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Kedusha and Tahara - Parashat Tazria-Metzorah - April 28, 2017

Kedusha, holiness, refers to the identity that an object has of being associated with or designated for service of Hashem. Items in the Temple, a kohen and a sefer Torah all have kedusha as each one is designated for serving G-d.

Tahara, halachic purity refers to the state of being prepared to encounter the Almighty in the Temple. Specifically, one must be in a state of tahara prior to entering the Temple. Note that the halachic state of impurity is not bad or a sin. Most people in history were regularly in a state of impurity.

The beginning of this week’s parasha deals with these two concepts – holiness and purity – as they relate to giving birth.

The Torah explains that when a woman gives birth, she is tameh halachically impure – for a period of time. The Torah explains that if she has a boy, she is tameh for seven days. On the eighth day, her son is circumcised and she continues to be tameh from that eighth day for another thirty-three days - a grand total of forty days. If she has a girl, she is tameh for fourteen days plus another sixty-six days for a grand total of eighty days. In other words, if a mother has a girl, she may not enter the Temple for almost three months.

There are two questions that are particularly puzzling about these laws. First, why does the Torah associate tumah, halachic impurity, with birth? Having a baby is a joyous experience, a momentous experience, even a religious experience! Why does it yield tumah? Second, why are the periods of tumah doubled when a woman gives birth to a girl as opposed to when she gives birth to a boy?

In general, the state of tumah is created by an intense encounter with physicality. The state of tahara implies an intense encounter with the soul. The tumah of the mother who gives birth arises out of the physical nature of the birth experience. When she gives birth to a child, a mother becomes a partner in the process of creating a new life. The process of childbirth itself is a physical process of pain, exhilaration and deep and powerful emotions. At its core, it is an experience that directs our attention to the body. The forty or eighty days after the birth represent a period of recalibration of the mother as a physical being with a non-physical soul. It is the time of restoring the balance between body and soul.

Why is the period of impurity doubled when a woman gives birth to a girl?

Rav Samson Rephael Hirsch offers a powerful answer to this question. He explains that the Torah creates a parallel between the brit milah and the extra forty days of tumah. Rav Hirsch explains that with the brit milah, the parents are inducting their son into the world of kedusha – of holiness. Through the circumcision, the parents induct their child as a permanent member of the Jewish People thereby preparing and designating him to serve Hashem. This is the idea of kedusha that we mentioned above.

Rav Hirsch suggests that by extending the period of tumah after the birth of a girl for an extra 40 days, the mother is modeling the idea of tahara – purity – for the girl. Although the baby does not understand the idea at that point in her life, the mother is communicating a deep value and belief at the outset of the baby’s life – the value of tahara.

Kedusha is modeled to the family with the brit milah, and tahara is modeled to the family with the forty or eighty days of separation from the Temple. Kedusha and tahara become foundations of a Jewish home. These mitzvot communicate the imperative of inculcating our families with these values immediately upon the birth of our children. The importance of these foundations does not diminish with time. On the contrary, as our children grow and mature, we must constantly search for ways to teach, model and reinforce these messages to our children.

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