The question everyone asks on the beginning of Parashat Tazria is: What does brit milah have to do with everything else going on here? We are in the midst of elaborating the laws of tum'ah and taharah (ritual impurity and purity), moving from the laws which regulate the tum'ah of animals to the laws which govern the tum'ah of humans, and there it is:
"A woman, when she conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be impure for seven days, as the days of her menstrual separation shall she be impure;
and on the seventh day shall his foreskin be circumcised;
and thirty-three days shall she sit with her blood of purity, no holy offerings shall she touch, nor shall she enter the holy sanctuary until the completion of the days of her purification."
Circumcision has nothing to do with tum'ah or taharah (Rabbi Akiva interprets that one who "separates from the foreskin is as one who separates from the dead, but, hey, this is the PSHAT heard 'round the world, not the drash!), so what is it doing here? There have been many explanations offered - here's my humble attempt:
We note that after the seventh day passes, i.e., as the woman emerges from her impurity of birthing (tum'at leidah), her son is circucised. Subsequently, she sits in her "blood of purity" for an additional thirty-three days, but she may resume relations with her husband. That is (and this is NOT to be interpreted as how the halachah is practiced today), if she stops bleeding during those seven days, she may go to the mikveh, resume relations with her husband (unlikely as that is at this point, given what she's just been through and what shape she's probably in!), and, if she begins bleeding again, for the next thirty-three days, she may nevertheless continue relations with her husband, though she is not yet to come to the Temple nor may she eat of any sacrificial offerings.
The brit milah, then, cuts off her tum'ah vis a vis her husband, restoring the fullness to that connection. While it is true that this is practical only if she has already stopped bleeding, AND she still must go to the mikvah, AND she can already go to the mikveh (Biblically) the night of the eighth day, while the brit milah will not take place yet until the next morning, nevertheless - READ THE VERSES: She shall be impure for seven days, on the eighth day, the foreskin is removed, she shall sit in her "blood of PURITY" for thirty-three days.
What is it about the brit milah which restored the taharah, enabling the resumption of the relationship that the mystics saw as the only and truest metaphor for the union of the soul with the divine? there's so many ideas which suggest themselves, but I'm going to stay on the ground and suggest the following:
Tumah enters when kedushah (holiness) departs. We are told that the "key of midwifery" is held by Hashem directly. Hashem decides the moment of the onset of labor, thus presencing Himself right there at the moment when new life emerges from life, converting contingency to actuality. But the redoubled dollop of soul which has been vouchsafed to the mother for the last nine months is cleaved, division has come into the world, her baby/herself has been split, the emptiness of the many has replaced the fullness of the one. She so much wants him back, the mother and baby bond, she nurses him at her breast, one again given him life, warmth, context, love.
And then HE comes. The MAN with the knife, he takes the baby and cuts. NO!!!!
But she doesn't say no. She doesn't clutch the baby to herself, holding him back from his father, who now will take part in the completion of creation that, Rabbi Akiva explains, Hashem leaves to us. She sees in the participation of the helpless bystander (these last nine months) a gesture toward sharing and commitment that restores the connection between the two of them in an ever so much deeper way.
She may sit in blood for another month plus, she may not yet be permitted to return to the
Hevi'ani el beit hayayin, v'diglo alai ahavah
The tefillin worn on the head (henceforth, “ shel rosh ”) differ in a number of respects from the tefillin worn on the arm (henceforth, “ shel yad ”). One of the differences is this: Though both must contain the four passages in the Torah which make mention of the mitzvah of tefillin, the shel yad has all four passages written on a single parchment, in the order they appear in the Torah, rolled up and placed in the single compartment of the shel yad . The shel rosh , however, is constructed such that it has four small compartments side by side. Though these compartments appear to be tightly bound to one another, in fact, they are almost actually completely separate from one another. They only join at a common base, like the fingers of one’s hand. Into each compartment is placed one of the four passages, written on four separate parchments. Here is a list of the passages, in the order they appear in the Torah: 1. Kadesh Li – Shemot 13:1-10 ...
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