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BS”D
Pamphlet
True Knowledge
In which you will find
that
one who truly and
innocently seeks wisdom
who checks halachot of
niddah and blood
will find truth in
medicine and science
and true knowledge
will be a delight to his palate
Volume 7
Please safeguard the sanctity of this page
The month of Elul,
5759
“Do
not come near a woman during her period of uncleanness to uncover her
nakedness.” (Leviticus 18:19) And she is as a viper who
kills with its glance, all the more so shall it harm one to sleep
with her, for her evil is a contagious evil, etc., her impurity will
always be remembered, for she is as vermin and a leper, whose
impurity is in their bodies (Ramban).
How many mistakes were made in
halacha about the woman’s monthly cycle, how much evil has been
directed at women and how much suffering has been decreed for men.
After all, none of the halachot about menstrual impurity and the
prohibitions based thereon have any basis in reality. They all were
decreed due to the sages’ lack of knowledge about the processes
of the monthly cycle and ovulation and because of superstitions which
they learned from Gentile nations.
We have once again merited
publishing, at a fortuitous hour, a new pamphlet, the seventh one,
whose topic is the “impurity” of menstruation and the
lack of understanding by Chazal, the Rishonim, and the Achronim on
matters connected to women’s bodies and their processes.
The name “Family Purity”
is given in books for the decrees of degradation, alienation, and
ostracism (“niddah from the term nidduyi
[ostracism]”) imposed upon the woman during the period of her
monthly menstruation. The Torah’s prohibition of seven days was
not enough for the sages, and they judged her as one suffering from a
venereal discharge, forbidding her for 12 days; for 12 days a husband
must distance himself from his wife, not only from regular sexual
intercourse, but also from any touch and contact appropriate between
a loving couple. Why was the woman decreed to be impure and forbidden
to her husband one third of every month of her life? Because in
the eyes of the Torah and Chazal menstrual blood was unnatural,
mysterious, and harmful.
Today we understand the whole
process of the monthly cycle precisely and see how much Chazal erred
on these matters. All that they ruled has nothing on which to rely.
The doctors’ and experts’ knowledge on these topics is so
great that they successfully perform in-vitro fertilization, the
growth of “test-tube babies,” and implanting of embryos
in “surrogate mothers.” None of these would be possible
without absolute understanding of all the processes of a woman’s
cycle, ovulation, impregnation, and pregnancy. Rabbinical halacha, on
the other hand, remains stuck in nonsense 1500 years old. In the name
of this nonsense they decree ostracism on women and make both halves
of the couple miserable, with an unwarranted separation, for nothing.
And as we will see later, this does not even have a halachic
reason.
We will first explain what is
known: menstruation is a physiological phenomenon and is part of the
woman’s monthly cycle. Each month the woman’s body
prepares itself for the possibility of pregnancy. Each month an egg
releases from one of the two ovaries (which every woman has) to the
uterus. The body secretes hormones and as a result internal tissue
(called the uterine lining) grows within the uterus. Blood vessels in
this tissue widen and wait for the egg to arrive. In the framework of
ovulation the egg reaches the uterus and attaches itself to the
thickened wall. If, as a result of sexual intercourse, the egg is
fertilized by the man’s sperm, pregnancy begins. But if there
is no fertilization, the body discharges the egg and the tissue which
held it. When the egg and the tissue surrounding it are dislodged
from their place to be ejected from the body there is also a flow of
blood, as there is with any injury to the body’s tissues. With
every internal or external injury there is a flow of blood. This
blood, created from the ejection of tissue, is the menstrual blood.
This must be remembered well: menstrual blood is the body’s
regular blood, flowing in the most usual manner from a wound (tissue
damage) created in the uterus. It is as bleeding in the stomach or
bleeding from the nose, and this blood has no special aspects, no
special source, nor any special properties whatsoever. We will return
to this issue. Our sages, from Chazal through to the Achronim,
did not understand the reason for niddah (menstrual) blood at
all but thought it was a special sort of blood which came
from a special source, as the Rambam wrote in commenting on the
Mishnah in Niddah, chapter 2:5, “To the concavity of the
uterus, which is called the chamber, an artery is connected, through
which the menstrual blood courses and flows through the uterus out to
the cervix,” as though there were a special artery for the
menstrual blood. There is no such thing and never has been.
