This is an abridged version of the essayHoliness and Childbirth, written by Rabbi Sacks in 2009.
In Judaism we sanctify the physical. We use our bodies to serve God. The reason is simple: God created us, and our physical world.
The laws contained in Tazria and Metzora revolve around physical acts leading to impurity, and they lead to many questions about their logic. For instance, why does childbirth render the mother teme’ah (usually translated as “ritually impure”, better understood as “a condition which impedes or exempts from a direct encounter with holiness”)? And why is the period after giving birth to a girl twice that for a boy? Many in Judaism say that we humans will never know God’s logic in this area. But Rambam explains that although we can never know for sure, we can still search for understanding.
The first principle to internalise in the laws of ritual purity and impurity is that God is life. Judaism is not a death-centred culture. We celebrate life. Therefore kedushah (holiness) – a point in time or space where we stand in the presence of God – involves a supreme consciousness of life. That is why the paradigm case of tumah is caused by contact with a corpse. Other cases of tumah include diseases or bodily emissions that remind us of our mortality. God’s domain is life. So we separate it from all intimations of death.
A second principle, equally striking, is the acute sensitivity Judaism shows to the birth of a child. Nothing is more natural. Every living thing engages in procreation. But the Torah goes to great lengths to describe how many of the heroines of the Bible – among them Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Chana – were infertile and had children only through a miracle. The Torah’s message? To be a Jew is to know that every Jewish child is a gift of God. No faith has taken children more seriously or devoted more of its efforts to raising the next generation. Childbirth is miraculous.
We can now offer an explanation for the laws of childbirth. When a mother gives birth, not only does she undergo great risk, she is also separated from what until now has been part of her own body and which has now become an independent person. If that is so in the case of a boy, it is doubly so in the case of a girl – who, with God’s help, will not just live but may herself one day become a source of new life. At one level the laws signal the detachment of life from life. At another, they suggest something more profound. Note the halachic principle, “One who is engaged in a mitzvah is exempt from other mitzvot.”
It is as if God were saying to the mother: for forty days in the case of a boy, and doubly so in the case of a girl, I exempt you from coming before Me in the place of holiness because you are fully engaged in one of the holiest acts of all, nurturing and caring for your child. You do not need to visit the Temple to be attached to life in all its sacred splendour. You are experiencing it yourself, directly and with every fibre of your being. Later you will come and give thanks before Me (together with offerings for having survived a moment of danger). But for now, look upon your child with wonder. For you have been given a glimpse of the great secret, otherwise known only to God.
Childbirth exempts the new mother from attendance at the Temple because her home replicates the experience of the Temple. She now knows what it is for love to beget life, and, in the midst of mortality, to be touched by an intimation of immortality. To be a Jew is to celebrate both creation and Creator. That is the principle that explains many otherwise incomprehensible features of Jewish life.
Around the Shabbat Table
Questions to Ponder
What do you think this concept means: One who is engaged in a mitzvah is exempt from other mitzvot?
Why do you think Judaism is considered a protest against death-centred cultures?
What makes Judaism’s view of physical pleasure unique?
On the Parsha
Written by Sara Lamm
Inspired by the Teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
The Parsha in a Nutshell
Tazria explains ritual purity laws. After childbirth, mothers purify through Mikvah immersion and Temple offerings. Male infants receive brit milah on their eighth day. When tzara’at (supernatural affliction) appears as skin patches or marks on garments, a kohen examines them and pronounces them tahor (pure) or tamei (impure). Those with tzara’at must isolate until healed. Metzora describes the purification ritual using birds, spring water, cedar, scarlet thread, and hyssop. For affected homes, a nineteen-day assessment determines if purification or demolition is needed. For people, a dip in the Mikvah can purify.
Philosophy of Rabbi Sacks
Delving Deeper
Tazria and Metzora contain laws which are among the most difficult to understand. They are all connected to the fact that our souls are embodied in physicality.
Throughout history there have been two distinct and opposing ways of relating to this fact: hedonism (living for physical pleasure) and asceticism (relinquishing physical pleasure). The former worships the physical while denying the spiritual, the latter extols the spiritual at the cost of the physical.
The Jewish way has always been different: to sanctify the physical, using the body to serve God. The reason is simple. We believe with perfect faith that God created us, and our physical world. To be a hedonist is to deny God. To be an ascetic is to deny the goodness of God’s world. But to be a Jew is to celebrate both creation and Creator. This principle explains many of the seemingly illogical features of Jewish law.
