Daf Hashavua - Nedarim 40b

Okay, we have a very interesting topic today. We're continuing in da we are learning. Today we're going to talk about we're going to learn about going to the mikvah in river water. What would the issue be? Well, there is two kinds of mikvah. There's a natural spring and then there's a still body of water or rainwater. Rainwater is kosher to be maher is kosher as a mikvah provided that it's still it's but if it's and if it's flowing it's not spring water is that's the fundamental difference between natural water and gathered water. Gathered water is only metahare in still water. Natural water is even matahare in flowing water. The question is a river after the rain if it's majority rain it's a problem because the water is moving. Unless you say somehow that even though there is a lot of rain maybe there's even more natural water. That's going to be the subject of our topic today and it's actually relevant to the para because we're going to talk about the Euphrates River that begins in the northeast of Israel and goes southwest to Bavl. So on the bot by the bottom of the river in Bavl maybe they could tell by the swelling of the river what happened in terms of the weather in Israel. Maybe if it swells in b they know it rained in Israel. This week's para calls al- nah nahar the great river the Euphrates. Rashi says why is it called the great river? Rashi says because it is associated with Israel. Okay. Raven were three lines from the bottom of Raven. Send the name of Rav Mitra. If it rains in the west in Aritz is sada. If it rains in Israel, how do you know if it rains in Aritz is sad? The great witness is the Euphrates River. The great evidence. The great testimony to rain in Israel is the is the Euphrates River because if the Euphrates River swells then you know it must have rained in Israel says the ran when the rain falls in the Euphrates testifies in Babu. If it if it gets big, it is known. It's known that even though the rain didn't fall here, the rain must have fallen in. What of what relevance is it? If it rained in, you would not be allowed to be because the rainwater that drips is not mah if it flows. Rainwater meim is not if it flows only if it's stationary. If it gathers and it stands like we learned in rice in the if a spring is I would think a mikvah is also a is with flowing water. A mikvah is only mat with still water. Therefore, whenever there's a concern, maybe the rain water is more than the flowing water you can't go to the mikvah because if there's that because of the rainy season, the majority of the water in the river is rainwater. Well, you can't be matar in it. The the the river is moving. You can only be matar in a river if it's mostly spring water. Spring water is matar if it's flowing. Rain water is not matar if it's flowing. But if the river is going according to its slow pace, so you know there's no rain water in it, it didn't speed up or if it only let's say increased minimally, you're not there's no doubt that it's majority rainwater then it's permitted like we learned in rebel rebel testified alab that if the flowing water is more than the rain water. So if you know that there's no rain water or minimal rain water then it would be okay. So that's the opinion of Raven in the name of Rav that the rain rain in Israel the great witness is the Euphrates river. However, says this disagrees with says it's irrelevant if it rained in why says that a river from its stone from its bedrock it is blessed. Meaning even though it rains but the majority of the water comes from the underground spring. So even though the the river is stronger in the rainy season but it's not from the rain necessarily or only it's majority from the underground water springs says means from it stone it gets bigger from its source even though we see that when the rain falls The rivers get bigger. Their main increasing is from their source. There is no drop that comes down from above. that the deep waters do not go up toward it to meaning every of water that comes from above the underground waters send two. So the spring water will always be more than the rain water because every drop that falls two drops come up for every of rain are two of a spring. Therefore, says you could always bathe in a river, even if the eye sees that it's uh it got much bigger from the rain. Rab says you can't bathe in a river in the rainy season. It's mostly rainwater and you can't bathe in rain water when the water's moving. Says it's not mostly rain water. Every drop that comes from the rain, two drops come from below. That's opinion. The only thing is there's a contradiction in himself. This statement argues on a different statement of you can't bear in flowing water only the Euphrates in the days of tish. What does this mean? How does this show that we're worried about the majority rainwater? said the according to we have to be concerned for majority rainwater. Why? Because he says you can only be mitaher in the Euphrates in Tish. Why? Because earlier in the year it's the rainy season and in the rainy season you have to be concerned for the majority rain. During is not the rainy season and it's also not the time of the melting snow. It's not the time of the melting snow. was not coming to prohibit all rivers besides the press. He's also not prohibiting the press the whole year. He he in the in the days of tish in the days of he's coming. What does this mean? The whole concern of is Maybe the rain water is more than the flowing water. As long as we are proficient in the Euphrates River during how much it swelled and likewise in other rivers and we know that it never gets less than this. Even if it gets very dry, as long as we see this minimal, we don't have to be concerned. So this means that we need to to know in order to allow you to be in a river according to we need to know two things. It has to be like the Euphrates that it never dries out. And number two, even if you know it never dries out, then it has to be that you can only be toil in it during tish. That means you need to know it has to be like the Euphrates in one of two ways. Number one, that it never dries out. And it meaning it has to be similar to your fetus in two ways. It never dries out. And if you don't know what its lowest level is, you'd only be able to be in the river during tish. So let's explain what this means. is teaching me two. Number one, a river that would sometimes completely dry out. You're never allowed to be on them. A river that sometimes dries out, you can never be on them. Since sometimes they dry out, we're always