The shitah of the Tzemach Tzedek and Chabad on ro'ah machmat tashmish,
then the halacha lema'asse of the nossei kelim and the contemporary poskim — Rav AND physician
Subject:
שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן קפ״ז (י״ד סעיפים)
אשה הרואה דם מחמת תשמיש: מקור או מכה, בדיקת שפופרת, תולין, נאמנות, רפואה, ובתולה
Register (sensitive and medical subject):
The subject is intimate, grave, and touches on medicine.
We expose the sugya and the shitot with sobriety ; we never rule on a personal case,
and we propose no self-diagnosis. Every practical conclusion refers to
your Rav (or a Chabad Rav / Dayan / Yoetzet) AND a competent physician (gynecologist).
Writing and iyun:
הרב יוסף חיים סממה · DAAT
How to read this level. Siman 187 treats the grave and delicate case of the woman who bleeds because of relations (ro'ah machmat tashmish): this blood renders her נדה, and if it recurs, the concern that it comes from the מקור (the uterus) would forbid her to that husband. The whole siman seeks to distinguish the source (uterine makor vs makah / tzedadin — a wound or the walls) and to be lenient where possible. It has fourteen seifim: ro'ah machmat tashmish three times in a row and the sequence of husbands ; the bedikat shefoferet (the diagnostic tube) ; what may be attributed elsewhere — tolin (veset, makah, sfek sfeika) ; the ne'emanut "makah yesh li" ; refuah ba-zman ha-zeh ; and the betulah. This level has two parts. (1) Daat HaRav — the Chabad shitah: unlike kashrut, here there is a genuine Chabad halakhic tradition, whose authority of reference on Niddah is the Tzemach Tzedek. (2) Halacha lema'asse: the general pesak (Beit Yossef, Rama, Shach, Sidrei Tahara, Chochmat Adam, Aruch haShulchan, Noda BiYehuda) and the contemporary pesak (Taharat haBayit, Shevet haLevi, Badei haShulchan, and the Nishmat Avraham for the medical angle). We cite only real and attested positions ; where a specific Chabad ruling is not established with certainty, we present it at the level of principle — never inventing a responsum, a number, or a minhag. This siman is both halakhic and medical: every practical conclusion (lema'asse) concludes with the referral to your Rav (or a Chabad Rav / Dayan / Yoetzet) AND a physician (gynecologist) — never self-diagnosis, never alone.
אִשָּׁה שֶׁרָאֲתָה דָּם מֵחֲמַת תַּשְׁמִישׁ מִיָּד... מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת שָׁלֹשׁ פְּעָמִים ; אִם בְּכָל ג' פְּעָמִים רְצוּפִים רָאֲתָה דָּם — אֲסוּרָה לְשַׁמֵּשׁ עִם בַּעַל זֶה, אֶלָּא תִּתְגָּרֵשׁ וְתִנָּשֵׂא לְאַחֵר.
הַגָּה : וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים שֶׁאֵין אָנוּ נוֹהֲגִין לְהוֹצִיאָהּ.
The framework (ro'ah machmat tashmish). A woman who sees blood because of relations (machmat tashmish), immediately, examines herself three times ; if, in those 3 consecutive times, she saw blood → she is forbidden to that husband: she separates and marries another.
Rama (הגה): but some hold "we do not have the custom to make her leave" — the divorce is no longer forced.
— Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 187:1 (of י״ד seifim) · Talmudic basis: נדה (ro'ah machmat tashmish, bedikat shefoferet, makor / tzedadin) · Sefaria YD 187:1
Seif 5 of siman 186 already stated the principle — seeing machmat tashmish 3 times in a row forbids her to that husband — and referred "to the following siman." Siman 187 is that development: the mechanics of the 3 times (the חזקה of the kilkul), the sequence of husbands, and above all the means of leniency (the bedika, the tolin, the ne'emanut, the refuah). One does not read 187 without 186, nor without the framework of today's medical diagnosis.