Judaism sanctifies the physical, balancing spirituality with worldly goodness. The ritual laws on purity after childbirth exemplify this, acknowledging mortality while celebrating new life. With this perspective, a new mother’s exemption from the Beit HaMikdash is recognition, not punishment: she’s already fully engaged in holiness.
What daily actions help you feel closest to God?
Parsha Activity
The Six Senses
Two teams sit in a circle to practice focused attention - the middle path between indulgence and denial. One team chooses an object in the room without naming it, then players in that team take turns describing sensory details (“It feels smooth”, “It reflects light”). Give up to six clues until someone on the other team guesses correctly or all players are stumped. For the next round, reverse! Now the other team selects a new object and begin giving clues of their own.
What might we discover when we slow down to notice ordinary things with full presence and awareness?
A Story for the Ages
Finding the Balance
The Levinson family lived at full speed. David and Maya were focused on meeting all their targets at work, and their daily fitness goals after work. Their children Eitan and Becky had back-to-back after-school sports to play, and spent their mealtimes glued to their screens, enthusiastically achieving high scores and reaching new game levels. Success was important, and achievements were always a cause of a small celebration, before the next challenge was immediately undertaken.
The family could not have been more different than slow-moving Mrs. Chen, who lived next-door and tended her garden with care. But one winter Eitan broke his leg playing basketball. He told Mrs Chen he was quitting sports, since he would be unable to play for weeks, and she noticed his glum face. The next day she appeared at the house with a pot of soup, fresh bread, and a new perspective.
“I once thought life was about having everything or nothing at all,” she told them during a shared meal. “But neither works. In time I found the answer isn’t in doing it all - nor is it in doing nothing at all. It’s about being present, finding the balance.”
Inspired by these words, the Levinsons began to make small changes in their routine. They started device-free dinners, eating as a family. David baked again. Maya and the children planted a vegetable garden together. They kept their responsibilities but also appreciated the return of all they had missed - the warmth of newly baked bread, genuine laughter during games, connection, and dirt under their fingernails.
Can you think of a small change that would help you better connect with life, God, and the people around you?
On the Haftara
Written by Rabbi Barry Kleinberg
Inspired by the Teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
The Haftara reading
in a Nutshell
Tazria: II Kings 4:42–5:19 Metzora: II Kings 7:3-20 (Ashkenazim & Sephardim) and II Kings 13:23 (Yemenites)
In II Kings 4:42–5:19 (the Haftara for Tazria), the prophet Elisha performs two miracles that demonstrate God’s power and care. First, a man brings Elisha twenty barley loaves and fresh grain as an offering. Elisha tells his servant to use this small batch to feed a hundred people. Miraculously, the food is more than enough, fulfilling God’s promise to nourish the people.
Then Naaman, a respected Syrian army commander, is struck with tzara'at. He learns from a captive Israelite girl that Elisha can heal him. Naaman travels to Elisha, who instructs him to bathe in the Jordan River seven times. Though initially sceptical, Naaman obeys and is healed. He returns to Elisha, acknowledging the only true God and offering a gift, which Elisha refuses. Naaman then asks to take soil from Israel home, and pledges to worship only the God of Israel.
In II Kings 7:3–20 (the Haftara for Metzora), four men suffering from tzara'at are at the gate of Samaria during the siege, and - desperate for food - they decide to surrender to the Aramean camp. To their surprise, they arrive to find it abandoned - God has caused the Arameans to flee in panic after hearing the phantom sounds of a great army. They have left behind food, supplies, and valuables. The lepers inform the city, and the king, unsure whether to believe the news, sends scouts to confirm the miracle.
The people rush out and collect the treasures of the camp, confirming Elisha’s prophecy that food would be plentiful and cheap by the next day. A royal officer who had doubted Elisha’s words sees the abundance but is trampled to death at the city gate, also fulfilling Elisha’s prophecy.
This story contains many themes, such as Divine intervention, prophetic truth, and the reversal of desperation through faith.
Point to Ponder
Both Haftarot contain stories about people suffering from tzara’at. Punishments are often directly related to the sin (a principle known as midda k’neged midda). What do you think the connection is between lashon hara and tzara’at?
Tanach Connections
Parsha & Haftara Links
As noted above, both the Parsha and the two Haftarot contain a link to tzara’at (leprosy) which is a punishment for lashon hara (evil speech). Rabbi Sacks’ words about lashon hara are even more relevant today than they were when he originally wrote them:
“I believe we need the laws of lashon hara now more than almost ever before. Social media is awash with hate.The language of politics has become ad hominem and vile. We seem to have forgotten the messages that Tazria and Metzora teach: that evil speech is a plague. It destroys relationships, rides roughshod over people’s feelings, debases the public square, turns politics into a jousting match between competing egos and defiles all that is sacred about our common life. It need not be like this.”
