Parashat Tazria

Niddah Rest for New Mothers

12 Then Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ² “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, instructing: If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she will be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her niddah she will be unclean. ³ In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin is to be circumcised. ^{[a] 4} She must wait during the blood of purification for 33 days.^[b] She is not to touch any holy thing, nor come into the Sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed. ⁵ But if she bears a female child, then she will be unclean for two weeks, as in her niddah, and she is to wait in the blood of purification for 66 days.

⁶ “When the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she is to bring to the kohen, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, a year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove, for a sin offering. ⁷ He is to present it before Adonai and make atonement for her. Then she will be cleansed from the discharge of her blood. This is the Torah for her who gives birth, whether to a male or a female child. ⁸ If she cannot afford a lamb, then she is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons,^[c] one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. Then the kohen will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.”

Tza’arat: Supernatural Skin Disease

13 Then Adonai spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying: ² “When a man has a swelling on the skin of his body or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes the plague-mark of tza’arat in his flesh, then he should be brought to Aaron the kohen, or to one of his sons, the kohanim. ³ The kohen is to examine the plague of tza’arat on his skin, and if the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the body’s skin, it is the plague of tza’arat. Thus the kohen should examine him and pronounce him unclean. ⁴ If the bright spot is white in the skin of his body, but its appearance is not deeper than the skin and its hair has not turned white, then the kohen is to isolate the infected person for seven days. ⁵ The kohen should examine him on the seventh day, and behold, if he sees the plague has not spread in the skin, then the kohen is to isolate him for seven more days.