Siman - Shabbos Daf 136
- A newborn less than thirty days old
It was taught in a Baraisa on Daf 135b that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says that any human newborn that survives for thirty days is not suspected of being a נפל, (a non-viable child), as the passuk states regarding the mitzvah of redeeming a bechor, ופדויו מבן חדש תפדה – those [that are to be] redeemed, you shall redeem from the age of a month. The Gemara questions this ruling since this implies that we doubt the viability of a child less than thirty days old, and if so, we should be prohibited from performing a milah on Shabbos for fear that the newborn might be a נפל, which does not have a mitzvah of milah?
Rav Adda bar Ahavah answered that Shabbos is not violated no matter what status we give the child. אם חיי הוא שפיר קא מהיל – If he is a viable child, then it was proper to have the milah on Shabbos. ואם לאו מחתך בבשר הוא – if it is not, one is merely cutting meat when he circumcises it, which does not violate Shabbos.
- A woman who becomes mekudeshes after newborn’s death
If an infant, who was the sole surviving child of his dead father, died within thirty days of his birth, Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel would say that we are concerned that the newborn was a נפל, and therefore it is a possibility that his wife had no children from the deceased husband, and she cannot get married until she does yibum or chalitzah.
The Gemara asks, what if this baby’s mother went ahead and became mekudeshes (betrothed) to a man, even though she was not allowed to as the baby might have been a נפל. Ravina said in the name of Rava: if she was mekudeshes to a Yisroel, who is permitted to marry a woman who has undergone chalitzah, then we tell her to now do chalitzah. However, if she was mekudeshes to a Kohen, who mid’Rabbonon is not permitted to marry a chalutzah, we do not make her undergo chalitzah, because then she would become forbidden to her husband. Rashi explains that in the case of the Kohen, we rely on the opinion of the Rabbonon who disagree with Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, and do not question the viability of a newborn less than thirty days old.
Rav Shervya in the name of Rava said that in both cases the woman must undergo chalitzah, since the halacha follows Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel.
- An androgynous is not a זכר ודאי
A machlokes was introduced in the Mishnah on Daf 134b whether one performs milah for an androgynous on Shabbos. The Rabbonon forbid it and Rebbe Yehudah permits it because he holds that an androgynous is a male.
Rav Shizvi said in the name of Rav Chisda that Rebbe Yehudah does not consider an androgynous a definite male in all cases, for it was taught in a Baraisa in the Sifra (a collection of Baraisos on Sefer Vayikra), that only a זכר ודאי ונקבה ודאית, a definite male and a definite female, bring an erech vow, not a tumtum or androgynous, and סתם ספרא רבי יהודה, an anonymous Baraisa in the Sifra reflects the view of Rebbe Yehudah.
