White Days versus Niddah Days
December 20, 2020White Days[1]
There is a curious beraita that appears about menstrual impurity (Shabbat 12b-13a):
תני דבי אליהו מעשה בתלמיד אחד ששנה הרבה וקרא הרבה ושימש תלמידי חכמים הרבה ומת בחצי ימיו והיתה אשתו נוטלת תפיליו ומחזרתם בבתי כנסיות ובבתי מדרשות ואמרה להם כתיב בתורה {דברים ל} כי הוא חייך ואורך ימיך בעלי ששנה הרבה וקרא הרבה ושימש תלמידי חכמים הרבה מפני מה מת בחצי ימיו ולא היה אדם מחזירה דבר
פעם אחת נתארחתי אצלה והיתה מסיחה כל אותו מאורע ואמרתי לה בתי בימי נדותך מה הוא אצלך אמרה לי חס ושלום אפילו באצבע קטנה לא נגע בי בימי לבוניך מהו אצלך אכל עמי ושתה עמי וישן עמי בקירוב בשר ולא עלתה דעתו על דבר אחר ואמרתי לה ברוך המקום שהרגו שלא נשא פנים לתורה שהרי אמרה תורה {ויקרא יא} ואל אשה בנדת טומאתה לא תקרב
It was taught at Eliyahu’s academy: There was an incident with a student who had studied much [Mishnah], read much [Scripture], and had done a lot of service under sages, and he died at half his days. His wife would take his tefillin around to synagogues and study halls, and say to [the rabbis], “It is written in your Torah, ‘for it is your life and the length of your days’ (Deut. 30:2). My husband, who learned much [Mishnah] and read much [Scripture], had done a lot of service under sages, on account of what did he die young?” And no one was able to respond anything to her.
One time, I was a guest by her and she told me about that entire incident. And I said to her, “My daughter, during your niddah days, what [was] his [conduct] with you?” She said to me, “God forbid! He did not touch me even with his pinky.” [I asked,] “In your white days, what [was] his [conduct] with you?” [The woman responded,] “He ate with me, drank with me, and slept with me in closeness [of the] flesh, yet his mind did not consider another matter (i.e. sexual activity).” And I said to her, “Blessed is the Omnipresent that he slew him, for he did not show favoritism on account of the [man’s] Torah [learning], for the Torah says: ‘And do not come close to a woman in her menstrual uncleanness’ (Lev. 18:19).”
It is certainly a curious text. The most curious aspect is what are these white days vs. niddah days, why was the questioner asking these things of her, and why did the questioner say that it was justified that this scholar died at such a young age?
The answers to the latter two questions largely hinge on how we answer the first question: what are these white days? In this essay, I will lay out two approaches to answering the question of white days.
Approach 1: “White Garment Days”
The first of these approaches understands the niddah days as being the statutory seven menstrual days (cf. Lev. 15:19),[2] whereas the white days are not so much about her, but they are external to her body. This argument proffers that these white days are days on which she wears white garments, due to her being an irregular menstruant and needing to count seven clean days from when she stops bleeding and needs to be wearing white garments for checking to see if she bleeds again, causing a disruption in her counting.[3] According to this approach, she and her late husband erred in thinking that she was already kind of purified after her statutory menstrual impurity days, although, since she hadn’t dunked in the mikveh, she was not yet purified from her menstrual impurity.[4]
Another version of this first approach suggests that the woman would dunk in the mikveh following her seven statutory menstrual impurity days, then dunk again after these white garment days; and that it was during this post-first dunking that she and her husband were lenient.[5]
These are intriguing approaches to introduce this external whiteness, that of garments, as well as understanding her to observing some form of zivah restrictions, but that presents a problem for the ultimate response, as this unnamed protagonist castigates her from a verse in Leviticus relating to niddah/menstrual impurity, rather than irregular menstrual impurity (zivah). This is the most glaring problem with this first approach, as is the seemingly unnecessary introduction of the external white garments for the woman.
Approach 2: “White Days”
The second model of understanding this text is that the niddah days are those days in which she was actively menstrually blood-flowing, whereas the white days are internal to her – they are the days on which any discharges from her are non- sanguinary. The strengths of this interpretation of niddah days and white days are three-fold: one need not make recourse to previously unmentioned garments, both the niddah days and the white days are internal to her body, and it also refers exclusively to a niddah (menstrual impurity) matter, as opposed to making mention of irregular menstrual impurity (zivah).
