יְלַמְּדֵנוּ רַבֵּנוּ, עַל כַּמָּה עֲבֵרוֹת נָשִׁים מֵתוֹת בִּשְׁעַת לֵדָתָן. כָּךְ שָׁנוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ, עַל שָׁלֹש עֲבֵרוֹת וְכוּ', וּשְׁלָשְׁתָּן מִן הַתּוֹרָה. [These are the generations of Noah (Gen. 6:9).] May it please our master to instruct us concerning the number of transgressions for which women die during childbirth. Thus have our masters taught us: Women die during childbirth for failure to observe three duties decreed in the Torah.
נִדָּה, דִּכְתִיב: וְאִשָּׁה כִּי יָזוּב (ויקרא טו, כה). חַלָּה, רֵאשִׁית עֲרִסֹתֵכֶם (במדבר טו, כ). הַדְלָקַת הַנֵּר, דִּכְתִיב: וְקָרָאתָ לַשַּׁבָּת עֹנֶג (ישעיה נח, יג), זוֹ הַדְלָקַת הַנֵּר בַּשַּׁבָּת. וְאִם תֹּאמַר לֵישֵׁב בַּחֹשֶׁךְ, אֵין זֶה עֹנֶג, שֶׁאֵין יוֹרְדֵי גֵיהִנָּם נִדּוֹנִין אֶלָּא בַחֹשֶׁךְ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: אֶרֶץ עֵפָתָה כְּמוֹ אֹפֶל (איוב י, כב). These are: The duty with regard to menstruation,1A woman must remain apart from her husband during her menstrual period. for it is written: And if a woman have an issue of her blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days (Lev. 15:25); the duty of the levy of dough,2A portion of the dough, removed before baking bread, that is dedicated to God. During the Temple period it was given to the priest, but after the destruction of the Temple it was burned. for it is written: Of the first of your dough ye shall set apart a cake for a gift (Num. 15:20); and the duty of lighting the Sabbath lights, for it is written: And call the Sabbath a delight (Isa. 58:13). If one chooses to sit in darkness, the Sabbath would not then be a delight, since darkness is imposed upon those condemned to Gehenna,3Hell. One of the seven things formed two thousand years before creation. as it says: A land of thick darkness, as darkness itself (Job 10:22).
וּמָה רָאוּ נָשִׁים לְהִצְטַוּוֹת עַל שָׁלֹשׁ מִצְוֹת הָאֵלּוּ? אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן תְּחִלַּת בְּרִיּוֹתַי הָיָה וְנִצְטַוָּה עַל עֵץ הַדַּעַת. וּכְתִיב בְּחַוָּה, וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה וְגוֹ' וַתִּתֵּן גַּם לְאִישָׁהּ עִמָּהּ וַיֹּאכַל (בראשית ג, ו), וְגָרְמָה לוֹ מִיתָה וְשָׁפְכָה אֶת דָּמוֹ. וּכְתִיב בַּתּוֹרָה, שֹׁפֵךְ דַּם הָאָדָם בָּאָדָם דָּמוֹ יִשָּׁפֵךְ (בראשית ט, ו). תִּשְׁפֹּךְ דָּמָהּ וְתִשְׁמֹר נִדָּתָהּ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּתְכַּפֵּר לָהּ עַל דַּם הָאָדָם שֶׁשָּׁפְכָה. Why were women enjoined to perform these three duties? The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Adam, the first of My creatures, was commanded not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, yet concerning Eve, it is written: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food … she gave also unto her husband with her and did eat (Gen. 3:6). In that way she brought about his death and, as it were, shed his blood, and the law prescribes: Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. 9:6). That is why woman’s blood is made to flow. She is required to abstain from sexual relations during menstruation to atone for the blood of Adam that she was responsible for shedding.
מִצְוַת חַלָּה מִנַּיִן, הִיא טִמְּאָה חַלָּתוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, דְּאָמַר רַבִּי יוֹסִי בֶן דֻּמְסְקָא, כְּשֵׁם שֶׁהָאִשָּׁה מְקַשְׁקֶשֶׁת עִסָּתָהּ בַּמַּיִם וְאַחַר כָּךְ הִיא מַגְבַּהַת חַלָּתָהּ, כָּךְ עָשָׂה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְאָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, דִּכְתִיב: וְאֵד יַעֲלֶה מִן הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁקָה (בראשית ב, ו), וְאַחַר כָּךְ, וַיִּיצֶר ה' אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאָדָם עָפָר וְגוֹ' (בראשית פסוק ז). Why were women assigned the commandment to remove the levy of dough? It was because she (Eve) defiled the sanctified dough of His world, namely, Adam. R. Yosé the son of R. Kazrata declared: Just as a housewife slaps her dough with water and then takes off its levy, so the Holy One, blessed be He, did with Adam, as it is written: And there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the earth (Gen. 2:6), and Then the Lord God formed man of the dust (ibid., v. 7).
הַדְלָקַת הַנֵּר מִנַּיִן, הִיא כִבְּתָה נֵרוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם, דִּכְתִיב: נֵר ה' נִשְׁמַת אָדָם (משלי כ, כז), לְפִיכָךְ תִּשְׁמֹר הַדְלָקַת הַנֵּר. Why is a woman charged with the duty of lighting the Sabbath lights? It was she (Eve) who extinguished the light of Adam by causing his death, as it is written: The spirit of man is the light of the Lord (Prov. 20:27). Therefore she is obliged to observe the commandment to light the Sabbath lights.