The טומאה of a יולדת

Parshas Tazria begins with טומאת יולדת. Regarding her טומאה state, the Pasuk says בכל קדש לא תגע and Rashi writes לרבות את התרומה, לפי שזו טבולת יום ארוך, שטבלה לסוף שבעה ואין שמשה מעריב לטהרה עד שקיעת החמה של יום ארבעים, שלמחר תביא את כפרת טהרתה. A יולדת has a status of a טבול יום ארוך because she remains a טבול יום either for 33 days or 66 days. The first question one could ask is why is a יולדת even טמא? Another question is why specifically by a Yoledes does she have such a טומאה that she is a טבול יום ארוך but by other טומאות, even the strictest of טומאות, there is no such thing as a טבול יום? What is it about the טומאה of a יולדת that is so חמור that she needs to be a טבול יום ארוך?

Perhaps an answer could be as follows. A מת is the אבי אבות הטומאה, the grandfather of all טומאות and therefore all lower level טומאות stem in a sense from the אבי אבותם as תולדות. Meaning in the same sense that a מת is טמא so to could be by other טומאות. The טומאה of a Metzorah could be understood similar to death because a Metzorah is חשיב כמת. But how could the טומאה of a זב וזבה be connected to death?

The above idea is found in the Kuzari in מאמר ב אות ס' regarding טומאת זב וזבה and he writes the following:

כבר אמרתי לך שאין ערך בין שכלנו ובין הענין האלהי, וראוי שלא נטרח לבקש עלת אלה הגדולות והדומה לזה. אבל אני אומר אחר בקשת המחילה מבלתי שאגזור שהוא כן, שאפשר שתהיה הצרעת והזיבות תלויות בטומאת המת, כי המות הוא ההפסד הגדול, והאבר המצורע כמת וכן הזרע הנפסד כי יש בו רוח חיים טבעי ובו ההכנה להיות לטפת דם ממנה יתהוה האדם הפסדו של זרע הוא אם כן נגוד לתכונת החיות ורוח החיים.

The Rav added the idea that the loss of potential life is considered as if the loss of life. So טומאת זב וזבה is similar because the זרע which had the potential for life is נפסד and therefore it creates a טומאה which is similar to that of death. According to this, טומאה נדה could also be understood because every month, a אשה has the potential to create life. But whenדם is יצא, the potential for life is now no longer and therefore she becomes a נדה and is טמא. The טומאה comes from a potential that wasn’t actualized. But according to this its perplexing that טומאת לידה should exist because it is seemingly the opposite of what טומאה is about. By a יולדת, she is creating life, the opposite of death so why should she become טמא?

The answer could be that although a יולדת is creating life, but once the potential is realized, there is a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment which could put off a person from wanting or feeling the need to do more. This is brought out in the Gemara in Niddah 31b that Reb Shimon Bar Yochai says the reason the Torah requires a woman to bring a Korban after she gives birth is because בשעה שכורעת לילד קופצת ונשבעת שלא תזקק לבעלה.

According to this, it could be understood why a יולדת has such a strict status of טומאה that she is a טבול יום ארוך unlike any other טומאות.

As far as the general idea of טבול יום, the אגלי טל writes in the Hakdamah in the name of his father the following. The Mishna in Brachos 2a says מאימתי קורין את שמע בערבין משעה שהכהנים נכנסים לאכול בתרומתן. The Gemara says אמר מר: משעה שהכהנים נכנסים לאכול בתרומתן. מכדי, כהנים אימת קא אכלי תרומה - משעת צאת הכוכבים, לתני משעת צאת הכוכבים! - מלתא אגב אורחיה קמשמע לן. The אגלי טל says in the name of his father that the reason a טבול יום can’t eat תרומה is because although he is טהור being that he went into the Mikvah, however the טומאה that had that day left a רושם and therefore he needs to wait until the evening, הערב שמש, to remove that רושם. Now that it’s a new day, he no longer has that רושם of טומאה from the previous day. The same idea is by Krias Shema. When a person says קריאת שמע של שחרית he is מקבל עול מלכות שמים and although it might not be on his mind the whole day, it nevertheless made a רושם on him that he has the remainder of the day. But once it’s the evening, הערב שמש, he loses that רושם from the day and he needs to say קריאת שמע של ערבית.