Rabbi Sacks also quoted Psalm 34:13-14, “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.”
What better advice could we ask for, as true today as it was when written thousands of years ago!
Putting the Haftara into Context
On the Book of II Kings
The life of Elisha
Elisha the prophet was the disciple and successor of Elijah (aka Eliyahu HaNavi). His prophecies are recorded mainly in II Kings, chapters 2–13. After Elijah is taken to heaven in a whirlwind, Elisha receives a “double portion” of his spirit, and begins performing miracles that demonstrate God’s power and compassion. Early on, he performs open miracles including parting the Jordan River, and purifying Jericho’s water.
Over the course of his time as prophet of Israel, Elisha performs many miracles: multiplying oil for a widow, reviving a Shunammite woman’s son after the boy has died, purifying poisoned stew, and feeding a hundred men with a small amount of food. He also heals the Syrian general Naaman of leprosy, and accurately foretells of victories and political changes in Israel.
Elisha serves as a spiritual and political advisor during a turbulent time in Israel’s history, confronting kings and guiding the people. Even after his death, his bones miraculously revive a dead man. His life reflects Divine care, justice, and prophetic authority.
Quote of the Week
“Words wound. Insults injure. Evil speech destroys communities. Language is God’s greatest gift to humankind, and it must be guarded if it is to heal, not harm.”
The Plague of Evil Speech,Tazria, Covenant & Conversation
Further Ponderings
How can you protect yourself from speaking lashon hara?
Do you feel comfortable calling someone out if they are speaking lashon hara?
Written as an accompaniment to Rabbi Sacks’ weekly Covenant & Conversation essay, the
Family Edition
is aimed at connecting teenagers with his ideas and thoughts on the parsha.
With thanks to the Schimmel Family for their generous sponsorship of Covenant &
Conversation, dedicated in loving memory of Harry (Chaim) Schimmel.
“I have loved the Torah of R’ Chaim Schimmel ever since I first encountered it. It
strives to be not just about truth on the surface but also its connection to a
deeper truth beneath. Together with Anna, his remarkable wife of 60 years, they
built a life dedicated to love of family, community, and Torah. An extraordinary
couple who have moved me beyond measure by the example of their lives.” — Rabbi
Sacks
The Parsha in a Nutshell Parshat Metzora continues with the themes we started to see in parshat Tazria, including the process of purification for tsara’at,…
The Parsha in a Nutshell Parshat Metzora continues with the themes from last week’s parsha, including the process of purification for tzara’at, the decay that…
Holiness and Childbirth
Family Edition
Metzora
Inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
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Holiness and Childbirth
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The Summary
This is an abridged version of the essay Holiness and Childbirth, written by Rabbi Sacks in 2009.
In Judaism we sanctify the physical. We use our bodies to serve God. The reason is simple: God created us, and our physical world.
The laws contained in Tazria and Metzora revolve around physical acts leading to impurity, and they lead to many questions about their logic. For instance, why does childbirth render the mother teme’ah (usually translated as “ritually impure”, better understood as “a condition which impedes or exempts from a direct encounter with holiness”)? And why is the period after giving birth to a girl twice that for a boy? Many in Judaism say that we humans will never know God’s logic in this area. But Rambam explains that although we can never know for sure, we can still search for understanding.
The first principle to internalise in the laws of ritual purity and impurity is that God is life. Judaism is not a death-centred culture. We celebrate life. Therefore kedushah (holiness) – a point in time or space where we stand in the presence of God – involves a supreme consciousness of life. That is why the paradigm case of tumah is caused by contact with a corpse. Other cases of tumah include diseases or bodily emissions that remind us of our mortality. God’s domain is life. So we separate it from all intimations of death.
A second principle, equally striking, is the acute sensitivity Judaism shows to the birth of a child. Nothing is more natural. Every living thing engages in procreation. But the Torah goes to great lengths to describe how many of the heroines of the Bible – among them Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Chana – were infertile and had children only through a miracle. The Torah’s message? To be a Jew is to know that every Jewish child is a gift of God. No faith has taken children more seriously or devoted more of its efforts to raising the next generation. Childbirth is miraculous.
We can now offer an explanation for the laws of childbirth. When a mother gives birth, not only does she undergo great risk, she is also separated from what until now has been part of her own body and which has now become an independent person. If that is so in the case of a boy, it is doubly so in the case of a girl – who, with God’s help, will not just live but may herself one day become a source of new life. At one level the laws signal the detachment of life from life. At another, they suggest something more profound. Note the halachic principle, “One who is engaged in a mitzvah is exempt from other mitzvot.”
