The Blessings of Parenthood

Parashat Tazria
Lev. 12:1 – 13:59


One of the earliest lessons that the student of Torah learns is that there is no subject on which the Torah is silent. Here, in between verses filled with birth and ritual purity, lies the core of Jewish teaching on the importance of parenting and covenantal living. There is no act of Jewish living that is free from this focus on the personal and private covenant we establish with the Holy One of Blessing.

Often lost in this portion because of our modern sensibilities about the beauty of childbirth, is the importance of reestablishing and reengaging the covenantal relationship with the Creator of All. Here we have just become the creator of life. So that we do not become filled with the hubris of creators and distracted from the essential teaching of sacred literature, Torah quickly focuses us back onto the Creator of creators. Much like the shattering of a glass is meant to draw our attention back into the world at moment of highest celebration at a wedding, this portion draws us back into the true path of blessing, living with the Holy One as an ever-present force in our lives.

The greatest fear of the Torah seems to be the overwhelming draw of idolatry in a free world. Throughout the wanderings in the wilderness and into the conquest and establishment of the Temple period, idolatry was a constant drain on the collective energy of the Jewish people. Over and over again, we are admonished to live in covenant, to reject the temporal and pursue the Eternal, to lift ourselves above and seek relationship with the Almighty.

And so, in this moment of great personal creativity, when life blossoms forth and all seems right with the world, we are drawn by Torah to say a prayer, to cleanse ourselves and reestablish the lines of communication with our sacred guide who brought us all into the world and nurtured us on the journey.

As a Reform Jew, I have recoiled at passages like this in the past because of its seeming inconsistency in our lives today. We know that parenthood is a blessing and that bringing life into this world is a great mitzvah. The Torah seems to direct us to the issue of impurity. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a Jew trying to live out my own personal covenantal relationship with the Creator, knowing the importance that the Torah places on this relationship is empowering.

The Talmud recognizes this best in Niddah 31a when it suggests that there are three partners in the procreation of a person: the father, the mother and the Holy One of Blessing. While the parents create the body, it is the Holy One who, in breathing the ruah into the child, creates its soul. And just maybe that is why Parashat Tazria is here, to acknowledge to the world that we are all partners and that the blessing is in the relationship.