Mishnah
Mishnah

Halakhah for Arakhin 2:1

אֵין בָּעֲרָכִין פָּחוּת מִסֶּלַע, וְלֹא יָתֵר עַל חֲמִשִּׁים סָלַע. כֵּיצַד, נָתַן סֶלַע וְהֶעֱשִׁיר, אֵינוֹ נוֹתֵן כְּלוּם. פָּחוֹת מִסֶּלַע וְהֶעֱשִׁיר, נוֹתֵן חֲמִשִּׁים סָלַע. הָיָה בְיָדָיו חָמֵשׁ סְלָעִים, רַבִּי מֵאִיר אוֹמֵר, אֵינוֹ נוֹתֵן אֶלָּא אֶחָת. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים, נוֹתֵן אֶת כֻּלָּם. אֵין בָּעֲרָכִין פָּחוּת מִסֶּלַע, וְלֹא יָתֵר עַל חֲמִשִּׁים סֶלַע. אֵין פֶּתַח בַּטּוֹעָה פָּחוּת מִשִּׁבְעָה, וְלֹא יָתֵר עַל שִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר. אֵין בַּנְּגָעִים פָּחוּת מִשָּׁבוּעַ אֶחָד, וְלֹא יָתֵר עַל שְׁלשָׁה שָׁבוּעוֹת:

There is no evaluation less than one <i>sela</i>, nor more than fifty <i>selaim</i>. How so? If one paid a <i>sela</i> and became rich, one need not give any [more]. But if one gave less than a <i>sela</i> and became rich, one must pay fifty <i>selaim</i>. If one had five <i>selaim</i> in one's possession, Rabbi Meir says: One need not give more than one. The Sages say one must give them all. There is no evaluation less than one <i>sela</i>, nor more than fifty <i>selaim</i>. There is no re-opening for a woman who errs [in her reckoning] of the <i>niddah</i> count earlier than seven, nor later than after seventeen days. No signs of leprosy are shut up for less than one week, nor for more than two weeks.

Gray Matter II

In order to understand the problem, we must first define the Biblical concepts of nidah and zavah.3For a full introduction to these concepts, see Rav Pinchas Kehati’s commentary to the Mishnah (Arachin 2:1) and Badei Hashulchan (Introduction to 183). Nidah refers to a woman who sees menstrual blood on a day when she expects it to flow (Vayikra 15:19). This flow renders her ritually impure and prohibits relations with her husband for seven days. Even if she continues to see blood all seven days, she may go to the mikvah and purify herself immediately after they end. On the other hand, if a woman sees uterine blood at an unexpected time, then she becomes a zavah. If the bleeding persists for three consecutive days, she must wait until all bleeding ceases. She then counts seven days before she may visit the mikvah (Vayikra 15:25-28). Thus, once a zavah sees blood for three consecutive days, the total time that she remains impure will always last at least three days longer than the seven-day nidah period.
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