Parashat Tazria "Conceives" and Metzora "Infected One"

"BE HOLY FOR I AM HOLY, SAYS OUR GOD"

This Parashah reveals that Torah encompasses teachings for all aspects of human life. These teachings aim to regulate even the most intimate relations of human existence. In the eyes of God nothing is secular and every one of our actions should have a purpose for holiness. Just as none of our actions can be withdrawn from the unity of our life, so, too, God’s ethics revealed in His Torah, cannot be excluded from any of our actions.

Among the teachings about purity, first place is given to the subject of food, as we have seen in the previous Parashah, because our diet intimately affects our whole being. The food we eat and how we eat it - a daily activity - is an outwardly expression of our inner holiness. There are those who see a hygienic purpose in these prohibitions and hold the view that the forbidden foods are not prohibited arbitrarily. Science recognizes that certain animals harbor parasites that are both disease-creating and disease-spreading, thus their flesh could be harmful to humans. The supreme motive, however, of the dietary teachings remains holiness, not as an abstract idea, but as a regulating principle in the everyday lives of men, women, and children.

"For I am Yehovah your God. You shall sanctify yourselves and you shall become holy, for I am Holy; and you shall not contaminate your souls through any creeping thing that moves about on the earth, for I am Yehovah who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am Holy" – Vayikra 11:44-45. These dietary teachings affect our souls because they accustom us to restrain both the growth of desire and the disposition to consider pleasure of eating and drinking as the main purpose of human existence. We should abstain from these foods, not only from personal aversion, but to show our obedience to our Father in Heaven who had desired that we should abstain from them. Respect for these Teachings trains and helps us to subordinate our desire before the will of our Father in Heaven.

After the Dietary Teachings, Torah turns to the spiritual impurity caused by a new life. But why is a woman impure by giving birth? It is to show that the mere fact of giving life is not enough. Life must be a tool used in the service of God. The new mother begins the cleansing process from a period of complete contamination culminating in complete cleanliness by bringing of two offerings, an elevation and a sin offering, symbolizing the desire to achieve closeness to God and to be dedicated to Him.

Vayikra 12:1-8: "And Yehovah spoke to Moshe, saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel, saying, "If a woman conceives, and bears a male child; then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her menstruation, shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying for thirty-three days; she shall touch no consecrated thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying sixty-six days. And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the kohen. Who shall offer it before Yehovah, and provide an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering; and the kohen shall provide an atonement for her, and she shall be clean."'"

Today, it is customary for a woman not to attend the synagogue until the days of her purifications are over. Some rabbis see the holiness of the law of circumcision, which needs to be performed on the eighth day, as the reason for the shorter period of contamination for a male child.

The issue of circumcision is a divisive subject among the Jewish and Gentile believers. Some advocate that the Jewish believer is no longer bound by the Mosaic system of worshiping God, thus there is no longer a requirement to circumcise a believer's son. But, what we have to understand is that the circumcision – Brit Milah - is not a commandment but a covenant between God and Israel. This covenant was first made with Avraham before Torah was given through Moshe (Bereishit 17:10,11). This expression of the Avrahamic covenant is unique to the Jewish people. It was performed to the infant Yeshua not for Him - in His humanity - to become Jewish, but because He was Jewish - He came to this earth into a Jewish family. "And when eight days were completed for His brit milah, Yeshua was given as His name, which He was called by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification according to the Torah given to Moshe were completed, they brought Him up to Yerushalayim to present Him to Yehovah (just as it has been written in the Torah, "Every first-born male that opens the womb shall be called holy to Yehovah") and to offer a korban according to the thing having been said in the Torah, "A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons" (Luke 2:21-24).

So if a believer is Jewish - and God blesses him with a son - circumcision is an act of acknowledging the covenant expressing the family Jewishness and not making the boy Jewish. Circumcision "doesn't save the child, since circumcision doesn't save anyone any more than infant baptism can save an infant. Salvation is always by personal faith in Yeshua. Rather, circumcision is an outward reminder to your child when he grows up that God is faithful to His people and that he needs to give his heart to Messiah for 'the circumcision that is not made with hands'" writes Sam Nadler in his book "Messianic Wisdom." When a Jewish person becomes a believer in Messiah Yeshua, he cannot become un-Jewish. The Avrahamic covenant cannot be undone because it is unconditional. Thus circumcision is part of the believer's desire to worship God in a Jewish way and reflect the covenant that God made with him through Avraham.

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