Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, who has made us set apart through His commandments and commanded us to actively study Torah. Please YHVH, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May we and our offspring, and the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your desire. Blessed are You, YHVH, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, YHVH, Giver of the Torah.
Lev 12:1 And
יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Lev 12:2 “Speak to the children of
Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘When a woman has conceived, and has given birth to a male
child, then she shall be unclean seven days, as in the days of her monthly
separation she is unclean.
Conceived
– Heb zâra - A primitive
root; to sow; figuratively to disseminate, plant, fructify:
- bear, conceive seed, set with, sow (-er), yield.
“Hifil” feminine verb
– when a woman comes to term and delivers – lit when a woman is caused to seed
her seed.
‘’If the woman gives
seed first, she gives birth to a male; if the man gives seed first, she gives
birth to a female.
(Talmud, Niddah 31a)’’
Lev
12:3 ‘And on the eighth day the flesh of
his foreskin is circumcised. (Side note: if a baby boy’s 8th day falls on a
weekly Shabbat then he will be circumcised even though it is Shabbat.)
‘’The number seven
represents the natural, and the number eight represents the holy (set apart).
This is why circumcision on the eighth day takes precedence over Shabbat, the
seventh day.’’
Lev
12:4 ‘And she remains in the blood of
her cleansing thirty-three days. She does not touch whatever is set-apart, and
she does not come into the set-apart place until the days of her cleansing are
completed. (40 days all together. )
Lev 12:5 ‘But if she gives birth to a female child,
then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her monthly separation, and she
remains in the blood of her cleansing for sixty-six days. (80 days all together.)
Lev 12:6 ‘And when the days of her cleansing are
completed, for a son or for a daughter, she brings to the priest a lamb a year
old, as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering,
to the door of the Tent of Meeting.
Lev 12:7 ‘And he shall bring it before יהוה, and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the
flow of her blood. This is the Torah for
her who has given birth to a male or a female.
Lev
12:8 ‘And if she is not able to bring a
lamb, then she shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one as a burnt
offering and the other as a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement
for her, and she shall be clean.’ ” ‘
Rabbi Shimon bar
Yochai was asked by his disciples: Why did the Torah ordain that a woman after
childbirth should bring a sin offering? He replied: When she kneels in labor,
she swears impetuously that she will have no intercourse with her husband. The
Torah therefore ordained that she should bring a sin offering [to atone for her
false oath].
(Talmud, Niddah 31a)
Rather
the sin offering because we are born into sin –
Psa 51:5 See, I was brought forth in
crookedness, And in sin my mother conceived me.’’ Messiah although he was perfect took upon himself
the sin of mankind.
This
Torah portion instructs parents in the Torah community concerning their
responsibility in laying down a righteous foundation when bringing their
children into the world as well as preparing them for life within the Torah Yisraelite
community.
Even our Messiah was
inducted into Torah life according to the instruction found in this Torah
portion.
‘’The event is
described in Luke 2:22–40. Miriam and Yosef took Yahshua to the Temple in
Yerushalayim forty days (inclusive) after his birth to complete Miriam's ritual
purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn
son, in obedience to the Torah (Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12–15, etc.). Luke
explicitly says that Yosef and Miriam take the option provided for poor people
(those who could not afford a lamb; Leviticus 12:8), offerin "a pair of
turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Leviticus 12:1–4 indicates that this
event should take place forty days after birth for a male child’’
Why did the ‘’church’’
change this instruction concerning new-born infants?
Luk 7:35 “And wisdom is declared right by all her children.” והחכמה נצדקה בכל־בניה׃
Hebrew
- ‘’Wisdom is declared right by her assembly’’
Eph 3:10 so that now, through the assembly,
the many-sided wisdom of Elohim might be known to the principalities and
authorities in the heavenlies,
Eph 3:11 according to the everlasting purpose
which He made in Messiah יהושע our Master,
In
the last days this assembly will return one by one - Isa 27:12 And in that day it shall be that יהוה
threshes, from the channel of the River to the wadi of Mitsrayim. And you shall
be gathered one by one,[a] O children of Yisra’ěl. Footnote: a Jer_3:14-15.
Jer 1:5 “Before I formed you in the belly I
knew you, and before you came out of the womb I did set you apart – I appointed
you a prophet to nations.”
Isa 49:1 Listen to Me, O coastlands, and
hear, you peoples from afar! יהוה has called Me from the womb, from My
mother’s belly He has caused My Name to be remembered.
Gal 1:15 But when it pleased Elohim, who
separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by His favour,
Psa 22:9 For You are the One who took Me out
of the womb; Causing Me to trust while on My mother’s breasts.
Psa 22:10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s belly You have been My Ěl.
