Parshat Tazria; Leviticus 12:1-13:59 by Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This week’s portion begins with the miracle of childbirth. In any family the arrival of child is a momentous occasion. In most religious traditions a new child is welcomed with fanfare and special rituals. In Jewish tradition today, we mark the arrival of a child with great ceremony including a berit milah, circumcision and naming ceremony for a boy or a brit bat, a covenant and naming ceremony for a girl. Sometimes these ceremonies take place in the home and sometimes in the synagogue. But in either case, there are prayers of thanksgiving and gratitude for both parents and grandparents as well as prayers of healing for the mother from the strains of childbirth.

If you have ever been present at the birth of a child, whether it is a vaginal birth or Caesarian section—the moment the child emerges from the mother is magical and it can be scary as well. The child emerges covered in blood and fluids. It is a messy but marvelous moment. Doctors are concerned with the new child but also must keep their attention to the birth mother. For the child birthing moments can be fraught with peril. Our ancient Israelite ancestors did their best to understand a mysterious process.

Our portion opens with their ancient response to the effect of childbirth upon the mother. They recognized that the birth of children was no easy task. They recognized that the mother was put at risk as well as the child. And so the Torah portion opens with rituals of response to the messiness of the birth process. While we understand more about the process of reproduction today and have documented everything from the moment of conception to birth, it was different for our Israelite ancestors. And while we understand the role of blood and semen and eggs in the reproductive process, for the Israelites and even the rabbis of not too long ago, their knowledge was less detailed.

One Midrash teaches that the semen of a man is responsible for all the white in a child—the skin, bones, teeth, nails and whites of the eyes. The blood of the woman is responsible for the blood, muscles, hair and dark of the eyes. This is hardly accurate science.

Yet our Torah portion recognizes that giving birth to a child can be a moment that even as life is at its richest and even as it is a life giving moment—death hovers there at any moment. For the Israelites any contact with death and blood brought about a spiritual impurity and that is reflected in this week’s portion, Tazria by the rituals a woman must undergo following the birth of her children. She is spiritually impure for seven days for the birth of a male child and double for the birth of a female child. Most scholars account for the doubling of the time of spiritual impurity because of the potential of the female child to her own life-giving potential.

The impurity continues for a bit longer than a month for a male child and 66 days –double for a female child. The mother’s brush with the very edges of life and death keep her from partaking in the holiest places and items of the tabernacle and Temple.
Finally at the conclusion of these dates she must bring an offering to God. These sacrificial offerings not only restore her spiritual cleanliness but also puts her in balance again with God and community following her experience at the very edges of life and death.

While today we might cringe at this notion of spiritual impurity, every new parent knows that the first months of a new baby’s life within a family is a time that is hardly a time of balance. Especially first babies bring with them a wonderful kind of chaos that extends to the new parents. Looking for balance, with the excitement, joy, sleeplessness, worries is no easy task. Whether it is the first baby or the second or third, each baby brings a disruption to life, although welcome, it is a disruption of the status quo. The ancient recognized this and created in part a ceremony to help rebalance the spiritual life of the mother.

Posted by Lee at April 5, 2005 11:25 AM