Commentary for Niddah 8:4
עֵד שֶׁהוּא נָתוּן תַּחַת הַכַּר וְנִמְצָא עָלָיו דָּם, עָגֹל, טָהוֹר. מָשׁוּךְ, טָמֵא, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בַּר רַבִּי צָדוֹק:
If a checking-cloth [literally: witness] was placed under a pillow [after a woman used it to examine herself] and blood was found on it, if it is round it is pure [for it is assumed to be the blood of a louse which was killed under the pillow]. If it is elongated, it is impure, according to Rabbi Elazar bar Tzadok.
Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
עד שהוא נתון תחת הכר – the clothing that uses to clean/wipe herself at the time of sexual intercourse is called a “testing or examining rag”/piece of cloth used by women for ascertaining their condition of cleanness or uncleanness
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English Explanation of Mishnah Niddah
A testing rag that was placed under a pillow and some blood was found: If it is round it is clean If it is elongated it is unclean, the words of Rabbi Elazar bar Zadok. The testing rag is what a woman uses after sexual intercourse to see if she was menstruating. The woman placed it under her pillow so she could look at it in the morning. According to Rabbi Elazar bar Zadok, if she finds on it a round blood stain, then she can assume that it came from a louse and she is pure. However, if she finds an elongated blood stain then it was likely to be from when she checked herself and she is impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
דם עגול טהור – for it is the blood of a louse.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
משוך טמא – but if it is an elongated drop, it is impure, for the presumption is that it (i.e., the bloodstain) is from it, and at the time that she wiped herself, she blames this blood on the examining rag.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
דברי ר' אליעזר בר ר' צדוק – and such is the Halakha.
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