Crash Cards for Tazria (5768)

by Marc Mangel

• Ch 12 is a short chapter on purification after childbirth. The verb tzaria is used elsewhere only in Beresheet Ch 1, v 11, 12)

• The classic interpretation is that motherhood is the highest and noblest occupation.

• The Rabbis ask: 1) why purification after birth and 2) why the female/male difference?  They conclude that there is no good answer

• I conclude that this should be a Chok  — like the red heifer — a law of procedure.

• Why a purification offering after childbirth?  Women who have discussed childbirth with me say that they are not thinking about how wonderful the creation of a life is — not praising God; so the offering is a reminder.

• Why is the female time twice that of the male? Again, there is no satisfying classical answer.  Jacob Milgram says that since a female child herself can become a mother, so we show apprehension and anticipation.