her problem, people prayed for her, and she recovered.

(Rav Yosef): (People in Sados were unable to keep track when blood is Dam Nidah or Dam Zivah.) Rebbi enacted there that if a woman sees blood for one day, she should count six (clean) days (starting the next day) before immersing. (She cannot immerse before seven days, for perhaps today began Nidah);

If she sees two consecutive days, she should count six (clean) days before immersing. (Perhaps the second day began Nidah, i.e. the first day was day 11 of Zivah, or she saw a Tahor color of blood. Some texts (Rif) require only five days. Rebbi did not have these concerns, for they were not utterly ignorant of laws of Nidah.)

If she sees three consecutive days, she must count seven clean days. (Perhaps she is a Zavah).

(R. Zeira): Benos Yisrael accepted upon themselves to be stringent and count seven clean days after seeing even a drop of blood like a mustard seed. (A drop makes a woman a Nidah mid'Oraisa. The Chidush is to be concerned for Zivah after one drop, for normally one who sees for three days sees much blood.)

(Rava): If a woman saw Dam Koshi (blood amidst labor pain) for two days and miscarried on the third day, she must count seven clean days before immersing.

He holds that the law of Koshi (one does not become a Zavah due to Dam Koshi) applies to a regular birth, but not to a Nefel. Also, he holds that there is always blood before birth. (Therefore, she surely saw on day three.)

Question (Rav Papa): Even if she did not see blood the previous two days, she must count seven clean days, like R. Zeira taught!

Answer (Rava): I teach the letter of the law. R. Zeira's stringency is a custom. It applies only where it was accepted. (Subsequently, all Benos Yisrael accepted R. Zeira's stringency.)

(Rava): If a woman was asked to have Nisu'in and consented, she must count seven clean days (before the Nisu'in. Perhaps her desire caused (Rashi; Rosh - will cause) her to see blood.)

Rav Chaviva was Mekadesh his daughter to Ravina's son. Rav Chaviva suggested that they write the Kesuvah (and have the Nisu'in) on Wednesday. Rav Chaviva waited, but Ravina did not show up until a week later.

Rav Chaviva: Why did you delay?

Ravina: Rava taught that a woman must count seven clean days after consenting to Nisu'in!

Rav Chaviva: Presumably, Rava refers only to a Gedolah who is prone to see blood. Would he says so even about a Ketanah?!

Ravina: Rava explicitly said that the law applies to adults and minors:

An adult must count lest she see due to desire. The same applies to a minor! (Some say that she must check herself during the clean days. If so, the Nisu'in was postponed another week, for Rav Chaviva's daughter did not know to check until Ravina returned. Rosh - some texts say that Ravina told him from the beginning that the Nisu'in must be postponed for a week.)

(Rava): A woman should not wash her hair (before immersing) with niter or sand:

Niter can cause hair to fall out. (It may get caught in other hair, and it will be a Chatzitzah, i.e. a blockage that disqualifies Tevilah.) Sand causes hair to stick.

(Ameimar): A woman should wash her hair in hot water, and not in cold water. Even water heated in the sun is permitted (Rashi; R. Chananel - forbidden).

Cold water is forbidden for it hardens the hair (and keeps dirt in).

(Rava): One should accustom his wife to rinse inside folds of skin with water.

Question (Beraisa): Water need not enter folds of skin or Beis ha'Starim (places normally covered by other parts of the body).

Answer: Granted, water need not enter them, but they must be (free of Chatzitzos,) so that water could enter, like R. Zeira's law;

(R. Zeira): If (the flour and oil of) a Minchah could have been mixed, mixing it is not Me'akev. If it could not have been mixed (one cannot mix more than 60 Esronim of flour, either because the Kli is too small, or there is not enough oil), mixing is Me'akev. (The Minchah is Pasul.)

(Ravin): A Shifchah of Rebbi's house once found a bone between her teeth after immersing. Rebbi made her immerse again. (Even though water need not enter the mouth, it must be free of Chatzitzos.)

Version #1 (Rashi, Tosfos) (Rava): If a woman found a Chatzitzah after immersing:

Version #1A: If she immersed right after Chafifah (combing or washing her hair, or her entire body), she need not repeat Chafifah and Tevilah. If not, she must repeat Chafifah and Tevilah.

Version #1B: If she immersed the same day as Chafifah, she need not repeat Chafifah and Tevilah. If not, she must repeat Chafifah and Tevilah.

Question: What is the difference between these versions?

Answer: They argue about whether or not we are concerned lest the Chatzitzah arose before Tevilah in two cases:

The Chafifah and Tevilah were the same day, but there was time in between;

Chafifah was at the end of the day, and Tevilah was immediately afterwards at night.

Version #2 (Rambam) (Rava): If a woman found a Chatzitzah after immersing (and must immerse again):

Version #2A: If she immersed right after Chafifah, (she may immerse again immediately,) she need not repeat Chafifah; if not, she must repeat Chafifah (before Tevilah).

Version #2B: If she immersed the same day as Chafifah, she need not repeat Chafifah. If not, she must.

Question: What is the difference between these versions?

Answer: They argue about whether Chafifah must be just before Tevilah, or on the same day as Tevilah.

(Rava): A woman may not stand on a Kli Cheres while immersing.

(Rav Kahana): This is a decree lest people say that one may immerse in a Kli. However, one may stand on a thick log.

(Rav Chanan of Neharde'a): No, it is because she fears falling (she will not immerse properly). The same applies to a log. (The Shulchan Aruch and Poskim are concerned for both of these opinions, even if she lifts her feet off the ground at the time of Tevilah.)