Parshat HaShavua - Tazria

How incredible it is to learn and relearn Torah such as this week’s Parashat Tazria through the lens of the current moment. Why, the question is asked, is a woman required to bring an offering to God after childbirth? Rabbi David Tzvi Hoffman, focusing his attention on the offering of a “young dove or turtle dove / וּבֶן־יוֹנָ֥ה אוֹ־תֹ֖ר,” (Lev. 12:6) explains that it marked the milestone of her ability to return to the Sanctuary after being unable to for a period of time after childbirth. As Nechama Leibowitz illustrates, the yonah, the dove, is a symbol of homesickness and return; the prophet Isaiah refers to people as “doves returning to their nests / וְכַיּוֹנִ֖ים אֶל־אֲרֻבֹּֽתֵיהֶֽם.” (Is. 60:8) She further connects the idea of a mother returning to the Sanctuary with the idea of bird returning home in the following passage from Tehillim: “The sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, on your altar / גַּם־צִפּ֨וֹר מָ֪צְאָה בַ֡יִת וּדְר֚וֹר קֵ֥ן לָהּ֘ אֲשֶׁר־שָׁ֪תָה אֶפְרֹ֫חֶ֥יהָ אֶת־מִ֖זְבְּחוֹתֶיךָ.” (Ps. 84:4)

Remember also the yonah from the story of Noach. At first, “the yonah did not find a place to rest its foot / וְלֹא־מָֽצְאָה֩ הַיּוֹנָ֨ה מָנ֜וֹחַ לְכַף־רַגְלָ֗הּ.” Then the dove did find dry land, but still not enough to live, instead returning with “an olive leaf plucked in its mouth / עֲלֵה־זַ֖יִת טָרָ֣ף בְּפִ֑יהָ.” (Gen. 8:11) And then, finally, there was enough dry land for the yonah to make a home for itself and enough for humanity to live on land again. The resonance today is profound: we need the hostages released and back home again; only then can we feel at ease in our own homes as well, and that we are living in a world that is fully habitable.

And we pray, always, that God is protecting them now and will bring about their release. In the Midrash, one of the reasons given for a mother’s offering after childbirth is gratitude to “God who protected the fetus / בָּרוּךְ הוּא מְשַׁמְּרוֹ.” (Lev. Rab.14:3) And then there is this explanation offered by Rabbi Levi: “The way of the world is that when a person is incarcerated in prison, no one pays attention to him. If one would come and free him, and take him out of there, wouldn’t he feel a debt of gratitude toward him? So it is that the fetus is located in a mother’s womb and is released and taken out by the Holy Blessed One / רַבִּי לֵוִי אָמַר אוֹחֲרֵי, בְּנֹהַג שֶׁבָּעוֹלָם אָדָם חָבוּשׁ בְּבֵית הָאֲסוּרִין וְאֵין כָּל בְּרִיָּה מַשְׁגַּחַת עָלָיו, בָּא אֶחָד וְהִתִּירוֹ וְהוֹצִיאוֹ מִשָּׁם, אֵינוֹ מַחֲזִיק לוֹ טוֹבָה, כָּךְ הַוָּלָד שָׁרוּי בִּמְעֵי אִמּוֹ וּבָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְהִתִּירוֹ וְהוֹצִיאוֹ מִשָּׁם.” (Lev. Rab. 14:2) While the analogy here to captivity is imperfect, the description of someone in captivity being forgotten and then saved strikes us to the core.

May we soon see the day, with our continuing insistence that the world not forget them, and with God’s help, when all the hostages are released to their families and homes, and to the loving embrace of us all.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head
Rabbinic Advisor