Sugyot, sources, the underlying חקירה, the machlokot of Rishonim and Acharonim,
the נפקא מינות for halakha and the examination of the שיטות
The subject:
שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן קפ״ו — five seifim
with the commentaries: ש״ך (שפתי כהן), פתחי תשובה, תורת השלמים, סדרי טהרה, חכמת אדם
The root of the sugya in ש״ס:
נדה י״ב ע״א (אשה מהו שתבדוק עצמה לבעלה — לבו נוקפו ופורש) · נדה י״ב ע״ב (the ברייתא of רבי חנינא בן אנטיגנוס) · נדה מ״ח ע״ב (נשים בודקות אותן) · יבמות ס״ד ע״ב (תלתא זימני) · נדה ס״ה ע״ב (הרואה דם מחמת תשמיש — expounded in סימן קפ״ז)
Written and edited by:
הרב יוסף חיים סממה · DAAT
📑 Table of contents
Opening of the sugya — the two moments of בדיקה and the principle « שלא יהא לבו נוקפו » (seif 1)
The woman who has a וסת קבוע — the machloket of the Mechaber and the Rambam about the בדיקה after relations, and the practice of the צנועות
The obligation of בדיקה without a וסת — the Rishonim and the Shach — Mechaber / Rambam / Rosh against « לא בעיא בדיקה כלל … וכמדומה שכן עמא דבר », and the reading of the Rif (seif 2)
The חזקה of three times — the logic of the woman established as not seeing מחמת תשמיש, and the קינוח kept all night (seif 2)
The woman who does not see within fourteen days — during those days her status is that of a woman with a וסת (seif 3)
Mutual נאמנות — « מתוך שנאמנת על שלה נאמנת על שלו » (seif 4)
מסולקת דמים — בתולת דמים, the pregnant woman and the nursing woman (Pitchei Teshuva ס״ק א and ס״ק ד)
הרואה מחמת תשמיש — three consecutive times and the permanent prohibition, the doorway to סימן קפ״ז (seif 5)
דיני בדיקת אשה בין לפני תשמיש בין לאחר תשמיש. ובו ה' סעיפים: אשה שיש לה וסת קבוע אינה צריכה בדיקה כלל לא לפני תשמיש ולא לאחר תשמיש ואדרבה אין לה לבדוק בפני בעלה בשעת תשמיש כדי שלא יהא לבו נוקפו והרמב"ם ז"ל מצריך לבדוק אחר תשמיש היא בעד אחד והוא בעד אחד ולראות בהם שמא ראתה דם בשעת תשמיש ולדעתו הצנועות בודקות עצמן אף קודם תשמיש (וסברא הראשונה היא עיקר וכן נהגו) (רוקח והגהות מיימוני ורוב המורים):
Translation — Laws of the בדיקה of the woman, both before relations and after relations; and it contains five seifim. A woman who has a וסת קבוע needs no בדיקה at all, neither before relations nor after; and on the contrary, she should not examine herself in front of her husband at the time of relations, so that his heart not be struck with misgiving. The Rambam, however, requires a בדיקה after relations — she with an עד and he with an עד — to see whether she saw blood during relations; and in his view the צנועות examine themselves even before relations. Gloss of the Rama: but the first opinion is the principal one, and so is the custom (Rokeach, Hagahot Maimoniyot and most of the decisors).
1. Opening of the sugya — the two moments of בדיקה and the principle « לבו נוקפו »
The principle — between the בדיקה of טהרות and the בדיקה of relations
The foundation of the siman: since נדה blood forbids the woman to her husband, there would have been room to obligate her in a בדיקה close to relations — before as well as after — in order to establish that she does not see. Yet the Mechaber opens with a broad rule: אשה שיש לה וסת קבוע אינה צריכה בדיקה כלל(שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:א). Two opposing considerations collide in this sugya: on one side the concern that she may see blood at the time of relations; on the other the maintaining of her חזקת טהרה, and with it the peace of the home — that the husband's heart not be struck with misgiving.
