How long can [a woman’s] labor last? R’ Meir says: Even forty or fifty days. R’ Yehudah says: Her month [of childbirth] is sufficient for her. R’ Yose and R’ Shimon say: There is no labor for more than two weeks.

[Concerning a woman who bleeds] in labor within eighty [days] of a female [birth], any blood that she discharges is tahor un-til the child is born. But R’ Eliezer declares it tamei. They said to R’ Eliezer: If even in a case where [the Torah] was stringent regarding blood [discharged during a period] of relief, it was lenient regarding the blood [discharged] in labor, [then] in a case where [the Torah] was lenient regarding blood [discharged during a period] of relief, is it not logical that we must be le-nient regarding the blood [discharged] in labor? [R’ Eliezer] replied: It is sufficient for the derived law to be [the same] as the source law: From what [tumah] did [the Torah] spare her? [It is] from the tumah of zivah, but she is tamei as a niddah.

[Throughout] all [the] eleven days [of potential zivah] [a woman] is presumed to be tahor. If she sat and did not examine herself, [whether it was] inadvertently, by mishap or deliberately that she failed to examine herself, she is tahor. [If] the time for her fixed period arrived and she did not examine herself, she is tamei. R’ Meir says: If she was in a hiding place and the time for her fixed period arrived and she did not examine herself, she is tahor, because terror suspends the [discharge of] bloods. However, [during] the days of a zav, a zavah and one who is observing a day [free of discharge] against the day [on which she discharged blood], they are presumed to be tamei.

[Concerning a child] who emerges [from its mother] through the [abdominal] wall, [the mother] does not observe on its ac-count the days of tumah and the days of taharah, and is not liable on its account to an offering. [But] R’ Shimon says: This [child] is like a [naturally] born child.  All women become contaminated [once their contaminating flow is] in the “outer room,” for it is stated: her discharge from her flesh being blood. But a zav and one who emitted semen do not become con-taminated until their tumah exits to the outside [of their bodies].

If [a Kohen] was eating terumah and he felt that his limbs were trembling, he grasps the male organ and he swallows the te-rumah.  [These discharges] contaminate in any amount, even [an amount] equal to a mustard seed and [even an amount] less than that.

An infant girl who is 1 day old can become tamei by [discharging] niddah [blood]. A girl who is 10 days old can become tamei by [discharging] zivah [blood].  An infant boy who is 1 day old can become tamei by [emitting] zivah [fluid]. [Further-more,] he can become tamei by [contracting] tzaraas afflictions; he can become tamei from a corpse; he binds for yibum and he releases from yibum; he causes [others] to eat terumah and he disqualifies [others] from [eating] terumah; he inherits and bequeaths; one who kills him is liable; and he is to his father, his mother, and all his relatives like a full-fledged bride-groom.

A girl who is 3 years and 1 day old can be betrothed through cohabitation, and if [her] yavam cohabits with her, he acquires her. [Furthermore,] one is liable on account of her for [committing adultery with] a married woman; she causes one who cohabits with her to become tamei to [the degree that he will] render a bottom couch [as] tamei as that which is on top; [if] she is fully married to a Kohen, she may eat terumah; [if] one of the disqualified men cohabits with her, he disqualifies her from the Kehunah; [and if] any one of the arayos [forbidden partners] mentioned in the Torah cohabits with her, he is put to death because of her, but she is not liable [to punishment].  [Cohabitation with a girl] younger [in age] than this is like poking a finger in the eye.

A boy who is 9 years and 1 day old who cohabits with his yevamah acquires her, but he cannot give [her] a bill of divorce un-til he reaches adulthood. [Furthermore,] he becomes tamei [by cohabiting] with a niddah to [the degree that he will] render a bottom couch [as] tamei as that which is on top; he disqualifies [a woman with whom he cohabits], [but] he does not cause [the woman] to eat terumah; he disqualifies an animal from [being offered] on the Altar, and [the animal] is stoned [to death] on his account; and if he cohabits with any one of the arayos [forbidden partners] mentioned in the Torah, they are put to death on his account, but he is not liable [to punishment].

A girl [who is] 11 years and 1 day old, her vows are examined; a girl [who is] 12 years and 1 day old, her vows stand; and [a girl’s vows] are examined [her] entire 12th [year].  A boy [who is] 12 years and 1 day old, his vows are examined; a boy [who is] 13 years and 1 day old, his vows stand; and [a boy’s vows] are examined [his] entire 13th [year].  Before this time, even if they say, “We know unto Whom we vowed,” [or “We know] unto Whom we consecrated,” their vows are not [valid] vows, and their consecrations are not [valid] consecrations.  After this time, even if they say, “We do not know unto Whom we vowed,” [or “We do not know] unto Whom we consecrated,” their vows are [valid] vows, and their consecrations are [valid] consecrations.

The Sages created a metaphor for [the developmental stages of] a woman: a green fig, a small fig, and tzemel.  [At the stage when she is likened to] “a green fig,” she is still a child. [The stage of] “a small fig” [alludes to] the days of her naarus [period]. During [both] this [stage] and that [stage], her father is entitled to her finds and to her earnings and to the annul-ment of her vows. “Tzemel” [alludes to a stage of full adulthood;] once she reaches full adulthood, her father no longer has authority over her.

What are her signs?  R’ Yose HaGlili says: From when a crease forms under the breast.  R’ Akiva says: From when the breasts hang down.  Ben Azzai says: From when the areola darkens.  R’ Yose says: [From when the breast is large] enough that one shall put his hand on the nipple and it sinks in and delays returning [to its original position].