It is as if God were saying to the mother: for forty days in the case of a boy, and doubly so in the case of a girl, I exempt you from coming before Me in the place of holiness because you are fully engaged in one of the holiest acts of all, nurturing and caring for your child. You do not need to visit the Temple to be attached to life in all its sacred splendour. You are experiencing it yourself, directly and with every fibre of your being. Later you will come and give thanks before Me (together with offerings for having survived a moment of danger). But for now, look upon your child with wonder. For you have been given a glimpse of the great secret, otherwise known only to God.
Childbirth exempts the new mother from attendance at the Temple because her home replicates the experience of the Temple. She now knows what it is for love to beget life, and, in the midst of mortality, to be touched by an intimation of immortality. To be a Jew is to celebrate both creation and Creator. That is the principle that explains many otherwise incomprehensible features of Jewish life.
Around the Shabbat Table
Questions to Ponder
On the Parsha
Written by Sara Lamm
Inspired by the Teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
The Parsha in a Nutshell
Tazria explains ritual purity laws. After childbirth, mothers purify through Mikvah immersion and Temple offerings. Male infants receive brit milah on their eighth day. When tzara’at (supernatural affliction) appears as skin patches or marks on garments, a kohen examines them and pronounces them tahor (pure) or tamei (impure). Those with tzara’at must isolate until healed. Metzora describes the purification ritual using birds, spring water, cedar, scarlet thread, and hyssop. For affected homes, a nineteen-day assessment determines if purification or demolition is needed. For people, a dip in the Mikvah can purify.
Philosophy of Rabbi Sacks
Delving Deeper
Tazria and Metzora contain laws which are among the most difficult to understand. They are all connected to the fact that our souls are embodied in physicality.
Throughout history there have been two distinct and opposing ways of relating to this fact: hedonism (living for physical pleasure) and asceticism (relinquishing physical pleasure). The former worships the physical while denying the spiritual, the latter extols the spiritual at the cost of the physical.
The Jewish way has always been different: to sanctify the physical, using the body to serve God. The reason is simple. We believe with perfect faith that God created us, and our physical world. To be a hedonist is to deny God. To be an ascetic is to deny the goodness of God’s world. But to be a Jew is to celebrate both creation and Creator. This principle explains many of the seemingly illogical features of Jewish law.
Judaism sanctifies the physical, balancing spirituality with worldly goodness. The ritual laws on purity after childbirth exemplify this, acknowledging mortality while celebrating new life. With this perspective, a new mother’s exemption from the Beit HaMikdash is recognition, not punishment: she’s already fully engaged in holiness.
Parsha Activity
The Six Senses
Two teams sit in a circle to practice focused attention - the middle path between indulgence and denial. One team chooses an object in the room without naming it, then players in that team take turns describing sensory details (“It feels smooth”, “It reflects light”). Give up to six clues until someone on the other team guesses correctly or all players are stumped. For the next round, reverse! Now the other team selects a new object and begin giving clues of their own.
What might we discover when we slow down to notice ordinary things with full presence and awareness?
A Story for the Ages
Finding the Balance
The Levinson family lived at full speed. David and Maya were focused on meeting all their targets at work, and their daily fitness goals after work. Their children Eitan and Becky had back-to-back after-school sports to play, and spent their mealtimes glued to their screens, enthusiastically achieving high scores and reaching new game levels. Success was important, and achievements were always a cause of a small celebration, before the next challenge was immediately undertaken.
The family could not have been more different than slow-moving Mrs. Chen, who lived next-door and tended her garden with care. But one winter Eitan broke his leg playing basketball. He told Mrs Chen he was quitting sports, since he would be unable to play for weeks, and she noticed his glum face. The next day she appeared at the house with a pot of soup, fresh bread, and a new perspective.
“I once thought life was about having everything or nothing at all,” she told them during a shared meal. “But neither works. In time I found the answer isn’t in doing it all - nor is it in doing nothing at all. It’s about being present, finding the balance.”
Inspired by these words, the Levinsons began to make small changes in their routine. They started device-free dinners, eating as a family. David baked again. Maya and the children planted a vegetable garden together. They kept their responsibilities but also appreciated the return of all they had missed - the warmth of newly baked bread, genuine laughter during games, connection, and dirt under their fingernails.
