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Text Excerpt
עד כמה? אמר רבא אמר רב ירמיה בר אבא אמר רב: שלשה חדשים, ושמואל אמר: שלשים יום. ורבי יצחק אמר רבי יוחנן: חמשים יום. אמר רב שימי בר אביי: הלכה כרבי יצחק שאמר משום רבי יוחנן. בשלמא רב ורבי יוחנן — כל חד וחד כי חורפיה. אלא לשמואל, כי האי גוונא מי משכחת לה?
The Talmud asks: How old does the child have to be so that one can assume that he already recognizes his mother? Rava said that Rav Yirmeya bar Abba said that Rav said: 3 months, and Shmuel said: 30 days, and R' Yitzḥak said that R' Yoḥanan said: 50 days. Rav Shimi bar Abaye said: The halakha is in accordance with what R' Yitzḥak said in the name of R' Yoḥanan. The Talmud asks: Granted, Rav and R' Yoḥanan are in dispute with regard to the difference between 50 days and 3 months, as it is possible that each baby varies according to its intelligence, as one baby is sufficiently developed at 50 days, while another knows his mother at only 3 months. However, according to Shmuel, can you find a case like this, a one-month-old baby who recognizes his mother?
כי אתא רמי בר יחזקאל, אמר: לא תציתינהו להני כללי דכייל יהודה אחי משמיה דשמואל. הכי אמר שמואל: כל זמן שמכירה.
The Talmud relates: When Rami bar Yeḥezkel came from Eretz Yisrael, he said: Do not listen to, i.e., do not accept, those principles that my brother Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel, as Shmuel did not establish a particular time with regard to this matter. Rather, this is what Shmuel said: Whenever he recognizes her, i.e., there is no fixed age at which this occurs. One must check each baby to see whether he recognizes his mother.
ההיא דאתאי לקמיה דשמואל. אמר ליה לרב דימי בר יוסף: זיל בדקה. אזל אותבה בדרי דנשי, ושקליה לברה וקמהדר ליה עלייהו. כי מטא לגבה, הות קא מסוי לאפה כבשתנהי לעינה מיניה. אמר לה: נטף עיניך, קום דרי בריך. סומא מנא ידע? אמר רב אשי: בריחא ובטעמא.
The Talmud relates: A certain divorcée came before Shmuel, as she did not wish to nurse her son. He said to Rav Dimi bar Yosef: Go and check her, i.e., verify whether the child recognizes his mother. He went, placed her in a row of women, and took her son in his arms and passed him near them to see how the child would react. When the child reached her, he looked at her face with joy, and she averted her eyes from him, as she did not want to look at him. He said to her: Lift up your eyes, get up and take your son, as it is obvious that he knows you. The Talmud asks: If this is so, then how does a blind baby know and recognize his mother? Rav Ashi said: Through smell and through the taste of her milk.