Teaching on the Menstruant

4:3

And they further said: Whoever is careful regarding [ritual] immersion will have sons who will deliver legal rulings in Israel, as thus we find concerning Elisha, who was careful about himself regarding immersion and he [indeed] had a son who delivered rulings in Israel, and who was [that son]? R. Ishmael, son of Elisha, the high priest.

They said about him, Elisha, that he was a wholly righteous person, but his sons would not survive; when they were born, they would immediately die. His wife said to him, “My lord husband, why is it that these wholly righteous people have worthy sons like them, whereas we do not have even one son?” Elisha responded to her, saying, “My daughter, because they themselves practice immersion when they [are about to] ascend to the bed, they immerse and sanctify [both] themselves and their wives.” His wife replied, “My lord, let us do the same as well; we shall [accept] this practice upon ourselves.” Immediately, they accepted upon themselves [the commitment] to purify and sanctify [themselves before sexual relations].

Once she ascended to the place of immersion, to the ritual bath, and she immersed and [then] ascended from the place of the ritual bath, and she saw a pig before her. She [thereupon] returned to the house of immersion and immersed, but when she ascended from there, she saw a camel before her. She returned again to the house of immersion and immersed, and [a similar thing happened]. Thus, she encountered evil mishaps many times [over,] and she did [the same] on each and every occasion that she encountered mishaps, [as] she immersed up to forty times.

After [she had immersed herself] forty times [in a row], the Holy One said to [the angel] Gabriel, “Descend and stand before this righteous woman and let her conceive tonight, as a male child will emerge through [her husband, and this child will be] a wholly righteous person, and his name [will be] R. Ishmael, and in the future he will be high priest before Me.”

At that hour, the angel Gabriel descended and wrapped himself [in fine clothing] and adorned himself like a bridegroom and stood at the entrance to the ritual bath. And from here you learn that a person should adorn himself with fine clothing and [that] he too should immerse [as well as his wife] and purify himself in lukewarm water when [the couple] are [about to] ascend to the [marital] bed. And when his wife ascends from the house of immersion, he should walk opposite her, before her, at that hour.

And [to return to the story,] when Gabriel stood at the entrance to the ritual bath, he appeared to her like her husband Elisha, and she saw him and went home and conceived that night R. Ishmael the high priest. And when R. Ishmael was born, he had the appearance of the angel Gabriel, and Gabriel served as sandak [the person who holds the baby on his lap during a circumcision ceremony] for R. Ishmael. And [later in life,] whenever [R. Ishmael] wanted to ascend to the skies he would enunciate the Name [of God], and he would ascend, and Gabriel would tell him all that he wanted. Furthermore, [Gabriel] showed him all the treasuries of salvations and comforts, all that will be [brought] upon Israel in the future. [ . . . ]

And you can learn similarly from [the stories of] R. Giddel and R. Yoḥanan, who would sit by the gates of the [women’s] immersion [places; R. Giddel in order to advise them on how to perform the immersion properly, R. Yoḥanan so that the women would look at him and bear sons as beautiful as he was; see b. Berakhot 20a].

Nevertheless, a woman must be careful regarding herself. When? When she immerses, if she returns and encounters a dog, [then] if the fear of heaven is upon her she will not let her husband have relations with her that night, so that her sons will not be ugly, with doglike faces, unless she returns and immerses a second time. And if, [when] she returns, she encounters a donkey, she does not have permission to come and have relations with her husband, so that her sons will not be foolish, unless she returns and immerses a third time. And if she encounters an ignoramus, she is forbidden to have relations with her husband that night, unless she returns and immerses. But if [when] she returns she encounters a horse, she may ascend [to the marital bed] and have relations [with her husband].

These are the ones whose sons are like a dog: Those who walk in the marketplace while eating, and their spittle drools onto their beards [so that] their tongues stop speaking. If you see a man who [acts] in this manner, know that [this is because of what happened before he was born, that] when his mother immersed and she returned from [the ritual bath], she encountered a dog.

And those whose sons are like a donkey, [they are men] whose hearts are foolish, and they do not learn Torah. They [also] lack [respectability] in their walking. If you see a man who [acts] in this manner, know that when his mother immersed and returned from [the ritual bath], she encountered a donkey.

And those whose sons speak but do not speak pleasantly; who learn but forget what they have learned, and who dawdle when they walk along the way and everybody laughs [at them]; if you see a man who [acts] in this manner, know that when his mother immersed and returned from [the ritual bath], she encountered an ignoramus.

And if she encountered a horse, her sons will walk in a pleasant manner, speak pleasantly, listen [to their teachers] and analyze [their studies on their own, and] they will learn [both] Torah and Mishnah. Furthermore, people will be in awe of them. If you see a man [who is] whole in his ways, who walks with his head bowed, whose words are readily heard when he speaks, know that when his mother immersed and returned from [the ritual bath], she encountered a horse.

If you see a lad who twists his tongue [and repeatedly] turns one hand over into the other, know that when his father was engaged in relations with his mother and kissed her, spittle came out of her husband’s mouth.

Those [women] who join with their husbands [in intercourse] but are not careful about their menstruation, [they] will ultimately be stricken with leprosy, and the man with [them].

A woman who said to her husband, when she lay with him at night, “I am impure,” is required to examine herself. And with what? He should take a flint of blue eye shadow—some say that this is [what is called] tutsi’ah—and insert it into her “mouth,” and [then] remove it and fold it [away] until the morning. [Upon examination in the morning,] if he sees [that] it emits sparks of fire, she is a menstruating woman, and if not, she is not a menstruating woman.

And any [man] who is not careful with himself about [avoiding improper relations] with [his wife], ultimately both she and he will be stricken with leprosy.

One who has relations with his wife, and he is haughty and his heart thinks about another woman, or [if] she [thinks] of another man, and his wife conceives that night, the child will ultimately be stricken with three blemishes, and they are as follows: [He will be] dumb, blind, and deaf. [ . . . ] And this is one of the sins [about] which the verse states: Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, etc. (Exodus 34:7). And even though it does not state [this] about women [as the verse mentions only fathers, not mothers], they are also included [in those who commit] iniquities, if they sin [in this area], as they cannot bear children without a man.