{"id":13063,"date":"2010-04-14T18:02:25","date_gmt":"2010-04-14T18:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/context_and_questions_simcha_or_sin\/"},"modified":"2015-11-01T11:04:57","modified_gmt":"2015-11-01T16:04:57","slug":"context_and_questions_simcha_or_sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/context_and_questions_simcha_or_sin\/","title":{"rendered":"Context &#038; Questions: Simcha or Sin?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Context<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Parshat Tazria opens with one of the strangest examples of biblical ritual \u201cimpurity\u201d: <i>tumat yoledet<\/i>, <i>tuma<\/i> resulting from childbirth.<\/p>\n<p>The Torah relates that, following the birth of a male child, a childbearing mother enters a seven-day period of tuma, while following the birth of a female child, a fourteen-day period of <i>tuma <\/i>is mandated. In each case, these days of <i>tuma <\/i>are then followed by much lengthier periods (thirty-three days after the birth of a male child and sixty-six days after the birth of a female child) of modified separation from sanctified objects.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, at the close of each extended period, the mother brings a burnt offering and a sin offering to the Temple to mark her full reentry into society.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><b>Questions<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Bearing a child is clearly one of the most highly sanctified acts possible; the first divine blessing\/commandment given to man while still in the Garden of Eden; the clearest demonstration of man\u2019s partnership with God. Why, then, does a woman automatically incur a state of tumah as a result of childbirth?<\/p>\n<p>What is the significance of the different separation periods mandated in response to the birth of a male and female child, respectively? Aren\u2019t all children of equal value?<\/p>\n<p>Finally, and most problematically, what is the significance of the korbanot brought by a yoledet, a childbearing mother? In particular, why does the Torah instruct a woman to bring a sin offering in the aftermath of childbirth? What possible \u201csin\u201d could be associated with the glorious act of bringing a new life into the world?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b><\/b><i>This new feature presents questions on the weekly parsha for your consideration,\u00a0excerpted from Rabbi Shmuel Goldin\u2019s new book,<b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/oupress\/product\/unlocking-the-torah-text-vayikra-leviticus\/\">Unlocking the Torah Text on Vayikra<\/a><\/b>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context Parshat Tazria opens with one of the strangest examples of biblical ritual \u201cimpurity\u201d: tumat yoledet, tuma resulting from childbirth. The Torah relates that, following the birth of a male child, a childbearing mother enters a seven-day period of tuma, while following the birth of a female child, a fourteen-day period of tuma is mandated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":47036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torah"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Context &amp; Questions: Simcha or Sin?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why does a woman become tamei from childbirth one of the most joyous &amp; miraculous life cycle events? Why is the tumah different for having a boy vs a girl?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/context_and_questions_simcha_or_sin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Context &amp; Questions: Simcha or Sin?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why does a woman become tamei from childbirth one of the most joyous &amp; miraculous life cycle events? Why is the tumah different for having a boy vs a girl?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/context_and_questions_simcha_or_sin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-14T18:02:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-01T16:04:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Unlocking-the-Torah-Text-Vayikra.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2892\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Shmuel Goldin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Shmuel Goldin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/context_and_questions_simcha_or_sin\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/context_and_questions_simcha_or_sin\/\",\"name\":\"Context & Questions: Simcha or Sin?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/context_and_questions_simcha_or_sin\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/context_and_questions_simcha_or_sin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Unlocking-the-Torah-Text-Vayikra.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-14T18:02:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-01T16:04:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/217e8075ad4ddd9f50d6164b8e818c12\"},\"description\":\"Why does a woman become tamei from childbirth one of the most joyous & miraculous life cycle events? 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