A Taste of Torah in honor of Shabbat
from Rabbi Avi Weiss

Parshat Tazria
3 Nissan 5760 / April 7-8, 2000

FAMILY PURITY AS THE COUNTERPOINT TO CIRCUMCISION

This week's portion begins with discussing a mother's status after childbirth.  The Torah tells us that she becomes temeiah (commonly translated, spiritually impure) "as at the time of her menstruation (niddah)."(Leviticus 12:2)  In the very next sentence, the Torah points out that if the child born is a male, circumcision is to take place on the eighth day.

This is not the only time that the laws of niddah intersect with circumcision.  Consider the first time circumcision is mentioned in the Torah.  There, God commands Avraham (Abraham) to circumcise all males of his household.  (Genesis 17:9-14)  Precisely at that time, God also reveals that a child will be born to Sarah, Avraham's wife.  (Genesis 17:19)  When Sarah hears the news, she laughs.  The Torah explains her laughter by pointing out that Sarah had aged and she was no longer menstruating.  In the words of the Torah, "Sarah was old, well on in years, the manner of women had ceased to be with Sarah." (Genesis 18:11)  Here again, there is a confluence between circumcision and niddah. 

Circumcision is also prominent in the Moshe (Moses) narrative.  While on his way to Pharoah to demand that the Jews be freed, Moshe finds himsel  in a terrible predicament-one of his sons is close to death.  Tzipporah, Moshe's wife, steps in and saves the child by circumcising him.  She then declares, " a bridegroom's bloodshed was because of circumcision."  (Exodus 4:26)  Note how circumcision is here linked to the blood of bridegroom.  By definition, blood, for a groom, hints to the menstrual blood of the bride as well.

Not coincidentally, the circumcision of all of the males in Shechem, is in the very same narrative as the sexual violation of Dina.  (Genesis 34) 

Additionally, the sentence from which it is deduced that the blood of circumcision was placed on the door posts of Jewish homes before the Exodus from Egypt deals with blood of birth (dam leidah) which as noted is treated as dam niddah -- the time of menstruation.  (See Rashi on Exodus 12:6 and Ezekiel 16:6.) 
 
Many wonder what is the counterpoint for circumcision relative to women.  These texts seem to teach that the laws of niddah, the laws of family purity, is that counterpoint. Interestingly, milah and niddah are not only mentioned  together, but they have similar meanings.  The Hebrew for circumcision is milah, which according to Rabbi Sampson Raphael Hirsch comes from the word mul, meaning "opposite." Niddah has a comparable meaning -- "separate." 

The repetitive linkage of male circumcision and the female status of niddah teaches us a clear message. The Torah sanctifies sexuality, whereas, on the other hand, the mores of the greater society, often pervert it. The words mul and niddah teach this strong difference and charge male and female alike to sanctify life even in the most powerful and intimate realms.