Shabbat Parashat Tazria-Metzorah - 5783

Shabbat Parashat Tazria-Metzorah - 5783

Rabbi Hal Miller Speak to the children of Israel saying, when a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be impure for a seven-day period as during the days of her menstruant infirmity shall she be impure. [Vayikra 12:2] Three verses after ours, the Torah gives the version for a female child. Other than the obvious differences in the numbers, there is one quiet change. The wording in our verse is k'yimei nidat divtah, "as the days of her menstruant infirmity". In verse 12:5 it says k'nidatah, specifically leaving out the word divtah. What does that word mean, and why is it only applied to having a son? According to the dictionary, nidah means menstruant and divah means to be ill, especially as a menstruating woman. Both verses use nidah, so there is some reason with a son that the word divah applies to the mother in the case of a son but not a daughter. Ibn Ezra and others explain that the word refers to the blood coming out from the mother as being or creating an illness but does not explain why it would be different based on the gender of the baby. Ramban says that this explanation is wrong, that the flow of blood is in fact beneficial to the mother, cleaning out what needs to be expunged, so it is not relevant. Instead he relates it to anxiety and anguish, from the word ma'dveh but he also does not explain the difference. Kol Dodi asks our question directly. He interprets the word as 'pain'. A woman will experience the same levels of pain or discomfort regardless of the gender of the child, during which she will want to remain separated from her husband. But the length of time that this pain lasts is about two weeks. After a son is born, after the one-week separation period dictated by the Torah, there is still a second week during which she is suffering. After that, she is healed. Since the period of Torah- mandated separation for a daughter is two weeks, she will be healed by the end of that time and not still be feeling pain.