A lactating mother does not
ovulate and therefore has no menses. And what, according to the
sages, is the reason why a lactating mother does not see blood? In
Tractate Niddah page 9a, “the blood is disturbed and made
into milk,” as though the menstrual blood does not appear
because it is special blood which becomes milk…all this is
nonsense.
And here is Chazal’s
suggestion to one who wants a male child should have relations and
then do it again, as is said, “a woman who brings forth seed,”
if the woman climaxes first she gives birth to a boy; a man who
climaxes first sires a girl (Niddah 28a). It is clear that they
erred. The gender of the child is determined by the chromosomes in
the egg and sperm cells and the manner of sexual intercourse
has no relationship to the matter.
Chazal even explained that a
woman who is pregnant can be impregnated! In Tractate Ketubot
39a, “Three women may use cotton wool (as a form of
contraception), and they are: a minor, a pregnant woman, and a
lactating woman, etc. A pregnant woman lest her fetus become like a
flat-fish.” Rashi comments that if she were to be impregnated
with a second fetus, the second would reduce the form of the first
until it resembled a flat-fish. They did not understand that during
pregnancy there is no ovulation and an additional pregnancy is
impossible.
Come and see how Chazal erred in
all that relates to the anatomy of the woman and forbade or permitted
in error. The Mishnah in Tractate Niddah 17b, “The sages
said a parable about a woman—a room, a corridor, and an attic.
Blood of the room is impure, blood of the attic is pure; blood found
in the corridor is of doubtful purity.” The Gemarah
explains that the room is within (near the back) and the corridor is
outside (near the stomach) and there is an opening between the attic
and the corridor. Halacha has ruled that blood which comes from the
“attic” is pure, as it is not blood which comes from the
uterus; there is no need to go into this further as these things have
no hold in reality (see diagram).
What is the location of the “attic” and
the “pen” in which Chazal say that if blood is found, it
is pure??? [diagram 1]
In this drawing you see that there is no sense to what the sages
say, “the woman who urinates and blood is found is impure, as
the place is narrow, returning to the source (womb).” And they
cite [Rama, Yoreh Deah 191, section 1]. And A. Sofer Avraham says in
his book “Nishmat Avraham” that, “as a doctor, this
is difficult for me, as nothing like this is possible in reality.”
[diagram 2]
And from the diagram you will also understand that what the Rambam
explained in his commentary on the Mishnah is not correct, when he
writes that the Fallopian tubes (the tubes which connect the ovaries
and the uterus) connect the uterus and the vagina, or, as he puts it,
“and the cervix is a corridor and it has two additions which
resemble two horns on the cervix.” It is not so. The tubes
actually connect to the upper portion of the uterus.
And to show the amount of
confusion we will copy the words of the Chatam Sofer, one of the
greatest halachic arbiters, in his novella on Masechet Niddah page
18a, “What is the corridor and the room and the roof and ground
and attic? After researching in books and among the wise scribes and
surgical texts we cannot deny reality, which is not as the
commentary of Rashi and the Tosfot and the Maharam of Lublin’s
drawing. We have nothing but what the Rambam wrote, etc. Therefore I
have not bothered with the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosfot as it
is impossible to suit them to true reality; know this.” That
is, according to the Chatam Sofer, one of the greatest halachic
arbiters, Rashi and the Tosfot and others did not understand the
reality of a woman’s body and all their commentaries are
incorrect! We will continue and say that we have already shown that
even his words, the words of the Rambam, the Gemara and the Mishnah
cannot be suited to true reality at all, and they have no standing
against true reality.
Here is another example of a
halacha whose source is in error: it is the law about the source
from whence issues drops of blood which make a woman impure, brought
in the Mishnah, page 40a: “All women are made impure in their
external receptacle, as is said ‘the blood shall be, a venereal
discharge in her flesh’.” The Gemara, 41a: “It is
the external receptacle, etc., Rabbi Yochanan said until between the
teeth” (and Rashi commented that within the uterus there are
mounds of flesh as a sort of teeth) “and Rabbi Judah said until
the place that the janitor treads.” And though not all the
“fingers” are equal, it is well known that there are no
mounds of flesh in the continuation of the woman’s vagina. In
the Chatam Sofer’s responsa, response 167, in explaining the
location of the external receptacle, he wrote, “But in
reality the Tosfot wrote all this according to their understanding,
as did Rashi OBM, etc. all according to their understanding, but
after asking forgiveness of our holy rabbis—their words were
not correct.”