And this all adds up to providing a satisfactory understanding of why the protagonist interrogator castigates her and her late husband with a verse relating to regular menstrual impurity – that she would still have been within the statutory seven days of menstrual impurity, thus, he deserved to die at such a young age.
Parallel Support to Approach 2
A parallel text offers some curious support to this second approach (Avot deRabbi Natan, recension A, ch. 2):[6]
מעשה באדם אחד שקרא הרבה ושנה הרבה ושמש ת”ח הרבה ומת בחצי ימיו והיתה אשתו נוטלת תפליו וחוזרת בבתי כנסיות ובבתי מדרשות והיתה צועקת ובוכה ואמרה להם רבותי כתיב בתורה כי היא חייך ואורך ימיך בעלי שקרא הרבה ושנה הרבה ושמש ת”ח הרבה מפני מה מת בחצי ימיו. לא היה אדם שהשיב לה דבר.
פעם אחת נזדמן לה אליהו זכור לטוב אמר לה בתי מפני מה את בוכה וצועקת. אמרה לו רבי בעלי קרא הרבה ושנה הרבה ושמש ת”ח הרבה ומת בחצי ימיו. א”ל כשאת בנדתך כל אותן ג’ ימים הראשונים מהו אצלך. אמרה לו רבי ח”ו שלא נגע בי אפילו באצבע קטנה שלו אלא כך אמר לי אל תגעי בכלום שמא תבא לידי ספק. כל אותן ימים האחרונים מהו אצלך. אמרה לו רבי אכלתי עמו ושתיתי עמו וישנתי עמו בבגדי על המטה ובשרו נגע בבשרי אבל לא נתכוין לדבר אחר. א”ל ברוך המקום שהרגו שכך כתוב בתורה ואל אשה בנדת טומאתה לא תקרב
There was an incident with a man who had studied much [Mishnah], read much [Scripture], and had done a lot of service under sages, and he died at half his days. His wife would take his tefillin around to synagogues and study halls, screaming and crying to [the rabbis], and saying, “It is written in your Torah, ‘for it is your life and the length of your days’ (Deut. 30:2); my husband, who learned much [Mishnah] and read much [Scripture], had done a lot of service under sages, on account of what did he die young?” And no one was able to respond anything to her.
One time, Eliyahu, may he be remembered for good, dined by her and he said, “My daughter, on account of what are you crying and screaming?” She said to him, “Rabbi, my husband studied much [Mishnah], read much [Scripture], and had done a lot of service under sages, and he died at half his days.” He said to her, “When you were in your menstrual impurity – all of those first three days – how did he accord himself with you?” She said to him, “Rabbi, Heaven forfend that he never touched me even with his pink. Actually, he said to me, ‘Don’t touch me at all, lest you come into doubt’.” [He said to her,] “During your fina days, how did he accord himself with you?” She said to him, “Rabbi, I ate with him, I drank with him, and I slept with him in my garment on the bed, and his body touched my body, but there was no intention of another matter (sexual activity).” He said to her, “Blessed is the Omnipresent that He slew him, for such is written in the Torah: ‘And do not come close to a woman in her menstrual uncleanness’ (Lev. 18:19).”
What this parallel text brings into relief is explaining what these niddah days are and what these white days are: the niddah days are her first few days of active menstrual blood-flow, whereas the white days are non-blood flow days, yet still within her statutory seven menstrual impurity days.
Conclusion
A look at this beraita in seeking to understand what these white days are and what these niddah days are brings about that this particular student only partially distanced himself from his wife when she was in the latter set of days of her menstrual impurity even though she no longer was actively blood-flowing, causing him, according to this beraita, to die at such a young age.
Notes
[1] This is a vastly reworked updating of “White Days”, Drew Kaplan’s Blog (14 May 2007) [http://drewkaplans.blogspot.com/2007/05/white-days.html].
[2] Rashi, Shabbat 13b, S.V. נדותיך.
[3] Rashi, Shabbat 13b, S.V. ליבוניך (as well as Rabbenu Hananel, Shabbat 13b and Rabbenu Nissim on p6a of Rif, S.V. בימי ליבוניך).
[4] Rashi, Shabbat 13b, S.V. בנדת טומאתה.
[5] Tosafot, Shabbat 13b, S.V. בימי ליבוניך מהו אצלך.
[6] ed. Solomon Schechter, מסכת אבות דרבי נתן בשתי נוסחאות (Vienna: Lippe, 1887), 8-9.