The Mishnah says, in Masechet Eduyot, Perek Dalet (Chapter four), Mishnah Yud, that this Mishnah brings four different machlokot (dispute) between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, on four different topics. Ha-madir et ishto mi-tashmish ha-mitah: If a man makes a swear that prevents his wife from having relations with him, he cannot make a vow saying that the enjoyment of intimacy with him is forbidden to her. A man cannot do that to his wife, because his wife is entitled to intimacy, as stated in the ketubah (marriage contract) that he signs: he has to give her intimacy. Therefore, that type of vow would never take effect. What he could say is that he will not engage in intimacy, and, by extension, his wife automatically cannot have intimacy, because he is the only person she could be with. Therefore, if a person makes that type of vow, Beit Shammai omrim shetei shabbatot. Beit Shammai say? The limit to that type of vow... The vow is two weeks. We’ll elaborate on what that means. Beit Hillel omrim Shabbat achat. Beit Hillel say? One-week limit. If a person makes this type of vow and it goes beyond this time—two weeks according to Beit Shammai, one week according to Beit Hillel—and the husband does not find a way to get out of the vow through hatarat nedarim (annulment of vows), or in some other way, then the wife can demand a divorce with a ketubah. If this refraining lasts forever—or at least a week or more: two weeks according to Beit Shammai and one week according to Beit Hillel—then, if it lasts more than that amount of time, she could demand a divorce and collect the ketubah. But if the period he swears for is shorter than that, she cannot demand a divorce, because a woman is entitled to relations at least once or twice a week, depending on which side, Beit Shammai or Beit Hillel, one follows. So he would not be violating his obligation to her. If it’s... in a shorter amount of time.
The next machloket will be about a woman who gives birth or has a miscarriage. In the din ha-Torah (Torah law) and the laws of the Mishnah, after a woman gives birth or has a miscarriage, she has days of tum'ah, when she is not allowed to have marital relations on a de'oraita level. After that, there are yemei tahara, days of purity, when, on a Torah level, on a biblical level, the woman is allowed to have relations even if she sees blood. The number of days depends on whether the child is a boy or a girl. If the child she had was a boy, the tameh (impure) period would be seven days, and the tahor (pure) period that follows would be 33 days. If it was a girl, the tameh period would be 14 days, and the tahor period would be 66 days. After that tahor period is finished, they bring korbanot (offerings). When dealing with a girl, during the tahor period, when relations are biblically allowed—which is 66 days—it is possible, technically, that after she gives birth, she goes through those 14 days of tum'ah, and then the 66 days of tahara, and that within those 66 days she could conceive and then miscarry a child. That fetus would have to be at least 40 days old to be viable. During that tahor period, she could conceive and then miscarry, all within those 66 days. If that happened, she would not have to bring a second set of korbanot. The korbanot she brings at the end of the tahara period for the first birth would also accomplish what she needs for the second one. But if the miscarriage happens after the tahor period, then a second set of korbanot would be needed. Here we’ll talk about a miscarriage that took place right at the midpoint between them, on the night of the 81st day. The 80th day had just finished. She miscarried during the night, which is night 81. What happens in that situation? Does she have to bring a second set of korbanot after she brings the first one for the first birth, or does one set of korbanot accomplish everything for both the first birth and the miscarriage here? The woman has a miscarriage during the night of the 81st day. Say Beit Shammai: she is only obligated to bring one set of korbanot. She’s patur. She’s peturah. She’s not obligated to bring a second set of korbanot. Even in this case, the korbanot she is bringing for the first birth are considered valid for the second one as well. Since she had a miscarriage before she was allowed to bring the korban, even though the 80 days are over, she cannot bring the korban until the next morning, and she miscarried the night before. So it was not possible for her to bring the korbanot. Therefore, since she has not brought the korbanot yet, it is as if she is within the tahor period and does not have to bring a new set of korbanot. Beit Hillel say no. She is obligated to bring a second set of korbanot. The miscarriage took place after the tahor period ended. Therefore, the korban she is bringing for the first birth would not cover it.
Now we’ll talk about the third machloket, which is about tzitzit (ritual fringes). The tzitzit that we connect to our shirts have a string of techelet—blue dye—on them, made from the chilazon (sea snail). The blue threads of techelet have to be made from wool. If the beged, the garment itself, is linen, wearing tzitzit would technically violate the laws of sha'atnez, wearing wool and linen together. But we say that the de'oraita mitzvah (commandment) of wearing techelet would override that prohibition, that issur. So wearing a linen garment would obligate a person to put wool strings on it. Here we’ll see how chachamim treat this situation. Sadin be-tzitzit. If you have a linen beged, a linen shirt with the mitzvah of tzitzit. Beit Shammai potrin. Beit Shammai say that it is exempt from the mitzvah. You’re forbidden to put techelet onto a linen shirt, and there’s no mitzvah whatsoever. So, since there’s no mitzvah, if you do it, then you’re wearing sha'atnez. According to Beit Shammai, the rabbis made a decree that you’re not allowed to put tzitzit onto a linen garment because they were concerned that somebody would wear that shirt at nighttime. At nighttime, there’s no obligation to wear tzitzit. Therefore, the person is not really accomplishing a mitzvah. If he is not accomplishing a mitzvah, he is wearing wool and linen together during the nighttime and therefore violating the prohibition, the issur of sha'atnez. Beit Hillel mechayvin. Beit Hillel say no. If you’re wearing a linen shirt, you’re obligated in the mitzvah of tzitzit, because they say that the rabbis never made a decree against this.
The fourth machloket will be about tevel. If you have produce that was grown in Eretz Yisrael, you have to take out the terumot ma'asrot (tithes and offerings). If you didn’t, the produce is called tevel. Tevel is assur. It’s forbidden to be eaten on a de’oraita level. But produce does not become tevel until the owner actually becomes obligated to take the terumot ma'asrot. Before that point, they’re allowed to have a little bit of it as a snack. They’re allowed to pick at it and have a little bit, but only until the point when we say that the produce becomes obligated in terumot ma'asrot. One way to obligate produce in terumot ma'asrot, after which you wouldn’t be allowed to pick at it or snack from it anymore, is for Shabbat to come. In other words, if the produce had the gemar melacha—it was fully processed—and then it had a Shabbat, it reached its first Shabbat after the gemar melacha. We say that once the produce reaches Shabbat, since all eating on Shabbat is a mitzvah, it is all enjoyment. Every type of snack is considered a significant type of eating. Therefore, once it is Shabbat, you’re automatically not allowed to snack from it anymore, because it is considered significant eating, unless you took terumot ma'asrot first. The Mishnah is going to say: What if a person took food on a weekday and designated it specifically for eating on Shabbat? Does that designation alone make it obligated in terumot ma'asrot, so that I wouldn’t be allowed to snack on it anymore even before Shabbat begins? If a person has a basket of fruit that he designated to be eaten on Shabbat, Beit Shammai potrin. Beit Shammai say that it does not become obligated in terumot ma'asrot until Shabbat starts. Therefore, a person would be allowed to continue snacking from that basket before Shabbat without separating terumot ma'asrot. Beit Hillel say no. The basket is obligated in terumot ma'asrot immediately, as soon as it is designated, even before Shabbat starts. Therefore, you’re not allowed to eat from it at all unless you took terumot ma'asrot beforehand. Say Beit Hillel: once a person designates food for Shabbat, he is not going to change his mind and use it for a different reason. Therefore, the fact that he designated it would be enough to consider the food on the level of Shabbat, and it would therefore be obligated in terumot ma'asrot again even before Shabbat started.