Study Niddah folio 14B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
R' Ḥiyya said to R' Yehuda HaNasi: Do you not concede that for her to become ritually impure she requires that the size of the blood stain on the cloth be more than the size of a split bean? If the stain is smaller, it is assumed to have been caused by a squashed louse. R' Yehuda HaNasi said to him
The Talmud comments: And R' Yehuda HaNasi, who deems the woman definitely impure in this case, maintains that although we require that the size of the blood stain be more than the size of a split bean, this is necessary only to exclude the possibility that this is the blood of a louse; and since th
The Talmud analyzes this statement of R' Ḥiyya with reference to the dilemma under discussion: What, is it not correct to assume that R' Ḥiyya was in his old age when he disagreed with his teacher, R' Yehuda HaNasi? He would not have done so when he was young. And if he deemed the woman impure as a
§ The Talmud relates: R' Yehuda HaNasi would praise R' Ḥama bar Bisa to R' Yishmael, son of R' Yosei, by saying that he is a great man. R' Yishmael said to R' Yehuda HaNasi: When he comes to you, bring him to me.
When R' Ḥama came before him, R' Yishmael said to him: Ask me about a halakhic matter. R' Ḥama asked him: If a woman examined herself with a cloth that was not examined by her before its use, and she placed it in a box, and on the following day she found blood on this cloth, what is the halakha?