Two senses of the word בדיקה. This is the division that governs the whole sugya: one must distinguish the בדיקה performed for טהרות — in the time of the Temple women examined themselves constantly — from the בדיקה performed for relations alone. The Pitchei Teshuva, in his ס״ק א, stresses that the wording of the ש״ס refers only to טהרות, and that no obligation of בדיקה for relations in our time may be drawn from it.
« ואע״ג דאמרי׳ בש״ס משהגיעו לפרקן נשים בודקות אותן היינו לטהרות » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
Through this a wide door opens to leniency, as will be seen in the שיטה of the Shach.
The חקירה — « שלא יהא לבו נוקפו ופורש ». What is the Mechaber's reason, who says not merely that she is not obligated to examine herself, but that she should not do so in front of her husband?
« אין לה לבדוק בפני בעלה בשעת תשמיש כדי שלא יהא לבו נוקפו » (שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:א)
At first sight a בדיקה is a stringency, and one does not see what harm there could be in it. But there is a distinct principle here: seeing his wife examine herself at the time of relations is liable to plant in the husband's heart a standing fear — perhaps she has become impure — until his heart strikes him and he withdraws from her. That is the very question the gemara asks, and that is the answer it gives.
Already in the first seif the Rishonim differ: is a woman with a וסת קבוע exempt from every בדיקה, or bound to the one that follows relations?
The root of the machloket — the בדיקה after relations for a woman with a וסת:
שיטה
Woman with a וסת קבוע
Source
The Mechaber
No בדיקה at all — neither before nor after; and on the contrary, she should not examine herself in front of him (לבו נוקפו)
מחבר ס״א
The Rambam
Requires a בדיקה after relations — she with an עד and he with an עד — lest she saw during relations; and in his view the צנועות examine themselves even before
מחבר ס״א
The gloss of the Rama
Rules that the first opinion is the principal one and that such is the custom — in the name of the רוקח, the הגהות מיימוני and most of the decisors
רמ״א ס״א
Explaining the division. For the Rambam, even when she has a וסת קבוע, the וסת does not wholly remove the concern that she saw on account of relations — a matter distinct from the וסת, which belongs not to the calendar but to the act; it is therefore fitting to examine afterwards. For the Mechaber, on the contrary, the וסת places her in a full חזקת טהרה, and the concern of seeing מחמת תשמיש is not common enough to impose a בדיקה — all the more so since the בדיקה itself damages the peace of the home. And it is the gloss of the Rama, not the text of the Mechaber, that states the ruling in so many words.
« וסברא הראשונה היא עיקר וכן נהגו » (רמ״א יו״ד קפ״ו:א)
The צנועות examine themselves (according to the Rambam). Even for the Rambam the בדיקה before relations is not a strict obligation but the practice of the צנועות, a מידת חסידות.
« הצנועות בודקות עצמן אף קודם תשמיש » (שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:א)
It follows that for the woman with a וסת nobody holds the בדיקה before relations to be an obligation in principle; the division concerns only the one that follows, and the Mechaber removes that one too.
3. The obligation of בדיקה without a וסת — the Rishonim and the Shach
This is the great practical machloket of the siman, and it touches every woman who has no וסת קבוע.
The text of the Mechaber and the Rama (seif 2)
אם אין לה וסת קבוע שלש פעמים הראשונים צריכין לבדוק קודם תשמיש ואחר תשמיש הוא בעד שלו והיא בעד שלה ואם הוחזקה באותם ג"פ שאינה רואה דם מחמת תשמיש שוב אינה צריכה בדיקה כלל לא לפני תשמיש ולא לאחר תשמיש ולהרמב"ם והרא"ש כל זמן שאין לה וסת צריכה היא בדיקה לעולם קודם תשמיש ואחר תשמיש והרמב"ם מצריך שגם הבעל יבדוק עצמו אחר תשמיש: הגה ואין צריכין לבדוק עצמם אחר כל תשמיש ותשמיש שעושין בלילה אחד אלא מקנחין עצמן כל הלילה בעד ולמחר צריכין בדיקה ואם מצא דם טמאה (ב"י בשם הרמב"ם פ"ד) קנחה עצמה בעד ואבדה לא תשמש עד שתבדוק עצמה הואיל ואין לה וסת (שם):
Translation — If she has no וסת קבוע, the first three times they must examine themselves before relations and after relations, he with his עד and she with hers; and if, in those three times, she has been established (הוחזקה) as not seeing blood on account of relations, she needs no בדיקה at all any more, neither before nor after. According to the Rambam and the Rosh, as long as she has no וסת she must examine herself always, before relations and after; and the Rambam requires that the husband too examine himself after relations. Gloss of the Rama: they need not examine themselves after every act of relations in a single night; they wipe themselves with an עד all night long, and on the morrow a בדיקה is required — if blood is found in it, she is impure. If she wiped herself with an עד and lost it, she does not have relations until she has examined herself, since she has no וסת.