Isa 46:3 “Listen to Me, O house of Ya‛aqoḇ,
and all the remnant of the house of Yisra’ěl, who are borne from the belly, who
are carried from the womb:
Psa 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed body.
And in Your book all of them were written, The days they were formed, While
none was among them.
‘’ The number of sperm in a
single ejaculate ranges from 40 million to 500 million—the average is
about 182 million. For every ovum ovulated, about 1 billion sperm are produced’’
Each one of us is a limited edition of ‘’one’’ of those sperm cells.
This
Torah portion reminds us of the importance of Colostrum.
Many
people know what breast milk is and where it comes from; but, have you ever
heard of colostrum? Did you know there is a difference between breast milk and
colostrum? Colostrum is a milky substance that is produced by
the breasts of mammals before birth and during the first few days following
birth. Colostrum precedes the production of true milk, or breast milk. It's
usually clear in appearance, but may look slightly yellow. While breast milk is
highly nutritious and immensely beneficial to newborns, colostrum is thicker,
more concentrated in protein, and lower in fat than true breast milk.
Colostrum
contains many nutritional benefits for the baby, including proteins,
carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and antibodies, which are important
disease-fighting proteins produced by the immune system that attack and kill
microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. The antibody
level in colostrum can be as high as 100 times the level found in regular milk!
Colostrum has
an especially important role to play in the baby's
gastrointestinal tract. ... Colostrum also contains high
concentrations of leukocytes, protective white cells which can destroy
disease-causing bacteria and viruses. The colostrum gradually
changes to mature milk during the first two weeks after birth.
Lev 13:1
And יהוה spoke to
Mosheh and to Aharon, saying,
Tzra
at.
Lev 13:2 “When a man has on the skin of his body a
swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, and it shall become on the skin of his body
like a leprous infection, then he shall be brought to Aharon the priest or to
one of his sons the priests.
Lev 13:3 “And the priest shall look at the infection
on the skin of the body. And if the hair on the infection has turned white, and
the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous
infection. And the priest shall look at him, and pronounce him unclean.
Lev 13:4 “But if the bright spot is white on the skin
of his body, and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and its hair has
not turned white, then the priest shall shut up the infected one seven days.
Lev 13:5 “And the priest shall look at him on the
seventh day and see, if the infection appears to be as it was, and the
infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall shut him up another
seven days.
Lev 13:6 “And the priest shall look at him again on
the seventh day and see, if the infection has darkened, and the infection has
not spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. It is a
scab, and he shall wash his garments and be clean.
Lev 13:7 “But if the scab spreads further over the
skin, after he has been seen by the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen
by the priest again.
Lev 13:8 “And the priest shall look and see, if the
scab has spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean, it is
leprosy.
Lev 13:9 “When the infection of leprosy is on a man,
then he shall be brought to the priest.
Lev 13:10 “And the priest shall look and see, if the
swelling on the skin is white, and it has turned the hair white, and there is a
spot of raw flesh in the swelling,
Lev 13:11 it is an old leprosy on the skin of his body,
and the priest shall pronounce him unclean. He does not shut him up, for he is
unclean.
Lev 13:12 “And if leprosy breaks out all over the skin,
and the leprosy shall cover all the skin of the infected one, from his head to
his foot, wherever the priest looks,
Lev 13:13 then the priest shall look and see, if the
leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce the infected one clean. It
has all turned white, he is clean.
Lev 13:14 “But the day raw flesh appears on him, he is
unclean.
Lev 13:15 “And the priest shall look at the raw flesh
and pronounce him to be unclean – the raw flesh is unclean, it is leprosy.
Lev 13:16 “Or when the raw flesh changes and turns
white again, he shall come to the priest.
Lev 13:17 “And the priest shall look at him and see, if
the infection has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce the infected
one clean, he is clean.
Lev 13:18 “And when the body has a boil in the skin,
and it is healed,
Lev 13:19 and in the place of the boil there comes a
white swelling or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it shall be seen by the
priest.
Lev 13:20 “And the priest shall look and see, if it
appears deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white, the priest shall
pronounce him unclean, it is a leprous infection which has broken out of the
boil.
Lev 13:21 “But if the priest looks at it and sees no
white hairs in it, and it is not deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the
priest shall shut him up seven days;
Lev 13:22 and if it has spread further over the skin,
then the priest shall pronounce him unclean, it is a leprous infection.
Lev 13:23 “But if the bright spot stays in its place,
it has not spread, it is the scar of the boil, and the priest shall pronounce
him clean.
