Q&A: The Laws of Niddah
The Laws of Niddah
Question
I recently started learning the laws of niddah, and I ran into problems of mismatch between what the halakhic decisors wrote (both from the Talmud and from the medieval authorities and later authorities) and the medical reality that we know today. So how does one deal with that? I’m not asking from the perspective of the topic of “Torah and science,” but from the halakhic perspective of the laws of niddah. For example, Maimonides (Laws of Forbidden Relations 5:4) claims that the "loop" mentioned in the Talmud is a small opening of the corridor (which is the vagina), and that this loop and what surrounds it have a special halakhic status and all that. But in truth, there is no such opening, as is known today…
Answer
It should say 5:4.
Each case has to be considered on its own merits. If there is a Jewish law that is based on a clear mistake, then in my opinion it is void. If the conception is mistaken but the Jewish law based on it is not necessarily mistaken, then the law remains in force. For example, all the laws of twilight and dawn are based on a mistaken conception of the sun’s path and the shape of the earth (they saw it as a flat plate with thickness). But the laws themselves are not derived from those mistakes, and therefore they are still valid.
Discussion on Answer
I don’t say that. Statements like that were made by me only regarding aggadic literature and the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), etc. In Jewish law there are ways to reach conclusions, even if it is not one-dimensional, and of course there is room for reasoning and argument. There are also positions that are clearly incorrect, even if within the framework there are several positions that could be accepted.
I understand.
Another methodological question:
As you always say, and as one really sees, from the Talmud and the medieval authorities, anyone with a bit of skill can get out of them anything—almost whatever they want to say fits nicely into the Talmud. So if so, how can one arrive at the truth of what the Talmud wanted to teach me? What is the point of this kind of learning if anyone who wants can say whatever they want?