A Thought on Parshas Tazria

"...isha ki tazria..." "...when a woman conceives..." (12:2) This week, ibn Shu'aib focuses in large part on the more mystical facets of the parsha. He is most interested in understanding the miracle of conception, and the laws which are associated with this phase of human development. I will introduce one of his thoughts, with the proviso that it is one which must be understood from a spiritual view, for it might run contrary to some people's sensitivities these days. He begins with his platform that there is a spiritual hierarchy among human beings. This is shaped, in part, by the ways with which they can serve HaShem. So, for example, the gentile world has been given certain commandments. Avadim - those who are subordinate to Jewish masters - are responsible to observe additional commandments. Jewish women have many commandments. Jewish men are given many more. Each person has a neshama - a soul - but the role which each one's spiritual self plays will determine his or her subjective level of holiness. The more mitzvos one is bound to keep, the greater their potential holiness. This is one reason that we recite the blessings in the morning which thank G-d 'who did not form me as a nachri, as an eved, as an isha'. A Jewish man thanks HaShem for giving him the potential to ascend the hierarchy of holiness. ibn Shu'aib writes that there is no blessing proclaiming "sh'lo asani beheima" - who did not form me as an animal - because an animal has no neshama and isn't on that spiritual hierarchy at all. Now, he explores the biology of conception. We will not discuss that here, but suffice to say that his premises, based in the Talmud, have been supported by science. He looks at some of the internal sequence which determines, in part, the gender of the embryo. He discusses the events which eventuate in that child being born a female, and how the Torah decrees a longer interval of tuma'a, impurity, when a daughter is born (14 days) than when a son is born (7 days). He reasons that since the birth of a girl means that, from the standpoint of mitzvos which can be performed by her, she will enact a diminution in holiness relative to a male, her existence symbolizes a potential distancing of the Divine Presence, relative to that which could eventuate were the child to grow into a man, where the relatively greater kedusha he could achieve would bring the Shechina closer. Thus, the mother remains impure for 14 days, twice as long as she would be after delivering a son. The longer wait reflects the prolonged waiting for the Shechina to draw close, a product of the fewer mitzvos which the daughter can enact. In turn, with double the waiting interval before she can re-purify, she is also distanced from her husband double the time. This also symbolizes this "decreased potential to bring holiness" - when a married couple are united, they bring, ideally, the Shechina into their midst. When they are apart, this means that the Shechina seems distant. Thus, there is a paralleling of the husband-wife experience and the humanity-Divine Presence experience. Finally, ibn Shu'aib ponders the other difference between a woman's days of impurity for a son as compared to a daughter. Following her purification after one week for a son, she has 33 days of "purity from blood." However, following her purification after two weeks for a daughter, she is given 66 days - double the amount - of "purity from blood." What is the meaning of this paradoxical reversal of her status? How is it that she has twice as long an interval of relative respite from impurity after delivering a girl? ibn Shu'aib proposes that when a person accepts the Divine rule, despite its hardship and demands, this is a form of "teshuva" - of aligning themselves with the Heavenly Will. So, for a woman to shoulder the doubled stress of initial impurity, she earns double the "reward", since Midas Rachamim - the standard of mercy - has double the bounty of Midas HaDin - the standard of justice. She has earned a double share of "merciful reward" for having endured the earlier set back of longer impurity. Good Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh Tov. D Fox