Parsha Tazria תַזְרִיעַ

Our parsha this week, Tazria, begins with instructions of a mother’s purity following childbirth. It’s interesting to note that there is a difference between the period of “uncleanliness” if the baby is a boy or a girl. So before we point to the apparent inequity here which seems to be based on gender, we need to ask  the obvious question; Why is there impurity at all associated with the miracle and joy of bringing a baby to life, and a new soul into the world.  

The answer comes as we look at a pregnant woman. Here we have life, the basic building block of purity, in fact, during pregnancy there are two lives present here. Now, following childbirth, there is a reduction in the number of souls down from 2 to 1, and from sort of a dark place, or from only a spiritual place, in the mother herself, there is actually a reduction of life. A loss of a life within her, and along with the loss comes a loss of purity. It’s the same concept that tells us that a dead body itself is the most impure thing in the Torah because there is an absence of a soul. 

So why the difference of 7 to 14 days of impurity between boys and girls?

 We see the wisdom of Torah here once again in these cryptic verses. The longer period of impurity after having a girl is because the mother has not only lost the soul of the baby that was inside her, but the baby she birthed ALSO has the potential to carry and create more life of her own in her future. 

Finally, the 7 days of impurity for a boy.

The overriding commandment and mitzvah for a baby boy is the bris which must take place on the 8th day. Even if the 8th day lands on Shabbat, the bris is to move forward. This mitzvah is so critical, that it overrides the sanctity of Shabbat. It is important that the bris be a celebration and joyous occasion. We ask; how can that be the case if the mother is still in a state of impurity? So that a mother may rejoice with the community in this event, her time of impurity is limited to seven days. This affords her the opportunity to become ritually clean through the waters of the Mikvah and then she may then fully celebrate one of our oldest mitzvot. 

The remainder of the parshah includes discussion about skin conditions, understood to be punishment from the divine, and how they were treated. 

So we do have a few laws of purity and impurity that have remained part of Jewish custom even today. And the beautiful part is in thinking about how the rabbis place a priority of joy and celebration, over isolation and sadness.