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Parshat Tazria-Metzora: Leviticus 12:1-
15:33; // Kings 7:3-7:20.

G

reat joy resounded in the halls
of modern science when the
long-sought "God particle" —
the Higgs boson element — was recently
confirmed in the special, underground,
womb-like fission testing chamber in
Switzerland.
While it is entirely wonder-
ful to think that we now have
measurable evidence of how
matter begins to be formed
at the level of the smallest
perceivable particles, there is
nothing here emotionally or
spiritually that can compare to
the experience of giving birth
to a child, a truly unforgettable
spiritual event in our lives.
Personally, I recall the birth
of my children as a physically
exhausting but emotionally
exhilarating time, where closeness of
life and death are tangibly experienced.
During and immediately following my
daughters' births, I experienced a close-
ness to God like never before.
Because we are unable to remember
our own birth or death, I believe that
is why the birthing experience is so
filled with kedushah (holiness) and yirat
Shamayim (awe of the Divine) in our
tradition.
The basis for childbirth rituals is found
in this week's Torah portion, Tazria-
Metzora, in the opening section, Leviticus
12:1 - 8. While the mother is considered
tameah, impure, with the flow of blood
that ensues following birth, this is not
meant as a physical or moral unclean-
ness, but rather a spiritual state; it creates
a separation for her, similar to that of her
menstrual state, so that she and the world
around her can appreciate the power of
life symbolized by our blood.
Rashi understands the words tayshev
beedmai taharah — "she shall remain in
a state of blood purification" (Leviticus
12:4) to mean that the woman is thus
allowed to let her body and her spirit
recover from this tremendous experience.

Fathers, too, get to spend time to
appreciate the new life brought into this
world, to spread the news to others, and
to make the arrangements for the cel-
ebration of brit milah, circumcision, for a
boy, or brit bat, a daughter's entering the
covenant, for a girl.
As England's Chief
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
explained in his article
"Holiness and Childbirth'
(www.chabad.org), "She [the
mother] now knows what it
is for a life to beget life and
in the midst of mortality to
be touched by intimations of
immortality7
Other prescribed aspects of
the childbirth ritual include a
40- or 80-day resting period
(depending on whether
the child born was a male or female,
respectively), immersion in the mikvah
and offering sacrifices (today prayers)
of thanks to God. Each of these are
meant to assist the parents, especially the
mother, to strengthen this awareness of
the preciousness of the new life in their
midst and the partnership with God in
raising this child.
In the Midrash Vayikra Rabbah 14,
Rabbi Levi says:
"It is customary that if a man deposits
a purse of silver with his friends in secret
and he returns to him a pound of gold
in public, isn't he thankful? So it is when
people deposit a drop of semen in secret
and God returns in public to them a
complete, praiseworthy soul — is this not
something to be greatly appreciated?"
While the scientific world may add to
our knowledge of life, may we each pre-
serve this spiritual awareness and awe of
the gift of life from birth onward, and do
all we can as God's creations to support
and nurture all life in our world.

❑

Rabbi Dorit Edut is the head of the Detroit

Interfaith Outreach Network and teaches at

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Conversations

• Do you think fathers experience the birth of their children much
differently than mothers today?
• What would you do to make the brit milah and/or the brit bat ceremonies
more meaningful for families today?
• Why do you think there is such a difference in resting/purification time
(40 days vs. 80 days) for a mother after the birth of a son vs. after the
birth of a daughter?

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April 11 • 2013

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