Siman 187 has fourteen seifim. The Mehaber sets the framework (ro'ah machmat tashmish 3 times and the sequence of husbands ; the bedikat shefoferet ; tolin by the veset or the makah ; the ne'emanut ; the refuah ; the betulah) ; the Rama (הגה) is lenient ("ein anu nohagin lehotzi'ah") and refines the conditions of the tolin and the sfek sfeika. Here is the map.
| Seif | Subject | Ruling (anchored in the text) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ro'ah machmat tashmish 3 times ; the sequence of husbands | Sees machmat tashmish 3 times in a row → forbidden to this husband ; separates, marries a 2nd ; same 3× → a 3rd ; same → forbidden to all until a bedika. Rama: "ein anu nohagin lehotzi'ah" (divorce no longer forced). |
| 2 | Bedikat shefoferet | A tube (שפופרת) with a מכחול wrapped in מוך, inserted to where "ha-shamash dash" ; blood at the tip → from the makor → asurah ; otherwise → from the tzedadin → muteret. "Af ba-zman ha-zeh one may rely on this bedika." |
| 3 | Bedika under the 1st husband ; tza'ar/ke'ev | She may examine herself under the 1st after 3× (heter for him) ; some forbid to the 1st from the 3rd tashmish on, even by bedika. One relies on the 1st opinion to be lenient. If tza'ar/ke'ev during relations → all agree one relies on the bedika with the 1st (Ritzva). |
| 4 | Samuch le-veset | Relations samuch le-veset → one attributes to the veset, and it is not "machmat tashmish." |
| 5 | Makah ; veset kavua ; sfek sfeika | A makah there → one attributes to the wound's blood ; if that blood differs → one does not. Rama: all this with a veset kavua (then one attributes outside the veset even without certainty the wound bled) ; without a veset kavua, if doubt makor/tzedadin → sfek sfeika ; but if certainly from the makor → one does not attribute (without veset kavua) unless certain the wound bleeds. |
| 6 | Ne'emanut "makah yesh li" | Believed to say "I have a wound there," or "I am sure this blood does not come from the makor" → tehorah. |
| 7 | Chorim u-sedakim ; a single spot | Examining all the chorim u-sedakim, if she finds blood only at a single spot on the side → attribute to a wound on that side ; all the more so if she feels pain there on touch and nowhere else. |
| 8 | Refuah (treatment) | Possible before the matter is chazak (established) ; afterward, some doubt ; some permit if a Jewish physician says she is cured ; if her sightings ceased through the treatments and they evidently worked → one relies even on a non-Jewish physician. |
| 9 | Charerat dam ; ba-zman ha-zeh | Suddenly frightened, a charerat dam fell out and she was cured → permitted ; sees machmat tashmish again even once → not cured ; ba-zman ha-zeh one no longer permits by this means (Ramban/Raavad) ; but one does not separate her from the husband after this "treatment" until she bleeds again. |
| 10 | Seen bishe'at tashmish ; leil tevilah | Seen at the moment of tashmish: permitted a 2nd time after taharah ; the logic of the chashash once (leil tevilah), dilug, etc. Rama: 3× at the 1st bi'ah after each tevilah → forbidden (impossible to immerse and serve). |
| 11 | After half a year ; a veset of machmat tashmish | Seen machmat tashmish then, after six months, again → permitted (no veset set in 3 vestot) ; choshehet the last time ; if she fixed a veset of machmat tashmish 3× → permitted between the vestot, withdraws on the veset days until uprooted 3×. |
| 12 | Asur le-hashhotah | Ro'ah machmat tashmish 3×: forbidden to keep her (to delay the divorce, formerly), except by a third party (shalish), who goes to her only with witnesses. |
| 13 | Betulah | One who bleeds at the first relations → presumed dam betulim until one relations without bleeding ; then 3× → chazakah of machmat tashmish. Rama: even without it ceasing, if there is no pain at all, like all women (not dam betulim — Maharam Padua) ; a man who bleeds (pi ha-amah) → one attributes to him (Rashba ; cf. ק״צ ס״כ). |
| 14 | Wounds/sores ; tevilah impossible | A woman with wounds/sores who cannot immerse → she leaves the husband, so as not to prevent him from peru u-revu. |
Note on method (important). This part presents the Chabad halakhic approach to ro'ah machmat tashmish and Niddah. Unlike kashrut, here there is a genuine tradition of Chabad pesak. We present it at the level of principle and of the authorities ; we attribute to the Tzemach Tzedek and to no Rebbe any specific ruling, responsum number, or minhag that we could not verify. For the detail of a case — all the more so for so grave a case — the Chabad practice is to turn to a Chabad Rav or a Dayan, and, on the medical side, to a physician.
