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On a biblical level, for a woman to become a zavah, does she need to have the onset of a new flow come during the 11 'zava days' (the 11 days past the 7 'nidda days'), or will even a flow that continues from her nidda days make her zavah?

For example, let's say a tohar woman has a flow which makes her niddah, she counts 5 days but is unable to make a hefsek, and then continues to see blood intermittently during the next seven days, and then also for three further days beyond that. Is she now a zava, or still a nidda (since her nidda flow never stopped)?

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Even a flow that continues qualifies, as the verse (Lev 15:25) says "או כי תזוב על נדתה". See Rambam IB 6:17 and the other cases in the adjacent laws.

So if she bleeds for 10 days straight, that'd be 7 of Niddah and then 3 of Zavah and she's therefore a full Zavah Gedolah.

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  • What about not an actual flow but invalid bedikos? If a woman counts 5 days, does a hefsek, and then has invalid bedikos (e.g. black or red) for the next 5 days, would that make her a zavah gedolah (due to the last 3 of these 10 days)? If so, it seems that zavah or zavah gedolah would be very prevalent even nowadays, among women who have trouble getting clean on time.
    – user9818
    Aug 6, 2017 at 5:59
  • @user9818 To be Tamei Deorayta the blood would need to be the right color, come from the uterus, come with Hargasha, etc. Nowadays it's generally assumed that a bad Bedika would be at least a Chashash Deorayta.
    – Double AA
    Aug 6, 2017 at 6:02

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