Parshat Tazria

6 myths

Laws of ritual purity after childbirth and the diagnosis and treatment of tzaraat (skin afflictions). Leviticus 12:1-13:59.
Parshat Tazria 5 min

No Sculptor Can Shape a Child From One Drop as God Does

No sculptor of flesh could shape a man front and back at once, or raise a whole child from a single white drop kept alive in the dark.

CreationAdamUnborn ChildDivine CraftsmanshipMidrash TanchumaThe Womb
Parshat Tazria 5 min

God Fashioned the Child in Water Not on Stone

She was four days into the clean count when she saw blood. It takes about five seconds to learn that fifteen days of counting are gone.

BirthCreationTanchumaEmbryoMiracle
Parshat Tazria 6 min

The Hidden Light of the Womb and the Adulterer's Face

In the sealed dark of the womb God keeps the child from spilling, but an adulterer tells Him to step aside and the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, draws back.

MidrashTanchumaWombAdulteryShekhinahJobBirthMidrash MishleiTorahWisdomSoulWorld To Come
Parshat Tazria 6 min

Rabbah Fled the Tax Collectors and Died Ruling a Leprous Mark Clean

Denounced for hiding twelve thousand students from the poll-tax, Rabbah ran through the marshes of Babylonia until heaven itself summoned him.

Rabbah Bar NachmaniTalmudBabyloniaAngel Of DeathDemonsRitual PurityTax
Parshat Tazria 5 min

Akiva Told Rome Why God Leaves the World Unfinished

Summoned before Rome's ruler and governor, Rabbi Akiva flings a fortune in medicine to the pigs and shows why God left the world unfinished.

Rabbi AkivaTurnus RufusCircumcisionRoman EmpireWisdomHuman Craft
Parshat Tazria 6 min

The Sealed Room Where God Builds Every Body Twice

Two schools fought over the order God assembles a body in, and the winner found the resurrection hiding in the tense of Job's complaint.

ResurrectionBirthWorld To ComeHillelShammaiBodyMidrash