Torah
The Gift of Motherhood
By: Arielle Snow
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Parshas Tazria begins with the description of the variously Korbanot that the woman must bring after childbirth. She must bring s burnt offering and a sin offering. פרו ורבו is the first mitzvah in the Torah and is the only way to continue the growth of the nation. If this is true, why should a mother be declared unclean?
The Abarbanel explains that the woman brings a burnt offering to show her renewed faith in HaShem and to express gratitude for helping her get through the pain and dangers of child birth. The woman brings a dove for the korban. A dove symbolizes homesickness. In ישעיהו , when the people return to Jerusalem they are referred to as doves. Just like the Jews in the time of ישעיהו returning to their homeland, similarly the woman is coming back into the community and therefore the woman brings an offering of a dove to show this symbolism.
The question still remains however, why is the woman bringing a sin offering? How is bringing life into the world a sin? Nechama Leibowitz explains that having a new life within her is very humbling and made her feel insignificant and small in comparison to HaShem so she is bringing a korban.
Rav Hirsch explains that the word Tazria is only found one other time in the Torah, in Parshas Breishit. It is used in reference to the reproduction of plants. Just like the plants appear to be just physical, the mothers role in pregnancy is looked at as a physical role and from this the idea of child birth being טומאה is derived. After childbirth the mother has finished going through the physical parts of parenthood and she needs to re-integrate into the spiritual way of parenting and give herself up to her spiritual calling.
At first glance, פרשת תזריע seems to shed a negative light on child birth. But when looked at more in depth, if becomes clear that motherhood and child birth is considered one of the holiest things in Judaism.
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from this category can be found in: |
Parshat Shavua (Tazria) |
| Uploaded: | Thursday, April 7, 2016 |