Niddah 73 – Where Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel Agree

We have seen a disagreement between the two schools concerning the last, eleventh day, of a woman's niddah/zavah cycle, where Beit Shammai were consistently strict and gave the eleventh day the same stringencies as the previous ten days, but Beit Hillel's rulings were mixed. The two schools agree, however, on the laws of the previous ten days.

Beit Shammai said to Beit Hillel, “Why is the eleventh day different?” Beit Hillel answered, “Because the flow on the next day would be that of niddah, not zivah, and not combined with this day.” Beit Shammai continued, “But you do give her some of the ritual impurity laws! So the eleventh day is the same as the ten days before!?” Beit Hillel answered, “We talk only about the impurity decreed by the Sages, but not an actual sacrifice obligation because you can't bring it on your own, without the Torah telling you.”

What is the actual source for the zavah laws in the Torah? - The phrase "When a woman has a discharge of blood, she is ritually impure (niddah) for seven days" – teaches after the seven days she cannot be a nidah, only a zavah. But maybe a discharge during the day renders her a niddah, and at night – a zavah? No, that's cannot be, since the Torah said, “After her niddah period.”

The Talmud ends on a teaching from the academy of Elijah: Whoever learns practical Torah laws every day (and some say, whoever learns hard, or whoever learns complicated laws like these of niddah, or whoever changes these laws every day) – such a person has their next world prepared. Why? Habakkuk says, “The ways of the world are His.” The word “ways” (halichot) can be read as laws (halachot).

Art: James Kerr-Lawson - Caterina Reading a Book