Niddah 7:1 - 7:2

דם נדה. מטמאין לחין – as it is written (Leviticus 15:33): “And concerning her who is in menstrual infirmity, [and concerning anyone, male or female, who has a discharge, and concerning a man who lies with an impure woman],” just as a male has flux from her is impure like her, and at the time he has a flux, it is moist.

ומטמאין יבשין – as it is written (Leviticus 15:19): “[When a woman has a discharge], her discharge being blood from her body, [she shall remain in menstrual impurity seven days],” he will be in his condition/status , and even though it dried up.

ובשר המת – it defiles dry, as it is written (Numbers 19:16 -the printed text errs in mentioning chapter 12): “or human bone,” a person is similar to a bone; just as a bone [defiles] when dry, also the flesh [of a dead person] defiles when dry.

והניע (the phlegm) -soft spittle that comes out through shaking. But I heard, secretion that descends from the nose. But they are from the discharges of the man with a flux/gonorrhea which are the primary sources of [ritual] impurity.

והשרץ – as it is written (Leviticus 11:31): “whoever touches them when they are dead [shall be impure until evening],” like they are dead, that is, when they are moist as they were at the time of their death. But all the time that the spinal column exists and the bones are attached to the spinal column, since its form is recognized, it is considered as moist.

והנבלה – as it is written (Numbers 19:14): “[This is the ritual:] When a person dies [in a tent],” similar to death.

והשכבת זרע – that it needs to be appropriate to emit semen.

מטמאין לחין ואין מטמאין יבשין – the flux [of someone with gonorrhea] defiles moist but not dry, as it is written (Leviticus 15:3): “[The impurity from his discharge shall mean the following ] whether his member runs with the discharge [or is stopped up so that there is no discharge],” it is similar to discharge/spittle which is moist. It is like (I Samuel 21:14): “and let his saliva run down his beard.”

והניע והרוק – as it is written (Leviticus 15:8): “If one with a discharge spits [on one who is pure],” and at the time that he spits, it is moist.

וכמה היא שירייתן, (and how long must they be soaked?) – that let us say, it retracts in this measurement that they are moist [once again].

בפורשים מעת לעת – but if more hot water is needed, or more than an astronomical period of twenty-four hours, they are dry (see Talmud Niddah 58a).

ר' יוסי אומר בשר המת יבש – it is pure from defiling with an olive’s bulk. But it defiles a mass of earth from a grave containing a spoonful of parts of a decayed human body which causes uncleanness. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi (see also Tractate Ahilot, Chapter 2, Mishnah 1).

מטמא למפרע – all of the pure things that were found in the alleyway [are considered] the private domain concerning [ritual] impurity, and where there is a doubt, it is impure.

או עד שעת כיבוד – because it is the presumption that the Children of Israel (i.e., Jews) examine their alleyways at the time that they are cleaning, and if there had been creeping thing there, he would see it.

וכן כתם שנמצא בחלוק מטמא למפרע – all of the purities that the woman made from the day of . not those that were prior to washing, because it is the presumption that the daughters of Israel examine their garments at the time of their being washed (see Tractate Niddah 58b).

היבש מטמא למפרע – until the time of sweeping. For it is possible to state that after the sweeping it fell.

אבל הלח אינו מטמא למפרע – but until the time that we are able to state that if if fell on that day it is still able to now be moist. But not until the hour of sweeping, if it is a long time, for it is moist, and if from that time it fell, it became dry. And especially with a creeping thing that Rabbi Shimon disputes between moist and dry. But regarding a bloodstain, even moist defiles retroactively until the hour of washing, for one can say that it was dry and water fell upon it. But regarding a creeping thing, one cannot state this, for if blood were to fall upon it, it would have been dismembered (see Tractate Niddah 56b).