The principle — three degrees in the obligation of בדיקה.
Without a וסת קבוע the Rishonim divide into three degrees:
• The Mechaber — בדיקה the first three times; once established, she is exempt: ואם הוחזקה באותם ג״פ שאינה רואה דם מחמת תשמיש שוב אינה צריכה בדיקה כלל(שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:ב)
• The Rambam and the Rosh — בדיקה always, as long as she has no וסת, and for the Rambam the husband examines himself too: כל זמן שאין לה וסת צריכה היא בדיקה לעולם(שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:ב)
• The Shach — no בדיקה is required at all, even without a וסת: לא בעיא בדיקה כלל(ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
That is: from the standing obligation (Rambam / Rosh), through the bounded obligation (Mechaber), to the complete exemption (Shach).
The chiddush of the Shach (ס״ק א) — « לא בעיא בדיקה כלל ». The Shach writes something sharp: even without a וסת there is no בדיקה, neither before nor after.
« אבל האמת יורה דרכו דדעת הרי״ף כדעת כל הפוסקי׳ דאפילו אשה שאין לה וסת לא בעיא בדיקה לבעלה כלל » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
And he closes his long ס״ק with a phrase that must be read in its reserve: he does not say "such is the halakha", he says it seems to me that such is the practice of the people.
« וכמדומה שכן עמא דבר » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
The Pitchei Teshuva, in reporting him, keeps that nuance down to his verb — he concluded by saying.
« והש״ך פסק דא״צ בדיקה וסיים וכן עמא דבר » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק ב)
The reading of the Rif — Rashi, Rabbenu Chananel and Rabbi Chanina ben Antignos. The root of the machloket of the Rishonim lies in how the ברייתא of the בדיקה is read: when is it said that the woman "uses two עדים"? Some read it as addressing the husband and relations, others as addressing טהרות alone. The ברייתא is that of Rabbi Chanina ben Antignos.
The Shach first sets out the received reading: the greatest Rishonim ascribed to the Rif the second explanation — that of Rabbenu Chananel, which Rashi had refuted — and therefore the ruling according to Rabbi Chanina ben Antignos, which would require a בדיקה for the husband the first three times.
« באמת כן הבינו הפוסקים הלא המה הרמב״ן והרשב״א והרא״ש והר״ן ושאר פוסקים דברי הרי״ף » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
« והלכה כרבי חנינא בן אנטיגנוס דצריכה לבעלה בדיקה ומשמשת בעדים ג״פ הראשונים » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
He at once points to the strain: the Rosh, after refuting the Rif at length, himself concludes in favour of the exemption — and yet did not allow himself to be lenient against the explanation of Rabbenu Chananel.
« והאריך הרא״ש לסתור דברי הרי״ף והסכים להלכה דלא בעי בדיקה כלל » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
« אלא שלא מלאו לבו להקל נגד פי׳ ר״ח » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
The קושיא — and the Shach does not soften it: he confesses that he cannot fathom how all these great ones ascribed to the Rif a ruling he did not make.
« לא ירדתי לסוף דעת כל אלו הגדולים » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
His argument is one of placement before it is one of substance: had the Rif meant to fix a halakha of נדה here, he would have set it down in the הלכות נדה, where it belongs — and not at the end of the chapter אלמנה ניזונית in כתובות, where the question has no business.
