Study Megillah folio 20B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
and counting can only be done during the day and not at night, as it says: “And she shall count for herself 7 days” (Leviticus 15:28), she cannot immerse herself until after sunrise, although here she has to count only one day.
§ The Mishnah concludes: And with regard to all these things, if one did them after daybreak they are valid. The Talmud asks: From where is this matter derived, that from daybreak it is already considered daytime? Rava said: As the verse states: “And God called the light [or] day” (Genesis 1:5), me
The Talmud raises a difficulty with this interpretation: However, if it is so that Rava’s interpretation of this phrase is correct, the following phrase: “And the darkness [ḥoshekh] He called night” (Genesis 1:5), should be interpreted in a similar fashion: That which was becoming darker and darker
Rather, R' Zeira said: We derive this halakha from here, as it is stated: “So we labored in the work; and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared” (Nehemiah 4:15), where “rising of the morning” means daybreak, and the next verse states: “So that in the n
The Talmud clarifies R' Zeira’s statement: What need is there for the additional verse introduced by the words “and it states”? Why does the first proof-text not suffice? The Talmud explains: The second verse comes to deflect the following possible objection: You might say that even after “the risi