Beth Shammai says: "All women — their time is sufficient." [All women who see blood, their time is sufficient to render unclean levitically clean food (taharoth) which they had touched, from the time of sighting (blood) and thenceforward. And we do not say that there was also blood before them, but the walls of the woman had prevented it from coming out, and that she was unclean even before her sighting. For all women render taharoth unclean (when they find blood) in the outer orifice, even though the blood has not come out. The reason that Shammai is not concerned that blood may have been there before her examination is that one would always be worried during intercourse that blood had issued forth and he would separate from his wife, thereby keeping the daughters of Israel from having children.] Hillel says: "From examination to examination, even for many days." [i.e., If she examined herself today and found herself clean and examined herself again at the end of the week and found herself unclean, we are concerned about what she had touched from the first examination on. Perhaps with the withdrawal of her hands (from the first examination) blood had appeared and had been prevented from coming out by the walls of the womb. And we are not concerned about suspension of cohabitation. For it is only in resepct to taharoth that we render (them) unclean from one examination to the next. But (we do) not (render her unclean) in respect to (cohabitation with) her husband. And Shammai holds that if you render her unclean in respect to taharoth, he will be uneasy and will also separate from intercourse.] And the sages say: "Neither like the one nor like the other." [Neither like Shammai, who is too lenient and does not make a fence for his words; nor like Hillel, who is overly stringent. For the womb does not hold in the blood for so long a period of time.] But "me'eth le'eth" [i.e., twenty-four hours] (sometimes) shortens al yad (i.e., after) "examination to examination," and "examination to examination" (sometimes) shortens al yad "me'eth le'eth" [i.e., Two time periods are mentioned in respect to a woman relative to rendering taharoth unclean retroactively, and the more lenient option is followed in both instances. That is, if "examination to examination" is longer than "me'eth le'eth," "me'eth le'eth" is followed and only the taharoth that she touched at this time yesterday are rendered unclean. And if "me'eth le'eth" is longer than "examination to examination," as when she examined herself in the morning and found herself clean, and in the evening and found herself unclean, only those taharoth from the first examination to the second are rendered unclean. And the halachah is in accordance with the sages. ("al yad" here is to be understood as "after," as in Nechemiah 3:8, 10, 12)]. Every woman who has a [regular] period, [established by three sightings; and she examined herself at her expected time and found herself unclean], her [expected] time is sufficient [and we do not fear that her flow had come before her time, for, certainly, the "guest" comes on time.] And if one uses cloths, this is considered an examination. [We are taught two things here, viz.: It is a mitzvah for every woman to use two examination cloths for intercourse, one before and one after. "This (the second cloth) is considered an examination," viz.] It "shortens" through "me'eth le'eth" or "examination to examination" (respectively). [For I might think that there might have been a drop of blood the size of a mustard-seed, which had been covered by semen, so that this would not constitute an examination; the Mishnah, therefore, apprises us that the ed (cloth) after intercourse is considered an examination. But the ed before intercourse is not considered an examination. For, in her haste for cohabitation, she may not be careful to insert the ed into all the crevices].