The תירוץ — the Rif is silent not because he requires the בדיקה, but because he requires none. The ברייתא of Rabbi Chanina ben Antignos addresses only the woman occupied with טהרות, and in our time, when there are no טהרות, no בדיקה is required.
« כיון דהאידנא דליכא טהרות לא בעינן בדיקה כלל » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
If he set it in כתובות, it is because the נפקא מינה there is the כתובה and not the prohibition. And the Shach adds the reservation that preserves the force of the ברייתא: it retains its object for the woman who did see blood on account of relations.
He concludes by setting the Rambam apart — and by noting that the Rambam himself, in his commentary on the mishna, writes otherwise.
« חוץ מהרמב״ם שמפרש כל הסוגיא באינה עסוקה בטהרות והוא יחיד נגד כל הפוסקים » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
« וגם הרמב״ם גופיה בפי׳ המשנה בפ״ק דנדה כתב דבאינה עסוקה בטהרות קי״ל דכל לבעלה אין צריכה בדיקה אפילו אין לה וסת » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
Then he rests his reading on the Raavad and on the Rishonim of Ashkenaz, and only from there does he pass to practice.
« ומסיק שם להרי״ף הלכה למעשה כסוגיא דשמעתא דכל לבעלה לא בעיא בדיקה ואפילו אשה שאין לה וסת » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
« ואפילו רוצה להחמיר על עצמה ולבדוק קודם תשמיש או לאחר תשמיש לא שבקינן דאם כן לבו נוקפו » (ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
The Torat HaShlamim and the Chochmat Adam (Pitchei Teshuva ס״ק ב). The Pitchei Teshuva reports the Torat HaShlamim — and his sentence has two halves, which must be read together: where the custom to be lenient has taken hold, one does not impose stringency; but absent such a custom, one is not lenient against the ruling of the Mechaber and the Rama.
« ועיין בתוה״ש שכתב דבמקום שנהגו להקל אין להחמיר אבל בלא״ה אין להקל נגד פסק המחבר והרמ״א » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק ב)
He then reports the Chochmat Adam, who narrows the exemption further: those who write that no בדיקה is required are speaking of the searching בדיקה; there remains, in his view, a קינוח, the עד being kept for the span of a שיעור וסת, with the examination made on the morrow.
« ועח״ד שכתב דאף האומרים דא״צ בדיקה היינו בדיקת חורין וסדקין לא בעי אבל מ״מ צריכה קנוח ולהשהות העד על גופה כשיעור וסת » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק ב)
« וראוי לכל אדם לעשות כן לחוש לדברי ר״ח ורוב הפוסקים והמחבר והרמ״א » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק ב)
And he adds, in the same name, that if she saw even once on the night of relations a ריעותא has arisen and the בדיקה becomes due again — three times for the woman without a וסת, until she is established anew.
« ואם היא אשה שאין לה וסת צריכה ג״פ בדיקה שתתחזק באין רואה מ״ת » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק ב)
We report, and we do not rule.
Summary of the machloket — the בדיקה without a וסת:
שיטה
Obligation of בדיקה (without a וסת)
Source
The Mechaber
The first three times only; once established, she is exempt
מחבר ס״ב
The Rambam and the Rosh
Always — before and after (and for the Rambam, the husband too)
מחבר ס״ב
The Shach
לא בעיא בדיקה כלל — and he concludes: וכמדומה שכן עמא דבר
ש״ך ס״ק א
The Torat HaShlamim (in the Pitchei Teshuva)
Where the custom is to be lenient, one does not impose stringency; absent such a custom, one is not lenient against the Mechaber and the Rama
פת״ש ס״ק ב
4. The חזקה of three times — the woman established as not seeing מחמת תשמיש
The principle — a חזקה that is fixed in three times.
For the Mechaber the standing of the woman without a וסת is not permanent: she examines herself three times, and if all three are clean she is established as not seeing on account of relations, and need examine herself no more.
« שלש פעמים הראשונים צריכין לבדוק קודם תשמיש ואחר תשמיש » (שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:ב)
This applies the rule of the ש״ס that a matter is held established only after three times.
