Siman 188 Seifim 1 and 2
1. Any color of red whether it is very light or very dark is impure and similarly any black color. The only discharge colors that are pure are whites and yarok, even if it is waxy or gold. Certainly a discharge the color of leek or grass is pure. Also, the color called 'blau' in German is in the category of yarok. If the discharge has the consistency of blood and is very thick or if she feels her uterus opening and then sees a color like one of these, she is pure. And so is the main opinion and not like those who are strict and maintain that she is impure of the discharge is thick.
2. A woman is believed to say "I saw a color like this but I lost the cloth". If it were white or yarok she is pure. However, if she brings before us blood and we establish it as impure or even if there is a doubt as to whether it is pure or impure, she is not relied on if she claims that such and such a Rav said at another time that this color is pure.
Introduction
This Seif and the ones that follow represent some of the most
perplexing halachos in all of Niddah, i.e. what color discharges are pure and
which are impure. Poskim spend a long time learning the different
hues of discharge and the subtle distinctions that make the difference between
a pure or impure flow. This is not an area in which one should take
liberty in deciding for oneself. The purpose of studying these laws is to
provide a basis for asking a question.
Additionally, do not automatically be machmir and assume that a discharge is impure. Contact your rabbi for guidance on colors, whether l'kula or l'chumra.
Colors
The Talmud in Niddah 19a describes for us 5 colors of red that are, d'oraissa,
impure. These are the only shades of red that would render a woman
impure. However, our ability to discern the various shades of red has
been lost; consequently, d'rabbanan, all red shades are considered
impure. Additionally, black is considered dried red and is impure.
One obvious question is whether the exceptions noted in the Halacha are unique or are only examples of many other colors that would be pure. The halacha concludes that they aren't to be considered exclusive[1]. The reason why whites are mentioned is that we might think that because white emissions render a man impure, they would render a woman impure as well.[2] We therefore hold, In general, that any discharge that is not somewhat red is not impure.
The exact hue of the color yarok
is described as gold, green or blue.[3] The status of yarok is also a dispute among the rishonim.
There is a view that the Gemara "Rav Zeira said: The daughters of Israel were strict on themselves that even if they saw a mustard seed of blood they would sit 7 clean days" is not to be understood as referring to the size of the stain, as we have understood, but rather its color. Normally we, consider that phrase to mean a spot of blood the size of a seed. They understood it to mean the color of a mustard seed, or something golden. Later commentaries express some confusion at this opinion, since there is no mention of that color anywhere in the Talmud. One should, nevertheless, be concerned about this view and be strict.[4]
The Shulchan Aruch, however, ignores this view and poskins that colors of gold are pure, meaning that they are not somehow a shade of red.
Our practice today takes a mixed view of this dispute. If a woman does not generally experience a discharge of that color, we tend to be strict. However, if a woman does in fact have regular discharges of this color, one should be lenient. Additionally, the only time to be strict about golden discharge is in connection with a hefsek taharah and not for any other examinations. Further, if a woman's husband has not yet performed the mitzvah of p'ru u'r'vu, one should be completely lenient about this color. One should consult with a qualified Rav if one is in this situation.[5]
Other colors are dealt with in Halacha. One of them is gray. All opinions agree that light grays are pure and that any gray that can be distinguished from black is pure as well.[6]
The biggest area of contention is, predictably, in the area of browns. One view is to always lenient on stains with a coffee or chestnut color, even if it were on a bedikah cloth itself.[7] On the other side of the line, a significant group of poskim holds that we should be strict even when dealing with a kesem - a stain found on a garment or cloth that was not being used for examination. However, the poskim who talk about coffee brown argue about the exact shade of coffee and about whether the color is that of coffee with milk or not.[8] An examination cloth that I saw was coffee brown and the Rav dealing with it permitted it. Finally, one needs to be careful about using fluorescent lights that might change the hue of the stain[9]. We try to be lenient, however, and if a stain appears pure under one set of lighting conditions, even though it appears impure under others, since we do not know which light is the appropriate one to use. Finally, we are stricter during the hefsek tahara than we are other times, since our primary purpose is to determine that the flow of blood has completely stopped. Poskim tend to be somewhat stricter during the first 2 or 3 of the 7 clean day period.[10]
Hargasha
The Shulchan Aruch offers a strange halacha - that if the woman
feels a hargasha and after checking herself finds a discharge of one of
the permitted colors, she is pure. This is a ruling that we would not
expect. We have earlier learned that a hargasha is the basis for niddah
d'oraissa, even without seeing blood. We are now being told to ignore
that. Apparently, there is a distinction between not finding any blood at
all, which we attribute to an inadequate exam, absorption in the vaginal canal
or other factors, and finding a discharge of a different color, in which case
we attribute the hargasha to the specific color discharge and maintain
the woman's purity. Views on the time
that constitutes the period after intercourse in which this would apply range
from 2 to 3 minutes[11]
up to 24 hours[12].
Washing
There is a view that a women should refrain from bathing during her
count of seven clean days because of the potential effect that bathing might
have on the color of the woman's flow. Although all but one of the later poskim have rejected this position,
there is a group of poskim who opine that a woman should reduce her
level of bathing during those 7 days, not because of color distortions but in order
to insure the integrity of her daily examinations. The Levushai
Mordecai qualifies this and says that the limitations on bathing relate to
long (1 hour) and hot baths and certainly do not relate to showers in any
event.[13]
Being Strict
Taz (1) also asserts that the Gemara makes no distinction
between having bathed and not when it comes to evaluating the color of a flow,
but nevertheless adds "...it is an additional chumra and one who
wishes to be strict on this may be strict, but may not teach others to observe
the strictness." One of the fundamental problems in chumras
in this whole area is that unnecessary ones lead to undermining the woman's
entitlement to sexual fulfillment. However, poskim hesitate to ignore the ruling completely because of the
status of the Bach, who was the rule’s
primary proponent.
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