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
שמאי אומר כל הנשים דיין שעתן – All the women who see [menstral] blood know their hour to defile what is pure that they came in contact with from the time of their seeing [blood] and onward. And we don’t say that before this also, that there was blood in the walls of her womb that had been established and that she was impure even before this, for all women defile in with their vagina, and even though blood had not exited outside. And the reason of Shammai is that he did not suspect that perhaps, before this there had been blood, for if you say this, the heart of a man smites him (i.e., he has no clear conscience) all the time of intercourse and he separates himself from his wife, and it is found that the daughters of Israel would refrain from engaging in [the Mitzvah] of “being fruitful and multiplying.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Shammai says: “For all women [who begin to menstruate] it suffices [to reckon their impurity from] the time [of their discovering it].” And Hillel says: “[Their impurity is reckoned backwards] from the [last] examination to the [previous] examination, even if this covers many days.” But the Sages say: “Neither according to the opinion of this one nor according to the opinion of this one, but [they are considered impure for] the past twenty four hours when this lessens the period from the [last] examination to the [previous] examination, and for the period from the [last] examination to the [previous] examination when this lessens the past twenty-four hours.” This mishnah discusses a woman’s ritual impurity as a menstruant. When a woman menstruates she makes impure certain things which she touches. The problem is that a woman may not always know when she begins to menstruate, in order to know which things that she touched are impure. Shammai is not concerned with this problem; he states that only things that they have touched after they discover that they are menstruating are impure. Hillel is very considered about this problem; he states that anything touched after the last time she checked herself is impure. In other words, since we cannot be certain when she began menstruating after the last time she checked, we are strict and anything from this time and onwards is impure. The Sages, who probably lived after Shammai and Hillel, found a compromise position. The things a menstruant touched before she discovered that she was menstruating are impure either within the last twenty-four hours or since she last checked, whichever was more recent. For example if it is now Tuesday afternoon and she checked herself on Tuesday morning, anything she touched between the morning and the afternoon is assumed to be impure. If however, it is now Tuesday afternoon and she checked herself Monday morning, anything she touched in the last twenty-four hour period is impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
מפקידה לפקידה – She checked today and found herself to be pure, and checked at the end of the week and found herself to be impure. We are suspicious of her physical contact from the first examination and onwards, lest with the removal of her hand, she saw that the walls of her womb established her presumptive condition [of cleanness], and we do not worry about refraining from “being fruitful and multiplying”, for specifically, for purity that we defile them from one examination to the next examination, and not to her husband, for Shammai says: if we make her defiled from her purity, the heart of man smites him (i.e., he has no clear conscience) and he would separate also from sexual intercourse.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Any woman who has a regular period, it suffices [to reckon her impurity from] her set time. Any woman who has a regular cycle, begins to make things impure only from the moment she realizes that she is menstruating. It can be assumed that this woman did not begin menstruating at an earlier time since she has a regular cycle.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
לא כדברי זה ולא כדברי זה – not according to the words of Shammai who is more lenient and does not make a tence for his words, and not according to the words of Hillel, who went beyond his measures (i.e., extended the restrictions of the law too far – see Talmud Niddah 4b) who was too strict, for certainly, all these “many days” (according to Hillel) do not establish that the walls of the womb are [filled with] blood.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
She who uses testing-cloths [when she has sexual relations], behold this is like an examination: it lessens either the period of the [past] twenty four hours or the period from the [last] examination to the [previous] examination. If a woman wipes herself clean after having relations with her husband, this counts as checking herself. If within the next twenty-four hours she should realize that she is menstruating, she has made impure only those things which she touched since she had relations and cleaned herself.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
מעת לעת ממעטת על יד מפקידה לפקידה – two times were mentioned with regard to the woman to defile that which is pure retroactively, and he went after the liberal of both opinions. For if “from one (i.e., the present) examination” to the [last] examination is greater than from one term of twenty-four hours (of retrospective uncleanness) [reduces the term of the interval from one examination to the other], we go after one from twenty-four hour period to the previous one, and we don’t defile other than those pure things that she came in contact with from yesterday at that hour. But if the period “from one term of twenty-four hours is greater than from one examination to the one that preceded it, such as when she checked herself in the morning and found herself to be pure, and in the evening, found herself to be impure, we don’t defile anything other than those pure things that were from the examination in the morning and beyond. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
על יד – of another, like “Next to him” in the Book of Ezra (actually – it is Nehemiah 3:8, which is like (verse 16): “And after him.”
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
וסת – fixed (i.e., regular time of menstruation), for it was established for her the time of menstruation three times, and she checked at the time of her regular time of menstruation and found herself to be impure, she knows her time, and we don’t worry that perhaps before this it occurred, for certainly, her time of menstruation comes on time.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
והמשמשת בעדים הרי זו כפקידה – Two things are taught and this is how it should be understood: She who uses evidences – a piece of cloth used by women for ascertaining their condition of cleanness or uncleanness that is to say, it is Mitzvah upon each and every woman to use two pieces of evidence which she checks with them, one before sexual intercourse and once after sexual intercourse.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
הרי זו כפקידה – the evidence that is after sexual intercourse is considered like an examination.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
ממעטת על יד מעת לעת ועל יד מפקידה לפקידה – for you might have thought lest she sees a drop of blood like a mustard seed and ends up takes a handful of semen and that it would not be considered an examination, our Mishnah comes to tell us, that until after sexual intercourse, it is considered like an examination, but the evidence used before sexual intercourse is not like an examination, and because she is restless, that is she is anxious to have sex, she does not bring it into the holes and fissures [of her vagina].