חקירה — a חזקה created, or a fact discovered? Do the three times establish a new חזקה, which henceforth holds her to be one who does not see — or do they merely reveal, after the fact, that she never was one who sees מחמת תשמיש? The נפקא מינה appears if she sees once after having been established: on the first side her חזקה is contradicted and the בדיקה returns; on the second there would be here only a mishap. The Pitchei Teshuva, in the name of the Chochmat Adam, reports that a single sighting revives the obligation — which inclines toward the first side, without the חקירה being decided thereby. The detail belongs to the laws of the רואה מחמת תשמיש (seif 5, and סימן קפ״ז).
The קינוח kept all night (gloss of the Rama). The Rama teaches that no בדיקה is needed after every act of relations in a single night: one wipes with an עד all night long, and on the morrow a single בדיקה suffices; if blood is found in it, she is impure.
« מקנחין עצמן כל הלילה בעד » (רמ״א יו״ד קפ״ו:ב)
The reason: the קינוח — an external wiping — is not a complete בדיקה, but it suffices to hold the position through the night, and the morning examination performs the בירור. If, however, she wiped herself with an עד and lost it, she does not have relations until she has examined herself, since she has no וסת and the בירור is missing.
« קנחה עצמה בעד ואבדה לא תשמש עד שתבדוק עצמה הואיל ואין לה וסת » (רמ״א יו״ד קפ״ו:ב)
On this very point the Pitchei Teshuva leaves a question open in the name of the Teshuva MeAhava: does this conduct hold also for the בדיקה before relations, or only for the one that follows? It is reported here because it is asked, and it is not decided.
« עיין בשו״ת תשובה מאהבה ח״א סי׳ נ״ב דצ״ע אי גם קודם התשמיש תוכל לבדוק על סמך שתראה למחר על העד » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק ג)
The link with the רואה מחמת תשמיש (סימן קפ״ז). The whole matter of the חזקה in this siman is the "positive" side of the din of the רואה מחמת תשמיש: here the woman establishes herself as not seeing, and is thereby exempt; in the following siman unfolds the din of one who did see on account of relations three times — forbidden to that husband for ever (seif 5, below).
5. The woman who does not see within fourteen days — a partial fixity
אשה שאינה רואה בפחות מי"ד ימים אחר טבילתה אבל לאחר י"ד ימים אין לה קבע עד י"ד יום דינה כדין אשה שיש לה וסת:
Translation — A woman who never sees blood within fourteen days after her טבילה, but who, beyond those fourteen days, has no fixed date: her status, during those fourteen days, is that of a woman who has a וסת.
The principle — a partial fixity counts as a וסת.
This woman has no complete וסת, but she has a negative fixity within a given span: it is established and constant that she does not see within fourteen days of the טבילה. And that fixity, within its bounds, receives the din of a וסת קבוע — so that during those days no בדיקה is required.
« אין לה קבע עד י״ד יום דינה כדין אשה שיש לה וסת » (שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:ג)
It follows that the גדר of "וסת קבוע" of seif 1 is not only a fixed day of seeing, but also a duly established span of not seeing.
נפקא מינה — beyond the fourteen days. The whole leniency holds only within the fourteen days in which she is held not to see; beyond those days, lacking fixity, she returns to the din of the woman who has no וסת (seif 2), with all the machloket of the Rishonim and the Shach attached to it. And this is the chiddush of the seif: one and the same woman divides into two times — a time "as with a וסת" and a time "without a וסת".
A note of reading, made here because it belongs to the lamdan level: the text of the seif as Sefaria serves it reads אין לה קבע עד י״ד יום where one would expect "within those fourteen days". We copy the source as it stands and do not touch it; the sense adopted here is the one given at level 1, and it follows the commentators.
יש לאדם להניח את אשתו שתבדוק בעד שלו מתוך שנאמנת על שלה נאמנת על שלו:
Translation — A man may let his wife examine his own עד; since she is believed regarding hers, she is believed regarding his.
The principle — a נאמנות that extends.
