Parshat Tazria
Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer

The sequence of halachos in Parshas Tazria is quite perplexing. The Torah initially deals with tumas yoledes (impurity of a woman who gives birth), intertwining the mitvzah of bris milah, while the bulk and balance of the parshah address the basics of tzora'as. Why are tumas yoledes and bris milah taught alongside tzora'as? It would seem that tumas yoledes should be placed at the end of Parshas Metzora, where other types of tumah which exude from the body are introduced. Furthermore, bris milah is totally unrelated to tumah and bodily infirmity (i.e. tumas yoledes and tzora'as), and it strikes one as unusual that bris milah appears in this week's parshah at all.

Perhaps the Torah utilizes tumas yoledes and bris milah as an introduction to the general category of "Toras Ha-adam" ("The Law of Mankind"), which is the appellation used by Sefer Vayikra for the halachos of tumah and taharah vis a vis the human body. The Torah is instructing us that birth - the beginning of each human life - contains the potentiality for both holiness as well as defilement, with bris milah reflecting the former and tumas yoledes symbolizing the latter. We are cautioned that humans are endowed with capabilities of perfection and ruination, and use of the body for the Torah's goals sanctifies the body. At the same time, physical acts which violate the Torah spiritually degrade and defile the body. In this light, Chazal explain throughout the forthcoming parshiyos that many of the subsequent forms of bodily tumah which are taught correlate to negative middos and actions, similar to biblical and rabbinic exegesis that positive physical features of certain tzaddikim were reflective of an elevated state of spiritual perfection.

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