Lev 13:24 “Or when the body receives a burn on its skin
by fire, and the raw flesh of the burn shall become a bright spot,
reddish-white or white,
Lev 13:25 then the priest shall look at it and see, if
the hair of the bright spot has turned white, and it appears deeper than the
skin, it is leprosy broken out in the burn. And the priest shall pronounce him
unclean, it is a leprous infection.
Lev 13:26 “But if the priest looks at it and sees there
are no white hairs in the bright spot, and it is not deeper than the skin, but
has faded, then the priest shall shut him up seven days.
Lev
13:27 “And the priest shall look at him on the
seventh day. If it spreads further over the skin, then the priest shall
pronounce him unclean, it is a leprous infection.
Lev 13:28 “But if the bright spot stays in its place,
and has not spread on the skin, but has faded, it is a swelling from the burn.
And the priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is the scar from the burn.
‘’Thus the Talmud (Sanhedrin 98b) describes Moshiach as
a metzora, signifying that the messianic age is a time in which the
evils which have infested the world and mankind rise to the surface, so that
they can be decisively overcome and cured. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe)’’
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 98a) -Rabbi
Yehoshua ben Levi met Elijah [the Prophet] by the entrance of Rabbi Shimon bar
Yochai’s tomb… and asked him:
“When will the Messiah come?”
[Elijah responded:] “Go and ask him yourself.”
“Where is he?”
“At the entrance [of Rome].”
“And how will I recognize him?”
“He is sitting among the poor lepers,
This fascinating passage suggests that Mashiach is
sitting at the gates of Rome (according to the Vilna Gaon’s commentary) among
all the lepers expelled from the city
The Sages say that metzora means motzi ra,
literally one who brings out evil. While this can be taken to mean one who
brings out evil words about others, it can also be read as one who removes evil
from the world, which is Mashiach’s ultimate purpose.
Chassidic teaching explains that the human soul is driven
by two contrary forces: the drive to run or escape (ratzo), and the
drive to settle (shov). Every time we are overcome by excitement,
love, ambition or yearning, we are running, escaping the self to reach for
something greater, more beautiful and perfect than it. Whenever we experience
awe, humility, devotion or commitment, we are settling—affirming our connection
to our existence, our place in the world and our mission in life. Ratzo drives
us to climb a mountain, shov to build a home; ratzo to
pray, shov to do a mitzvah.
In a spiritually healthy soul, the will vacillates
between ratzo and shov like the rise and fall
of a well-balanced pendulum, or the contraction and expansion of a smoothly
beating heart. The constraints of our place in the world, the finiteness of our
nature and body, the boundaries of our very being—these impel us to escape
them, to strive for the unbounded and the infinite. But our very escape brings
us to a place from which we better appreciate the beauty and necessity of our
existence. Thus the ratzo peaks and provokes a counteraction
of shov, a return to oneself and one’s place in the world.
Tzaraat is a condition in which
this crucial balance is disrupted. The pendulum of the soul ascends in
its ratzo arc, but fails to swing back in shov.
The will escapes the self and fails to return, leaving behind a vacuum in which
all sorts of undesirable elements can now take root, like weeds in an abandoned
garden.
This is symbolized by the white patches and the white hairs
that are the symptoms of tzaraat. A patch of white skin indicates
that life and vitality have departed from (this part of) the body. Still, a
white patch alone does not mean that the will’s failure to settle has resulted
in any negative developments in the character and behavior of the person. But
when we see white hairs sprouting in the white patch—when we see dead things
feeding on this dead place—we have a full-blown case of tzaraat.
On the other hand, the existence of white hairs, in and
of themselves, do not indicate tzaraat. These might represent the
ordinary baggage that we lug through life, the run-of-the mill negative traits
and experiences that actually have the positive function of challenging us and
provoking our finest talents and most potent energies. It is only when the
white hairs are caused by the white patch that something serious is afoot. Such
a condition indicates that the person has run away with his escapist impulses
so high and so far that he has completely abandoned his commitments to life and
productivity, leaving behind a hollow and lifeless self that is a breeding
ground for what is worst in human nature.
Hence the law that white hairs are a symptom of tzaraat only
when the white patch precedes the white hair, indicating that this dead growth
is the result of a certain area of the person’s life having been drained of its
vitality.
Two Visions of Man
What is the root cause of tzaraat? Ratzo is
the escape from self, while shov is the return to self. It
would therefore seem that tzaraat—ratzo without shov—derives
from excessive selflessness.
In truth, however, the very opposite is the case. Ratzo is
what the soul desires to do, while shov is what the soul is
committed to do. Escapist behavior is the ultimate self-indulgence, while
settling down is the ultimate submission. Tzaraat, then, derives
from a lack of humility, from the failure to yield one’s own will to the will
of one’s Creator.’’
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet,
v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have
given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our
midst. Blessed are you, YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn.)