The Tzemach Tzedek — Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (1789-1866), the third Rebbe of Lubavitch and grandson of the Admur HaZaken — is the foremost posek of Chabad, in particular in Taharat haMishpacha. His collection of responsa and pisqei dinim (the Shut Tzemach Tzedek) covers Yoreh De'ah and the laws of Niddah extensively, and it is to him that the Chabad tradition turns first for these questions, including grave cases such as ro'ah machmat tashmish. At the level of principle, the Chabad school is characterized by great stringency in Taharat haMishpacha joined to the care of seeking the real heter where halakha permits — precisely what this siman aims at through diagnosing the source.
Lema'asse (Daat HaRav). According to the Chabad tradition, in these matters one follows the Tzemach Tzedek and the pisqei dinim transmitted in Chabad. For applying a real case — and above all the grave case of ro'ah machmat tashmish, which joins the medical and the halakhic — consult your Rav (or a Chabad Rav / Dayan / Yoetzet) AND a physician (gynecologist): this level presents the principle, it does not decide your situation, and never self-diagnosis.
The Taz (s.k. 2-3) explains the sequence of husbands by the principle אין כל האצבעות שוות ("not all fingers are alike") — husbands differ, and the blood may be tied to one and not another, hence the trial with a new husband. But the Rama rules, for our conduct, "י״א שאין אנו נוהגין להוציאה": the divorce is no longer forced. This is the major practical tendency today — the couple is not separated automatically ; it is accompanied by a Rav who will seek, through the bedika and the medical diagnosis, to establish the source and to permit.
Lema'asse (the 3 times and the leniency). The principle: seeing machmat tashmish 3 times in a row (and "immediately") creates a grave chazakah ; but per the Rama, one no longer forces divorce (ein anu nohagin lehotzi'ah), and one rather seeks the heter through diagnosing the source. Whether a case truly falls in this category, how to count the "3 times," and the couple's conduct — none of this is decided alone. Consult your Rav (or a Chabad Rav / Dayan / Yoetzet) AND a physician (gynecologist).
The bedikat shefoferet of old and the modern medical diagnosis share one aim: to determine the source of the bleeding. Today, bleeding linked to relations ("contact" / post-coital bleeding) is first a medical question — a gynecologist looks for a cause at the level of the cervix, a polyp, an ectropion, fragility of the walls, etc. If the established source is a מכה or the צדדין (and not the מקור), that is often the path of the heter. The Rav and the physician work together: the physician establishes the fact (the source), the Rav derives the halakha. Never self-assessment.
Lema'asse (the bedika / the diagnosis). The principle: one permits if the source is established as from the tzedadin, one forbids if from the makor — and "af ba-zman ha-zeh" one relies on this diagnosis. In practice today, this diagnosis goes through a physician (gynecologist) and a Rav, never through oneself. Consult your Rav (or a Chabad Rav / Dayan / Yoetzet) AND a physician.
Lema'asse (the tolin). The principle: one may attribute the blood to a veset, to a makah, or be lenient through a sfek sfeika, according to fine conditions (veset kavua or not, blood meshuneh or not, certainty of the makor or not). These distinctions are questions of fact and of law not decided alone, and the makah itself belongs to a medical diagnosis. Consult your Rav (or a Chabad Rav / Dayan / Yoetzet) AND a physician.
Lema'asse (the ne'emanut). The principle: "I have a wound" / "I am sure it is not from the makor" has real halakhic value and can render tehorah. But this ne'emanut is exercised under the Rav's authority, and the reality of a makah belongs to the physician — it is not a self-diagnosis. Consult your Rav (or a Chabad Rav / Dayan / Yoetzet) AND a physician (gynecologist).
Seif 9 closes an old path ("ba-zman ha-zeh ein matirin"), but seif 8 opens the role of the physician in treatment and cure. Modern medicine does not "permit" on its own: it diagnoses the source (cervix, polyp, ectropion, walls) and can treat the cause, which changes the fact on which the Rav rules. This is the sense of the medicine / halakha intersection of this siman: the physician establishes and treats, the Rav decides. One relies neither on the physician alone without a Rav, nor on the Rav alone without the medical finding.
Lema'asse (refuah / betulah). The principle: medical cure has a place (Jewish physician, even non-Jewish per the case), but certain old paths no longer hold "ba-zman ha-zeh" ; and for the betulah, the presumption of dam betulim and the question of pain frame the diagnosis. All this joins the medical and the halakhic and is never decided alone. Consult your Rav (or a Chabad Rav / Dayan / Yoetzet) AND a physician (gynecologist).
