The Days of Pregnancy and Why the Accuser Strikes in Danger

"I will greatly multiply your toil and your conception" (Genesis 3:16). Whatever is born at two hundred and twelve days lives. Rabbi Chanina said: that which is formed in nine and born in seven, and so on, as above. A woman never gives birth except at two hundred and seventy-one, or two hundred and seventy-two, or two hundred and seventy-three days, or at nine months they and their gestation. Chiyya bar Adda was sitting before Rav, who explained a matter to him but he did not grasp it. He said to him: why do you not understand? He said: because my she-donkey is about to give birth and I am afraid she will catch cold and die. He said to him: what concern is it of yours? Sometimes she falls short [of the term] and sometimes she goes over; she does not fall short of the days of the moon [twelve months] and does not exceed the days of the sun [a full solar year]. He said to him: but is it not written, "Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock give birth? Can you count the months they complete?" (Job 39:1-2). He said to him: there it speaks of a small animal, here of a large one. He said to him: but in the herd of Antoninus a cow was bred, and they bred from it for the herd of the house of Rabbi, and some of them gave birth at once and some gave birth after a time. He said to him: there it was a clean animal, here an unclean one. "Your toil," this is the trouble of pregnancy; "and your conception," this is the trouble of the delay [in conceiving]; "in pain," this is the trouble of miscarriages; "you shall bear," this is the trouble of the birth itself; "children," this is the trouble of raising children. Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon said: it is easier for a person to raise a whole legion of olive trees in the Galilee than to raise one child in the Land of Israel. Rabbi Yochanan said: a person's sustenance is twice as hard as childbirth, for of childbirth it is written, "in pain you shall bear children," while of sustenance it is written, "in toil you shall eat of it" (Genesis 3:17). Rabbi Levi said: a person's sustenance is harder than redemption, for of redemption it is written, "the angel who redeems me" (Genesis 48:16), a mere angel, while of sustenance it is written, "the God who shepherds me" (Genesis 48:15). For three transgressions women die at the hour of their childbirth. From here we learn that the Accuser brings charges only at the hour of danger. Rabbi Pinchas and Rabbi Yirmiyah in the name of Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba: "and he shall stand before Elazar the priest, who shall inquire for him" (Numbers 27:21). "By the order of the Urim" is not written here, but "by the judgment of the Urim," teaching that at the hour Israel goes out to war, the heavenly court sits in judgment over them whether to conquer or to be conquered. Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba said: it is written, "When a camp goes out against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing" (Deuteronomy 23:10), implying that if one does not go out, he needs no such guarding; from here that the Accuser charges only at the hour of danger. Rabbi Shimon bar Bisna in the name of Rabbi La: it is written, "a day of trouble, and rebuke, and contempt is this day" (Isaiah 37:3), implying this day and not another day; from here that the Accuser, and so on. Rabbi Acha bar Yaakov said: "and harm should befall him on the way" (Genesis 42:38), implying on the way and not at home; from here, and so on. Aibo bar Nagri said: "when he is judged, let the wicked go forth" is what is written there (Psalms 109:7), not "the righteous go forth"; from here, and so on. Rav said: one who dwells in a ramshackle house makes the Angel of Death his bandit-creditor, as it is said, "let death lend out upon them" (Psalms 55:16), like the expression, "when you lend your fellow any loan" (Deuteronomy 24:10). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: a plank stretched from roof to roof, however wide, it is forbidden to walk upon it; why? because the Accuser, and so on. Rabbi Levi said: in three places the Accuser is present to bring charges: against one who walks the road alone, against one who sleeps alone in a dark house, and against one who sails the great sea. Our Rabbis taught: for three transgressions women die in the hour of their childbirth, for not being careful in menstrual law, in separating challah, and in kindling the lamp. As that Galilean expounded before Rav Chisda: the Holy One, blessed be He, said: a measure of blood I placed in you, concerning matters of blood I warned you; "first" I called you [the dough-offering being called the first], concerning matters of the first I warned you; the soul I placed in you is called a lamp, concerning matters of the lamp I warned you. If you fulfill these, well and good; if not, I take your souls. And why specifically at the hour of childbirth? Rava said: when the ox has fallen, sharpen the knife. Abaye said: let the rebellious maidservant be struck with one blow. Rav Chisda said: leave the drunkard, he falls of himself. Mar Ukva said: the shepherd is lame and the goats run fast; at the gate of the pen come the words, and in the fold comes the reckoning. Rav Pappa said: at the door of the shops there are many brothers and many friends, at the door of disgrace there are neither brothers nor friends. And where are men examined? Reish Lakish said: at the hour they cross a bridge. Rava would not cross on a ferry that had a Samaritan in it; he said: perhaps judgment is decreed upon him and I would be caught up with him. Shmuel would cross only on a ferry that had a gentile in it; he said: the Accuser has no power over two nations at once. Rabbi Yannai would examine [the way] and then cross, for Rabbi Yannai said: a person should never stand in a place of danger and say a miracle will be done for him, lest no miracle be done for him; and if a miracle is done for him, it is deducted from his merits.