Q&A: Blood in Urine
Blood in Urine
Question
In section 191, the Tur and Shulchan Arukh bring the tannaitic discussions and the detailed laws regarding someone who saw blood in her urine, with the entire discussion based on the doubt that perhaps the urine accumulated and rose up to the source, and brought menstrual blood with it. According to current medical knowledge, it is clear that the reality is different, and the concern that blood in urine comes from the source is very remote, to the point of practically non-existent. Is it possible to permit without hesitation a woman who sees blood in her urine?
Answer
I’m not familiar with the medical reality. But if it’s as you describe, then it seems to me that yes. Why not?
Discussion on Answer
How is this different from the previous question?
Here the issue is being more stringent than they were.
So that’s even better. Clearly there is no problem at all with doing that.
On that same topic, in the Gemara (Niddah 22b) there is an incident involving a woman who was miscarrying something like red shells, and they came and asked Abba, and Abba asked the sages, and the sages asked the doctors, and they told them: this woman has a wound inside her intestines from which she is discharging something like red shells.
Would it follow today, if according to medicine we know that something like shells could also come out from menstrual blood, that we would need to be stringent and declare a woman impure in such a case?