Shabbat Parashat Tazria - 5782

Shabbat Parashat Tazria - 5782

Rabbi Hal Miller

For thirty day and three days shall she stay in blood of purity. She may not

touch anything sacred and she may not enter the Mikdash until the completion

of her days of purity. [Vayikra 12:4]

Our portion this week includes a number of differences in how a new mother is

to behave as between a new son and a new daughter. Numerous answers are

given as to why the time periods differ, such as there being (according to the

medical knowledge of the time at least) differences in the hormonal impact on

the mother. Others say that all babies bring about the same need for the

mother, but the length of time is halved for a son so she can attend the brit

milah. Rav Moshe Feinstein ties it to the verse, "A man's inclination from youth

is to do evil", thus the parents must begin a boy's education earlier.

Our verse raises other questions as well. Why does it ban a woman from entering

the Mikdash during this time? Would she enter there at any other time? Ibn Ezra

says that this refers to the Temple courtyard where she would go, but he does not

explain why the Torah chose the wording it did.

But the most curious question is the wording, "For thirty day and three days". Why

is the first word 'day' in the singular and the second in plural? The Torah does not

do this with regard to the sixty-six days in the case of the birth of a daughter.

Most commentators ignore this curiosity. Onkelos avoids it by only using the word

one time in the sentence, leaving it plural. Ramban ties it to different portions of

the tamei cycle regarding terumah, her husband, etc., but the same would apply

to a daughter. Rashi connects it to which day or night the woman is to immerse

in a mikveh, but again, this would be the same for a daughter.

The Gemora in Keritot addresses this oddity: "And 'thirty day'. I might think thirty,

whether consecutive or scattered, therefore it is written day. Just as a day is

consecutive, so the thirty must be consecutive." One might think that the Torah

would have used sixty day and six days as the formula for a daughter, but

apparently the lesson did not need to be taught more than once that this

requirement of recovery from tumah must be counted consecutively. Often in

analyzing derived Torah laws we find similar rules repeated to show that they

apply in more than just one instance. We can find this multi-day to single-day

situation with Rosh Hashanah, so maybe between that and our verse we are

taught that the consecutive-day rule is general, not specific to the birth of a

son. This still leaves an open question: if the thirty must be consecutive, how

does this impact the three? I saw nothing on it.