Study Niddah folio 55A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
The Talmud raises an objection: There is a unique halakha with regard to the impurity of a zav and a menstruating woman: In a case where one of them sits on an item, including one that cannot become ritually impure, e.g., a stone, and beneath that item is a vessel, that vessel becomes impure, even i
Rav Ashi said in response: Items designated for lying or sitting also transmit impurity to items that lie beneath a very heavy stone. The verse states with regard to an item of this kind, which was rendered impure by a zav: “And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be impure until the e
§ The Mishnah teaches: And the flesh of a corpse transmits impurity both when moist and when dry. The Talmud asks: From where do we derive this halakha? Reish Lakish said that this is as the verse states: “Or whoever touches any creeping thing by which he may be made impure, or a man from whom he m
R' Yoḥanan said that this halakha is derived from the verse: “And whoever touches in the open field one who is slain with a sword, or one who died, or the bone of a man, or a grave, shall be impure 7 days” (Numbers 19:16). The verse indicates that the impurity of a dead man is similar to the impuri
The Talmud asks: What is the practical difference between the inferences of Reish Lakish and R' Yoḥanan? The Talmud answers that the practical difference between them is the case of a corpse which is so dry that it crumbles. Reish Lakish maintains it is impure, as the term “from any” indicates that