daf bit: Niddah 9

[cellio]

The daf-yomi cycle has arrived at tractate Niddah, which is about what I will refer to as "private woman stuff". I'll pull things from here where I can, but you should expect some tangents over the next couple months when that doesn't work out. Today's daf is Niddah 10; I'm drawing from yesterday's.

Some laws apply only to women of certain ages. The talmud therefore needs to define these various age groups. Who is an "old woman"? The mishna says "any woman over whom three onahs have passed near the time of her old age". (An onah is approximately a month.) Well, that sounds kind of circular, doesn't it? The g'mara expounds: Rav Yehudah says "the time of her old age" is when her friends speak of her as an old woman, and R. Shimon says it is when people call her mother in her presence and she does not blush. R. Zera or R. Shmuel ben Yitzchak says it is when she is called mother and does not mind. What is the practical difference? One might blush but not mind. (9a-b)

Where other age-based rules are sometimes more fixed, it's interesting to see one that is so dependent on social context. You're old when your friends say you're old or when you don't mind being called mother. (Old women who are not mothers are not addressed by this blushing/minding standard.)

Comments

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

A tangent on "how old is 'old'?":

Since I just turned 40, I've been thinking about the standard "over the hill" joke.
I don't like that joke, and I was thankful that no one used that joke at my birthday celebration.
But I got one card that cracked me up: "Welcome to the 'one candle is enough, thanks' years."

[cellio]

What a great card!

I do not believe that 40 is over the hill. Heck, I don't believe that 50 is over the hill either! (She says, being closer to 50 than 40...)

The rabbis don't make anything of it here, but I couldn't help noticing that the declaration of "old" depends on what your friends say and not just random people. They didn't mean it this way, most likely, but I figure our friends know we're young at hear. :-)