The sacrifices of childbirth.

At the start of this Parachshah is a cluster of laws

that have challenged and puzzled the commentators.

They concern a woman who's just given birth.

If she gives birth to a son, she's unclean for seven days

and must wait for a further 33 days

before coming into contact with holy objects or appearing at the temple.

If she gives birth to a girl, both time periods are doubled.

She's uncleaned for two weeks and must wait a further 66 days.

She then has to bring two offerings, a yearling sheep and a young dove or a turtle dove for a sin offering, and so on.

Now the problems are obvious. Why does she need to bring a sacrifice? We'd understand if she

had to bring a Thanksgiving offering, giving Tazria thanks for her recovery and for her child.

But that's not what she's commanded. Instead, she has to bring a burnt

offering, normally brought for a serious offence, together with the sin offering. But what is her

offense? What's her sin? She's fulfilled the first command in the terror to be fruitful and

multiply. She's done nothing wrong at all. So why does she need atonement? Here are some of the

commentator's suggestions. Rubenu Bachia and Rav Shlama, Freim Ben Arin Lundschitz, the Kliyaka,

both suggest that the offerings recall the sin of Eve in Gun Aden and her punishment from God

that he would make her pain in childbearing very

severe.

Ibn Ezra, following her suggestion in the Talmud, says that a woman during the anguish of labour

may have thought or expressed ideas that were sinful or that she now regrets, such as vowing

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