The woman is believed when she examines עד שלה — the cloth by which she examines herself — and states whether blood is found on it: she is the one who examines, and she stands in חזקת כשרות. From this the Mechaber builds a second נאמנות: once she is believed about what depends on her alone, she is believed all the more about a further testimony arising from the very same act.
« מתוך שנאמנת על שלה נאמנת על שלו » (שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:ד)
The widening of the foundation of נאמנות (continuing סימן קפ״ה). This seif is a branch of the principle of נאמנות set out in the preceding siman. There the Mechaber holds that a woman presumed impure remains forbidden until she herself says that she has immersed — her word about her own state is what turns the din.
« האשה שהיא בחזקת טמאה אסור לו לבא עליה עד שתאמר לו טבלתי » (שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ה:א)
And the same siman at once marks the bound of that נאמנות, when she retracts afterwards.
« אמרה לבעלה טמאה אני ואחר כך אמרה טהורה אני אינה נאמנת » (שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ה:ג)
Here the din advances a step: her נאמנות reaches as far as the husband's עד, since the examination is wholly entrusted to her. And this is the measure of the verb the Mechaber uses — יש לאדם להניח את אשתו שתבדוק בעד שלו(שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:ד): a permission left to the husband, grounded in the trust he places in her.
A note. This נאמנות bears on establishing the sighting and the state of purity; it is not a הוראה. Any doubt about a colour or a situation belongs to the decision of a מורה הוראה, and of a qualified יועצת הלכה.
7. מסולקת דמים — בתולת דמים, the pregnant woman and the nursing woman
Even where the principle of the din imposes a בדיקה — according to the Rishonim who require it of the woman without a וסת — there are women whose condition removes them from blood and who are exempt.
The principle — the מסולקת דמים stands in חזקת טהרה.
A מסולקת דמים is a woman whose condition, in this period, removes her from seeing: she stands in a strong חזקת טהרה, in the manner of a woman with a וסת. Therefore, even according to those who require a בדיקה of the woman without a וסת, the מסולקת דמים need not examine herself, since there is here no concern of seeing at all. The commentaries on this siman give, among others, the בתולת דמים, the pregnant woman and the nursing woman.
בתולת דמים (Pitchei Teshuva ס״ק א). A woman who has never seen blood remains in her חזקה and need not examine herself for her husband — the Pitchei Teshuva reports this in the name of Rav David Aramah, and of the responsum of the Chacham Tzvi.
« כתב הר״ד ערמאה דאשה שלא ראתה מעולם דהיינו בתולת דמים בחזקתה קאי וא״צ בדיקה לבעלה » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א)
And he sets aside the objection drawn from the wording of the ש״ס: what is said there about women examining others was said for טהרות, not to impose a בדיקה for relations.
The pregnant woman and the nursing woman (Pitchei Teshuva ס״ק ד). In the name of the Maharam of Padua, the Pitchei Teshuva writes that even a woman without a וסת קבוע, if she is pregnant and therefore מסולקת דמים, need not examine herself.
« עי׳ בתשובת מהר״ם פדוא״ה סי׳ כ״ה שכתב דאפילו אשה שאין לה וסת אם היא מעוברת שמסולקת דמים א״צ בדיקה » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק ד)
And the nursing woman is not in the responsum cited: it is the Pitchei Teshuva himself who adds her, by identity of reason — which he marks by saying that the matter appears to him plain.
« ונראה פשוט דה״ה למניקה דחד טעמא הוא » (פת״ש יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק ד)
נפקא מינה — a convergence toward leniency. The laws of the מסולקת דמים join the שיטה of the Shach: even for those who hold the stringency in the principle of the din, there is no room for stringency with a מסולקת דמים. Yet one must hold together with this the two reservations of the commentaries reported above — that of the Torat HaShlamim, which is lenient only where the custom of leniency is already in place, and that of the Chochmat Adam, which maintains a קינוח. And for practice — ask your Rav, and in matters of טהרת המשפחה a qualified יועצת הלכה as well.
8. הרואה מחמת תשמיש — three times, and the permanent prohibition
אם ראתה דם מחמת תשמיש שלש פעמים רצופים אסורה לשמש לעולם עם אותו בעל ויתבאר בסימן שאחר זה:
Translation — If she saw blood on account of relations three consecutive times, she is forbidden to have relations for ever with that husband; and this will be expounded in the siman that follows.
