Leviticus 12:2 - On menstruation

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation.)

The meaning of this combination of the terms נִדָּה (a noun) and דְּוֹת (a verbal infinitive; classically called an infinitive construct) is unclear, for the latter verb occurs only here. It falls within the scope of a gender study because of what their rendering conveys about the valence in which women are viewed.

In the present context, the focus is on ritual impurity. I presume that the audience would have construed the expression in question in those terms.

Some commentators believe that דְּוֹת refers simply to the flow of blood itself. Others opine that it refers here to the state of reduced vitality that typically accompanies the menstrual flow.

Supporting the idea that דְּוֹת refers to the flow of blood are the following authorities: Rashi’s second alternative; Saadiah at 20:18 (although here at 12:2 he sees it in terms of separation); Judith Antonelli; and Prof. Carol Meyers’ inclination (pers. comm. 2004).

Meanwhile, supporting the idea that דְּוֹת means reduced vitality, on the basis of a related term in the Bible and in cognate languages that means “illness”: Rashi’s first alternative; Ibn Ezra; Nahmanides; BDB; Baruch Levine (whom Robert Alter apparently follows: “unwellness”); and Howard Eilberg-Schwartz’s The Savage in Judaism, 180–181.

As for translation into English, the NJPS rendering “her menstrual infirmity” focuses on the idea of unwellness, which seems to be an unduly narrow view. Happily, the English term “condition” can carry both the sense of “a state of being” (the flow of blood) and the sense of less than full health (as in “a heart condition”). Incorporating it into the revised rendering allows for both possibilities. This rendering is based on a suggestion by Prof. Susan Niditch (pers. comm. 2004).