Parashat Tazria/Metzora – she conceives

Parashat Tazria/Metzora – she conceives
Tazria:     Lev 12:1 – 13:59, 2 Kings 4:42- 5:19, Jn 6:8-13 & Matt 8:1-4
Metzora: Lev 14:1-15:33; 2 kings 7:3-20; Matt 23:16-24:2

On the eighth day, when it was time for his brit-milah, he was given the name Yeshua which is what the angel had called him before his conception [birth]. When the time came for their purification, according to the Torah of Moshe, they took him up to Yerushalayim to present him to Adonai (as it is written in the Torah of Adonai, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to Adonai”) and also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the Torah of Adonai. Luke 2:21-24

As with all Jewish boys, Yeshua was circumcised on the eighth day after birth and given this Hebrew name.  His ‘Brit Milah’ (Covenant of Circumcision), dating back to the time Abraham, was the outward sign of a lasting covenant established between HaShem and the descendants of Abraham. It signified that Yeshua, from infancy, was under that covenant and a member of the holy nation of Israel.

A Hebrew boy was, and still is, always circumcised on the eighth day – even if it falls on Shabbat. (And it is on the eighth day that the white blood cells, responsible for healing, are dominant in the blood.) Yeshua’s name, a relatively popular name at the time of his birth, means ‘Salvation’. Thus the words spoken by Gabriel to Yosef when Yosef first learned of Miryam’s pregnancy, have great meaning: “You will name him Yeshua [Salvation], because he will save his people from their sins”. Matt 1:21

The above scripture then mentions the process of purification from ritual impurity that is linked to childbirth. A new Jewish mother is treated as a niddah, a menstruant woman. What does this mean? To this day, in a Jewish marriage, the monthly menstrual cycle (‘menses’) determines marital relations between husband and wife. From the appearance of the first spot of blood, five days are allowed for menstruation. Then a further seven ‘clean days’ are set aside, making 12 days in all. It is only after the woman goes through the mikvah (ritual bath) on the evening of the seventh day that she is considered to be ritually clean. Only then can marital relations be resumed. This produces conditions that are optimal for conception: the wife ovulating and the husband’s sperm count high after 12 days of abstinence.

A Jewish mother attends the Brit Mila of her son on the seventh day after birth, but in terms of the sanctuary, she is considered to be tamei (unclean) for forty days after the birth of a male child, and eighty days after the birth of a daughter. We note that the rabbis teach that because a woman partners with HaShem in the creation of new life, she is afforded this time of quiet seclusion and sanctity as a blessing and reward for the vital role she has played.

In the days of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), and later the Temple, the mother was required to offer korbanot (sacrifices) for the birth of her child: a lamb for an ‘olah’ offering and a turtledove or pigeon for ‘chatat’ offering. If poor, she was permitted to offer a second bird in place of the lamb. Miryam and Josef therefore visited the temple in Jerusalem forty days after Yeshua’s birth and 33 days after his Brit Milah ~ and offered two birds. From the time when the firstborn of Israel were spared on the night of Passover, every firstborn Israelite son automatically belonged to HaShem and had to be ‘redeemed’. This ‘redeeming’ was also achieved by means of this offering.

Parashat Tazria goes on to describe a certain type of infection, called ‘tsara’at’. This term is usually erroneously translated as ‘leprosy’ in English versions of the Bible; but it was not leprosy as we know it today ~ because it affected not only the skin of the body, but clothing, pottery and surfaces, such as walls, within houses. Note that this condition could be diagnosed only by a kohen (priest); one concerned with the souls of men and women.

Rabbis consider the infection of tsara’at to have been the product of inner uncleanness. This unclean state of the soul was linked to murder, adultery, pride, theft, stinginess, a vain oath – but most of all to ‘leshon hara’ (the evil tongue). Judaism teaches that spreading bad reports, slander, even if true, is ‘leshon hara’. This is viewed in a very serious light and tsara’at is thus seen as an affliction from the Lord; leading individuals to return to Him in repentance. A period of quarantine, conducive to deep introspection, was implemented; facilitating the making of t’shuvah.

Thus in Tazria we move from the ‘ritual impurity’ of niddah, associated with life and the miracle of childbirth, to the physical impurity of tsara’at, associated with ‘leshon hara’ and darkness of soul ~ leading to t’shuvah … We too are a people of unclean lips… yet we have the assurance that even though ‘our righteousness is as menstrual rags’, in Yeshua HaMashiach we can be made ‘tahor’ (clean) in the sight of our Heavenly Father… Baruch HaShem…

“So rid yourselves of all vulgarity and obvious evil, and receive meekly the Word implanted in you that can save your lives.” James 1:21