The principle — the other side of the din of the חזקה.
This is the exact reverse of the חזקה of seif 2: there, three times in which she did not see establish that she does not see and exempt her; here, three times in which she did see on account of relations establish that she sees because of it — and she is forbidden to that husband for ever.
« אם ראתה דם מחמת תשמיש שלש פעמים רצופים אסורה לשמש לעולם עם אותו בעל » (שו״ע יו״ד קפ״ו:ה)
The same rule of three times therefore works in both directions: to exempt from the בדיקה, and to forbid to the husband. The ברייתא from which this din comes states it in the same terms.
חקירה — the reason for the prohibition. What is its ground: a concern of danger — that something is causing this sighting — or a concern of the prohibition of נדה — that this blood is נדה blood? From this follow many נפקא מינות: attributing the blood to a wound, the בדיקות, the examination of the וסת. All the detail of this din — who is called "מחמת תשמיש", how the חזקה is established, and to what the sighting may be attributed so as to permit her — is set out in סימן קפ״ז; here there is only a doorway to it, grave and heavy.
נפקא מינה for practice. A sighting מחמת תשמיש is a grave matter, with a medical dimension as much as a halakhic one; one draws no conclusion in it by oneself. And for practice — ask your Rav without delay, at times a physician as well, and see the full treatment in סימן קפ״ז.
The overall חקירה of the siman: when is a woman bound to a בדיקה for relations, and when is she kept in her חזקת טהרה?
וסת קבוע — no בדיקה at all; and on the contrary, she should not examine herself in front of him (לבו נוקפו).
The Rambam — requires the בדיקה after relations even for a woman with a וסת; and the Rama rules that וסברא הראשונה היא עיקר וכן נהגו(רמ״א יו״ד קפ״ו:א).
Without a וסת — Mechaber: the first three times; Rambam and Rosh: always; Shach: לא בעיא בדיקה כלל(ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א).
The חזקה of three times — established as not seeing מחמת תשמיש → exempt.
מסולקת דמים — בתולת דמים, pregnant woman, nursing woman — exempt even without a וסת.
Three sightings מחמת תשמיש — forbidden for ever to that husband (סימן קפ״ז).
נפקא מינה for practice — what the commentaries report, without our ruling:
A woman with a וסת קבוע — no בדיקה for relations, and she should not examine herself in front of her husband (Mechaber seif 1; the Rama: וסברא הראשונה היא עיקר וכן נהגו(רמ״א יו״ד קפ״ו:א)).
Without a וסת — the Shach attests that the practice is not to examine, and he says it in reserve: וכמדומה שכן עמא דבר(ש״ך יו״ד קפ״ו ס״ק א). The Pitchei Teshuva, in the name of the Torat HaShlamim, bounds that exemption: where the custom of leniency is not established, one is not lenient against the Mechaber and the Rama (פת״ש ס״ק ב); and in the name of the Chochmat Adam he maintains a קינוח with the עד kept for the span of a שיעור וסת (פת״ש ס״ק ב).
מסולקת דמים — בתולת דמים, pregnant woman, nursing woman — exempt from the בדיקה (פת״ש ס״ק א and ס״ק ד).
She is believed regarding the husband's עד, since she is believed regarding her own (Mechaber seif 4; continuing סימן קפ״ה).
Did she see מחמת תשמיש three times — forbidden for ever to that husband; a grave matter, see סימן קפ״ז.
And for practice — ask your Rav, and in matters of טהרת המשפחה a qualified יועצת הלכה as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ DAAT · הרב יוסף חיים סממה
תלמיד חכם · מעביר שיעורים בהלכה ובחסידות סימן קפ״ו · Level 2 — Lamdan · בדיקת האשה לפני תשמיש ולאחריו daattorah.com
⚠️ This content is written for study and examination only. For any practical ruling (לְמַעֲשֶׂה) — ask your Rav, and in matters of טהרת המשפחה a qualified יועצת הלכה as well.