On the Haftara
Written by Rabbi Barry Kleinberg
Inspired by the Teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
The Haftara reading
in a Nutshell
Tazria: II Kings 4:42–5:19
Metzora: II Kings 7:3-20 (Ashkenazim & Sephardim) and II Kings 13:23 (Yemenites)
In II Kings 4:42–5:19 (the Haftara for Tazria), the prophet Elisha performs two miracles that demonstrate God’s power and care. First, a man brings Elisha twenty barley loaves and fresh grain as an offering. Elisha tells his servant to use this small batch to feed a hundred people. Miraculously, the food is more than enough, fulfilling God’s promise to nourish the people.
Then Naaman, a respected Syrian army commander, is struck with tzara'at. He learns from a captive Israelite girl that Elisha can heal him. Naaman travels to Elisha, who instructs him to bathe in the Jordan River seven times. Though initially sceptical, Naaman obeys and is healed. He returns to Elisha, acknowledging the only true God and offering a gift, which Elisha refuses. Naaman then asks to take soil from Israel home, and pledges to worship only the God of Israel.
In II Kings 7:3–20 (the Haftara for Metzora), four men suffering from tzara'at are at the gate of Samaria during the siege, and - desperate for food - they decide to surrender to the Aramean camp. To their surprise, they arrive to find it abandoned - God has caused the Arameans to flee in panic after hearing the phantom sounds of a great army. They have left behind food, supplies, and valuables. The lepers inform the city, and the king, unsure whether to believe the news, sends scouts to confirm the miracle.
The people rush out and collect the treasures of the camp, confirming Elisha’s prophecy that food would be plentiful and cheap by the next day. A royal officer who had doubted Elisha’s words sees the abundance but is trampled to death at the city gate, also fulfilling Elisha’s prophecy.
This story contains many themes, such as Divine intervention, prophetic truth, and the reversal of desperation through faith.
Point to Ponder
Both Haftarot contain stories about people suffering from tzara’at. Punishments are often directly related to the sin (a principle known as midda k’neged midda). What do you think the connection is between lashon hara and tzara’at?
Tanach Connections
Parsha & Haftara Links
As noted above, both the Parsha and the two Haftarot contain a link to tzara’at (leprosy) which is a punishment for lashon hara (evil speech). Rabbi Sacks’ words about lashon hara are even more relevant today than they were when he originally wrote them:
“I believe we need the laws of lashon hara now more than almost ever before. Social media is awash with hate. The language of politics has become ad hominem and vile. We seem to have forgotten the messages that Tazria and Metzora teach: that evil speech is a plague. It destroys relationships, rides roughshod over people’s feelings, debases the public square, turns politics into a jousting match between competing egos and defiles all that is sacred about our common life. It need not be like this.”
Rabbi Sacks also quoted Psalm 34:13-14, “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.”
What better advice could we ask for, as true today as it was when written thousands of years ago!
Putting the Haftara into Context
On the Book of II Kings
The life of Elisha
Elisha the prophet was the disciple and successor of Elijah (aka Eliyahu HaNavi). His prophecies are recorded mainly in II Kings, chapters 2–13. After Elijah is taken to heaven in a whirlwind, Elisha receives a “double portion” of his spirit, and begins performing miracles that demonstrate God’s power and compassion. Early on, he performs open miracles including parting the Jordan River, and purifying Jericho’s water.
Over the course of his time as prophet of Israel, Elisha performs many miracles: multiplying oil for a widow, reviving a Shunammite woman’s son after the boy has died, purifying poisoned stew, and feeding a hundred men with a small amount of food. He also heals the Syrian general Naaman of leprosy, and accurately foretells of victories and political changes in Israel.
Elisha serves as a spiritual and political advisor during a turbulent time in Israel’s history, confronting kings and guiding the people. Even after his death, his bones miraculously revive a dead man. His life reflects Divine care, justice, and prophetic authority.
Quote of the Week
“Words wound. Insults injure. Evil speech destroys communities. Language is God’s greatest gift to humankind, and it must be guarded if it is to heal, not harm.”
The Plague of Evil Speech, Tazria, Covenant & Conversation
Further Ponderings
How can you protect yourself from speaking lashon hara?
Do you feel comfortable calling someone out if they are speaking lashon hara?
Written as an accompaniment to Rabbi Sacks’ weekly Covenant & Conversation essay, the Family Edition is aimed at connecting teenagers with his ideas and thoughts on the parsha.
With thanks to the Schimmel Family for their generous sponsorship of Covenant & Conversation, dedicated in loving memory of Harry (Chaim) Schimmel.
Food for Thought
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More on Tazria, Metzora
Is there such a thing as Lashon Tov?
Othello, WikiLeaks, and Mildewed Walls
The Plague of Evil Speech
Othello, Mildewed Walls, and Wikileaks
Words that Heal
The Power of Speech
The Sacrifices of Childbirth