worried that maybe it's majority rain or or melting snow. Water that will sometimes dry up. The following waters will sometimes dry out. Shàu one that dries out once every seven years or a river that would dry out during war when a lot of soldiers congregate there. meaning if it dries out during war or during famine. That's if it dries out for no reason. Even if it only dries out at distant times, then it's because then we have to be concerned that it's rainwater. And it's not with flowing water only with still water. But if it dries out because of a reason, let's say there's a war of a famine. Therefore, the only kind of river that you could be while it's moving is like the pros that never dries out. The reason why it says the Euphrates is to exclude rivers that dry out. It means Euphrates or the like. So number one, in order to be in a mikvah according to the statement of the in order to be in a river, it has to be river that never dries out. If it's a river that never that dries out, we have to be concerned it's majority rain water. That's not like the statement of the first that we never have to be concerned for majority rainwater because every drop that comes down from above, two drops come up from below. This statement is concerned that it's majority rainwater if it's a river that sometimes dries out. The second criteria that says it's also saying the light that doesn't dry out even if it never dries out you can't be if you're not familiar with this river you can't beam only during why because during ano It's not a time of rain and it's not a time of melting snow. So even in a river like the Euphrates that never dries out, you can only be there when it's not the rainy season and it's not the melting snow season. Therefore, even if you're not a Bucky, you don't have to be concerned during if you are a Bucky or in a different river the whole year. If you see that it's not more swelled than in tish you know it's not the rain and it's not the snow so that you don't have to be concerned for majority rain water you could be the whole year. So saying two things number one it has to be a river that never dries. If it dries, you always have to be concerned it's mostly rainwater. And even if it doesn't dry, if you're not a bucky in it, you can only be and but if you are a bucky and you see that during the rest of the year it's not more than tish, it's okay. But the truth is even in if it's so big that you could be concerned that it's majority rainwater but you can't be even in. So it's really not dependent on tish. It's just in tish you could assume that it's not majority rain water. The rest of the year you would have to assume it is majority rain water unless you know for sure it's not. Someone who's not familiar even with rivers that don't try out you have to be concerned the whole year for its swelling. I saw those who wrote other a different way. So basically we have a contradiction in statement in the first statement of we're never worried for a majority rain because every drop that comes down from above two drops come up from from below. But then there's a second statement of of that says if you want to use a river it ask river that never dries up and even a river that never dries up only in tish unless you're a baky that during the rest of the year it's not majority rain water au the father of >> so it's still a steer >> so it's a stra it's a contradiction it's a straightup contradiction Now many rein say that we have to be concerned for rav and one of the statements of that in a river it's majority rainwater and the rama paskins this way where where you don't have a mikvah you could be that we never have to be concerned it's majority rainwater In a river, a lake might be a different story in a river. Okay. So, holds like the first statement of other go like in the second statement of the father of made a mikvah for his daughters during because in Nissan you have to be concerned for majority rainwater. And what about in tish? He made mats for his daughters in Tish. He let them use the river, but the river floor is muddy. So he made mats for them so that they could stand on it and not get mud in their toes, says the he was worried about melting snow. He didn't allow them to be tyal in flowing water during he made mats in the river he would put under their feet because of the mud so that it should not be an interposition or maybe he did it just for let them be in the river because during There is no concern for when he said that he let that he made them means certainly during the rainy season. So the round says I don't like this is not pleasing to me. It should have said he made a mikvah for his daughter the whole year and mats during tish. meaning H. So let's see this again that he made for his daughters the whole year in the autumn they wouldn't be because of the cold only in the mik their house and during Nissan where it's pleasant. They would want to be on the rivers, but it was mostly rainwater. During they didn't need the mikvvice. Therefore, he would make the mats they would go to be indoors. So basically there's noic distinction just Iran says the mikvo that made the father only made these mikvo in Nissan because until then they didn't want to go outside. It was cold so they had mikvah indoors. But when they went outside and they wanted to enjoy the outdoors and they wanted to use the river then the father made outdoor mikvah for them. The only distinction the is making is not that the father made mikv the whole year because says they made he made mikvah during nissan during nissan he made outdoor mikv because that's when they would go outdoors. Okay. So let's finish the the once we mention mats we're going to discuss avu of this is a ava that hashem tells to prepare for himself certain of you son of man clay make for yourselves the vessels of gis. This is referring to a candle or a narrow lamp and a bowl and a mat. What do you do with a mat? The ran says a mat to eat on it and we'll pick it up here next week. Okay, have a good day. A jacuzzi. What? >> You have a mikvah that's a jacuzzi >> for a woman or a man? >> Yes or woman? I don't know. >> Not really. I mean, if it's rainwater and and >> Yeah, it's rain water. >> It's rainwater and somehow it's heated up without a clay. I guess if it's heated up without some kind of >> No, no, I'm saying like it's a it's like moving water. >> Oh, is that considered moving? Yeah. >> Is bubbling considered moving? >> Yeah. >> I'm not sure. I don't know if that's consumed. I'm not sure. >> Okay. >> Okay. Good night. >> Okay. Have a good night. So good.