Therefore he explained, according
to the Rambam, that the external receptacle is the external cervical
opening (see the Achronim, who had many opinions on the words of the
Rambam).
In short, all that Chazal said
about a woman’s body and the matters of her cycle and ovulation
and childbirth are not correct and do not match reality. So Chazal
did not understand the true reality of a woman’s cycle, but why
did they decree upon women ostracism, alienation, suffering, insult,
and impurity? They did this because of all the superstitions which
gave a menstruating woman magical powers of sorcery. As the
Ramban writes in his explanation of the sentence Rachel our mother
said to Laban, her father, in Genesis 31:35, “I cannot rise for
the way of the women is upon me,” “the ancient ones in
their wisdom knew that their breath harms and their sight makes a bad
impression,” that is, even a glance from a woman at the time of
her menstruation brings bad luck!
Even at the time of the writing of
the Torah they related magical powers of evil to the natural cycle of
blood.
And if these were not enough, the
Ramban gives a reason why it is forbidden to have sexual relations
with a menstruating woman, “And how shall he make of it
[menstrual blood] a fetus as it is a fatal drug, will kill all living
creatures who drink or eat of it, etc. and it is of the wonders of
the Innocent of Judgment in nature that menstruation starts as a
venereal discharge. If she [the menstruating woman] looks at a light
brass mirror and continues to look at it, you will see in the mirror
red drops as though drops of blood, for the evil nature which harms
will give birth to rebuke and the evil air will infect the mirror”
(Ramban, Leviticus 18:19). We must wonder if the Ramban actually
tried this as a scientific experiment or if he merely copied this
nonsense from the idol-worshipping Romans. (For the whole issue of
superstitions about menstruation see the end of the Hebrew
Encyclopedia entry Veset.)
But the worst of all is in the
book “Yichve Da’at” by our rabbi Rav Ovadiah
Yosef. In part three, section 8 he brings in the name of the
Zohar that menstruating women should not enter the synagogue “for
the impurity of menstruation is very grave until it repulses and
drives out the Divine Spirit in all places where she walks.”
This is a momentous innovation, that menstruation drives out the
Divine Spirit; we should all change the Sabbath Kedusha; from
now on, instead of saying, “His glory fills the world,”
we shall say, “His glory fills part of the world, and in the
other part there are menstruating women.” Where will
superstitions take us?
Come and see how, according to
halacha, menstrual blood does not impurify at all. Blood from a
wound is called, in halacha, “blood of a blow.” According
to halacha, blood of a blow does not lead to menstrual impurity! The
Yorah Deah section 187, halacha 5 wrote, “If there is a wound
in the same place we rely on the blood of the wound” and it
is pure. And what is the difference between blood which flows
because of the disintegrating mucus caused injury and one caused by
the uterine blood vessels?!
And if you say that the Torah
specifically forbade menstrual blood as it is seen once a month in a
regular fashion and therefore is different from an ordinary wound—if
so, why is the sight of blood in a female infant who still has not
ovulated impure (Rambam, Prohibitions on Intercourse, chapter 4)? And
an old woman who has reached menopause and sees blood—why is
she impure (Shulchan Aruch 189, section 30)? Here there is no set
cycle and it is obviously blood from a wound, yet it is not
considered as from a wound, it impurifies. Therefore, the matter
of a set cycle has no importance in halacha and menstrual blood is
not unique. This blood is unique only because of superstitions.
And if you want to know how far
the absurdity of mixing superstition, lack of practical knowledge,
and determination of halacha goes, go to the Mishnah in Niddah,
chapter 3, page 21a, “One who miscarries a sort of living
animal or bird, be it impure or pure, if it is male it will be
considered male and if female, female. The sages say that anything
which has not the form of a human is not an infant.” The
Gemara, page 22b explains Rabbi Meir’s reason, “as it is
said about it, [in the Torah, a word] ‘fabrication’ [is
used], like of a man.” See where the nonsense leads, that if a
woman miscarries a fetus shaped like a crocodile she is not impure
(since it says “And G-d created the crocodiles” with the
language of creation), but had it said “And G-d fabricated the
crocodiles” the rule would have been that even a miscarriage in
the form of a crocodile would have impurified… The Gemarah
concludes on page 23b, “Rabbi Yirmiyah Bar Abba said that Rav
said, “All acknowledge [that had she miscarried] the body of
a goat and the face of a person, it is a person. The body of a person
and the face of a goat is as nothing.” See there the
wonders of Chazal’s imagination on women’s miscarriages.