So by all other טומאות, the idea of a טבול יום is that on the day a person is טמא, there is a רושם left on him from the day which is based on the exposure and contact with loss of life which deprives him of his life energy. But טומאת יולדת, which comes about not as a consequence of loss of life but rather by realizing the potential for creating life, creates a sense of achievement and accomplishment that empties the woman out of her drive to create life. Therefore it takes a longer time for her to become reinvigorated and regain her drive to create.

Sensitivity

In the middle of discussing טומאת יולדת, which is the topic of the Parshah that discusses general טומאה וטהרה as part of Chumash Vayikra which is part of תורת כהנים, the Torah interjects the Pasuk about Milah וביום השמיני ימול בשר ערלתו, which is seemingly out of place. What is the reason for this?

It could be understood based on the Gemara Niddah 31b which says ומפני מה אמרה תורה מילה לשמונה? שלא יהו כולם שמחים ואביו ואמו עצבים. According to this, the reason why the Pasuk is said here is because that which מילה is ביום השמיני is because of the וטמאה לשבעת ימים.

The idea that we delay the Bris which is really when the baby gets its נפש הקדושה because of the reason of שלא יהו כולם שמחים ואביו ואמו עצבים is a tremendous lesson in sensitivity. The parents of a new born child most likely are experiencing tremendous excitement and happiness and the level of sadness they have because she is טמא for seven days is very minimal and yet the Torah says to push the Bris off until the eighth day to avoid the parents from having that minimal sadness. It could be that when we say at a Bris כשם שנכנס לברית כן יכנס לתורה לחופה ולמעשים טובים we are saying that just like by the Bris, it was with tremendous caution and sensitivity as to not step on anyone else’s toes, so to should be in all areas of the child’s life, לתורה לחופה ולמעשמים טובים, it should be with a great sensitivity.

Lessons for the מצורע

By נגעי בתים, the Pasuk says כי תבאו אל ארץ כנען אשר אני נתן לכם לאחזה ונתתי נגע צרעת בבית ארץ אחזתכם (יד,לד). On the words ונתתי נגע צרעת, Rashi writes בשורה היא להם שהנגעים באים עליהם, לפי שהטמינו אמוריים מטמוניות של זהב בקירות בתיהם כל ארבעים שנה שהיו ישראל במדבר, ועל ידי הנגע נותץ הבית ומוצאן-it’s a promise that they will get נגעי בתים because as a result, they will find the treasures that were hidden by the אמוראיים. However, this is difficult to understand because נגעים come as an עונש from לשון הרע וצרות עין as the Rambam says in the end of הלכות טומאת צרעת that first the עונש is on his house and if he doesn’t do תשובה, then it goes on to his clothing and if he still doesn’t do תשובה, then the נגע goes on his skin. But this that it’s a בשורה היא להם in order to find the מטמוניות של זהב בקירות בתיהם doesn’t seem like much of a עונש.

An answer could be based on the following. The Mishna in Baba Metziah 25b discusses the Halacha if someone finds an object in a wall, whether it belongs to the finder or the owner of the wall and says as follows: מצא בגל ובכותל ישן - הרי אלו שלו. מצא בכותל חדש, מחציו ולחוץ - שלו, מחציו ולפנים - של בעל הבית. To explain why it belongs to the finder if it’s an old wall, the Gemara says מפני שיכול לומר לו: של אמוריים הן.