Note on method. The works cited below extend the principles of siman 187 for today's practice. They are cited as recognized streams of pesak, to be confirmed with a Rav — and, for this siman, with a physician — before any application.
| Point of the siman | Sephardic orientation (to verify) |
|---|---|
| Machmat tashmish 3 times | Divorce no longer forced (Rama) ; one seeks diagnosis of the source. See Taharat haBayit / Yalkut Yossef. |
| Bedika / diagnosis | One relies on establishing the source (tzedadin / makah) — today through the physician — to permit. Modalities to the Rav. |
| Ne'emanut / tolin | Full value of "makah yesh li" and of the paths of tolin (veset, makah, sfek sfeika), under the Rav's authority and with the medical finding. |
Note on method. Same remark: these works extend the Rama and the nossei kelim ; they are cited as markers of pesak, to be confirmed with a Rav and a physician.
| Point of the siman | Ashkenazic / medical orientation (to verify) |
|---|---|
| Bedika / diagnosis | Sidrei Tahara, Aruch haShulchan, Shevet haLevi on the source ; Nishmat Avraham for the medical examination and contact bleeding. |
| Noda BiYehuda | Via the PT: a veset kavua fixed later, shefa dam, pregnancy / nursing, reading the shefoferet. To be brought to the Rav. |
| Ro'ah machmat tashmish | Sidrei Tahara, Shevet haLevi, Badei haShulchan ; a grave and medical subject, to the Rav AND the physician. Never alone. |
For Chabad practice on this bedrock, one refers to the Tzemach Tzedek (whose Shut covers the laws of Niddah) and to the decisions transmitted in Chabad, with the care proper to the school in so grave a case. We attribute no specific ruling that is not verifiable ; for the detail, one turns to a Chabad Rav or a Dayan — and, on the medical side, to a physician.
| Concept | In substance | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Machmat tashmish 3 times | Chazakah of the kilkul → forbidden to this husband ; sequence of husbands ; Rama: "ein anu nohagin lehotzi'ah" | Mehaber + Rama (seif 1) ; Taz s.k. 2-3 |
| Bedikat shefoferet | Makor (at the tip) → asurah ; tzedadin → muteret ; "af ba-zman ha-zeh" | Mehaber (seif 2) ; Taz s.k. 5 ; PT s.k. 13 |
| Samuch le-veset / makah / s.s. | One attributes to the veset, the makah, or via sfek sfeika (per veset kavua) | Mehaber + Rama (seif 4-5, 7) |
| Ne'emanut | "Makah yesh li" / "bari li she-eino min ha-makor" → tehorah | Mehaber (seif 6) ; Mahari Weil |
| Refuah / ba-zman ha-zeh | Treatment before chazak ; Jewish/non-Jewish physician ; ba-zman ha-zeh some paths closed | Mehaber (seif 8-9) ; Ramban/Raavad |
| Betulah | Dam betulim presumed ; without pain → like all women (Maharam Padua) | Mehaber + Rama (seif 13) |
| Posek | Decisive contribution (corpus-anchored) |
|---|---|
| Mehaber | Machmat tashmish 3× → forbidden to this husband, sequence of husbands ; bedikat shefoferet ("af ba-zman ha-zeh") ; tolin (veset, makah) ; ne'emanut "makah yesh li" ; refuah ; betulah ; one who cannot immerse → she leaves. |
| Rama (הגה) | "Ein anu nohagin lehotzi'ah" (divorce no longer forced) ; the conditions of tolin (veset kavua) and the sfek sfeika (seif 5) ; betulah without pain = like all women (Maharam Padua). |
| Taz | s.k. 1 ("miyad") ; s.k. 2-3 (sequence of husbands, ein kol ha-etzba'ot shavot) ; s.k. 5 (mechanics of the shefoferet) ; s.k. 9 (dam makah meshuneh — as a rule one attributes). |
| Shach (Siftei Kohen) | s.k. 1: the shiur of "miyad" (asham talui ; beyond it, tehorah). |
| Pitchei Teshuva | Very rich: Noda BiYehuda (a veset kavua fixed later ; shefa dam ; pregnancy/nursing ; reading the shefoferet) ; Emunat Shmuel (shefoferet = shiur ever beinoni) ; Shevut Yaakov (an elderly woman in pain). |
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