The Rambam, who was aware of these oddities, wrote in his commentary
on the Mishnah, “Let your mind not be in doubt whether nature
forbids people to birth all the things I have mentioned, forit is
possible, etc.” It appears from his words that he, himself, is
not convinced. Know that all these things are not simple nonsense,
as they touch upon a law of the Torah, the impurity of the new mother
(Leviticus 12:1), “A women who brings forth seed and births a
boy is impure seven days, as the days of her menstrual impurity, etc.
and thirty days and three days she shall sit in the blood of her
purity.” Therefore, according to halacha, if she miscarried
“the body of a goat and the face of a person,” if she saw
blood from the eighth day she is pure, but if she saw “the body
of a person and the face of a goat” and saw blood from the
eighth day she is impure. All this is the body of the law, and
there is no end to the nonsense.
Woe to us for our rabbis in these
days. The spirit of wisdom and understanding is widespread in the
world; G-d wanted to grant Israel merit and gave wisdom to people so
they should well recognize the process of the cycle and the creation
of the fetus. Therefore it would have been appropriate had the
halachic arbiters in our generation learned from scientific and
medical texts instead of learning reality from the Gemarah or
halachic arbiters who lived hundreds of years ago; had they done so
they would not have forbidden what is permitted.
See what Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi
Wozner, rabbi, head of the beit din, and head of the Zichron
Meir-Bnei Brak yeshiva, one of the great halachic arbiters, who
sees sights to distinguish between blood and blood, wrote in his book
“Shiurei Shevet Levi,” authored by his students, in
explaining the build of a woman’s uterus: “And inside of
this, deep, on the side of the back, etc., and it is called the
source for this is the source of the blood, and it is called the room
or uterus; the blood gathers there during approximately a month and
the opening is sealed. At the time of her menstruation the opening of
the cervix opens and the blood exits. In the uterus the fetus is
created and the source of blood is for the purpose of creating the
fetus. Therefore, while creating the fetus the woman does not see
menstrual blood, for then the blood serves the purpose of creating
the fetus.” In only this small paragraph he made three serious
errors which could easily have been researched.
A. The blood does not
gather in the uterus during the month and there is no sealed opening
to stop it. The blood flows when the egg drops and the blood vessels
in the uterine walls tear.
B. The cervix is not
sealed and does not open during menstruation. The opening is always
open 3 millimeters or more.
C. The reason given for
the lack of menstrual blood, that it serves the purposes of creating
the fetus, is utter nonsense. There is no blood because there is no
ovulation. There is no connection between menstrual blood and
pregnancy and the fetus.
And how are we to rely on
Rabbeynu Wozner as a halachic arbiter when he
does not know the reality which is taught to every twelve year old
girl in public school?
And since we are dealing with
Masechet Niddah, we will also cite the words of the Gemara on page
7b, “We do not derive halacha from the Talmud.”
Rashi comments, “We do not derive halacha from Talmud taken
from the Mishnah and Baraita in which halacha was learned according
to so-and-so—we do not derive from that as the last Amoraim
were exact in the reasons of the Tanaim and fully clarified halacha,
but the earlier one were not exact one about another’s words,”
end of quote. For some reason here they do not say that if the
earlier generations were as angels then we are as men, but quite the
opposite.
In Baba Metziah 36b Rashi says
that this Mishnah was learned in the days of Rebbe “Since when
the students of Shammai and Hillel multiplied, etc., from beneath the
burden of the yoke of the authorities and the decrees which were
imposed upon them, and since they could not give attention to clarify
the words of the disputants until the days of Rebbe, etc., until his
day there were not organized tractates, but every student who heard
something from a great studied from him, etc.” From all said
above you, the student who seeks true knowledge, see that not only is
halacha a human creation, but even the transmission from teacher to
student was distorted due to the difficulties of exile. And we,
we have naught but what our eyes see and our intellect knows and our
conscience dictates. We must each test and weigh and decide on each
issue based on true knowledge and the appropriate action, to increase
good in the world, to give respect to others, and to reduce evil and
villainy. Let each look into his inner heart and do.
And you, the reader who seeks truth and knowledge, please contact
us and we will answer to the best of our ability.
POB 1019 KIRYAT TIVON 36015
email: daatemet@netvision.net.il
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