Tosfos on 26a asks why isn’t the owner of the wall קונה the object in the wall from the אמוריים with קנין חצר to which he answers אין חצר קונה בדבר שיכול להיות שלא ימצאנו לעולם. However the Rosh provides a different answer as follows: ועוד י"ל מה שנשאר טמון מן האמוריים לא היו לאותו שנפל הקרקע לחלקו כי השלל היה מתחלק לכל ישראל ואחר שעמד שם הרי הוא כאבוד מכל ישראל והרי הוא של מוצאו. According to this, the מטמוניות של זהב בקירות בתיהם only has a דין שלל, which belongs to everyone, when it’s ונתתי נגע צרעת בבית. However, had the house not got a נגע and afterward it fell, the מטמוניות של זהב בקירות בתיהם would belong to the owner. Therefore, the נגעי בתים could be understood as a עונש because although everyone benefits, the owner of the house who get נגעי בתים now loses out on the מטמוניות של זהב because it belongs to everyone.

This is an appropriate punishment for such a person because נגעים come as a עונש for לשון הרע צרות עין. Someone who has a צרות עין-selfish, as the Gemara in Arachin 16a says ועל צרות העין דכתיב ובא אשר לו הבית but is not מכניס אורח. Such a person has a narrow perspective because he sees how things are only for himself. Therefore, as a punishment, he gets נגעי בתים and what happens in his house becomes good news for everybody because everyone else gets מטמוניות של זהב and he doesn’t. So this is very much a מדה כנגד מדה for him having a narrow view only seeing things from his perspective because he now sees that although it seems like bad news, its nevertheless good news for everybody.

Another message to the בעל לשון הרע with the מטמוניות של זהב in the walls is that in spite of the fact that on the surface there is a נגע, nevertheless if a person can go beyond the surface, he will find the gold. So the בעל לשון הרע is judging people based on what he sees on the surface. However, if he would be able to look beyond the surface, then he might be able to see that there are מטמוניות של זהב within this person.

In general, Lashon Hara is about people who are judgmental and being sure that things are as they appear to them. He sees everything as black and white and therefore feels like he could say whatever he wants about a person. But this could be why נגעים come in all different colors and shades to teach the מצורע that it’s not always black and white rather there are many shades and he might not be seeing things the way they really are Similarly, when he comes to ask the Kohen to check the נגע, even if he is a Talmid Chacham, he must say כנגע נראה לי בבית which is the same idea that his תיקון is recognizing that not everything is so clear cut.

But not only do people have a hard time accepting the fact that not everything is black and white in the world, in their own lives they can’t live with doubt and uncertainty. The Gemara in Arachin 8b says צדקתך כהררי אל אלו נגעי אדם משפטיך תהום רבה אלו נגעי בתים. Rashi explains that the reason why נגעי אדם are צדק, like a חסד, is because in one week the person knows whether he is טהור or ודאי חלוט. תוספות there explains that נגעי בתים can take up to three weeks until a person knows. We see that even though the certainty by נגעי אדם is that he might for sure be טמא, it is still viewed as a חסד to know for sure as opposed to by נגעי בתים where one is still unsure after week one and might not know until after three weeks. Human nature is that we prefer certainty over uncertainty regardless of if it is good or bad, and therefore the challenge is to be able to contain, embrace, and work with uncertainty.

The Haftorah for Parshas Metzorah discusses how four מצורעים were the bearers of good news. There was a famine which resulted in inflated prices because of the little food. Elisha prophesized that a miracle would occur the next day and food would be so plentiful that it would be bought at unbelievably low prices. The news that the prophecy had come true came from the מצורעים who were on the outside. Firstly, it could be said that this was a תיקון for the מצורעים because a מצורע is someone who spoke לשון הרע and there תיקון was they were the bearers of good news. Additionally, it’s interesting to note that it was specifically the מצורעים, who are unholy and impure and are outside the מחנה ישראל, they were זוכה to identify the opportunity that presented itself that they brought the food to the Jewish people. We see sometimes in Jewish history that the insiders might not be aware of the dangers and opportunities that present themselves and it’s only because of those that are outsiders and unfortunately less holy that are able to realize the dangers and identify the opportunities.

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