The miracle of the mother – Tazria
The name of the sidra tells us that we will be reading about childbirth.
On one level the sidra is giving us details of the laws of post-birth ritual purification. On another level it is emphasising the great miracle of procreation.
Having a baby is the way that the individual is endowed with immortality, the way the family is granted continuity, the way the human race is given a future.
Over the many years in which I was blessed to be a teacher of Judaism I was often asked why God doesn’t perform any miracles these days. I always had an answer to this question. I said that there are countless wonders that enrich our lives, and the two greatest are the continuation of life itself and the giving of new life.
An additional question that I was often asked is whether the Jewish woman is inferior to the man, and my answer was always the same – that woman is the greater gender because she is the one who ushers in the future of humanity.
