{"id":44945,"date":"2018-07-09T18:51:13","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-102\/"},"modified":"2022-06-27T08:54:36","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T05:54:36","slug":"wall-102","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-102\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Leviticus-12"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"102","date":"20260119","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"12","chapter_main_number":"102","books_group":"Torah","hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"posts":[{"order":1,"id":"45030","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Leviticus 12 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Leviticus 12 - Judy Hammond","slug":"leviticus-12-judy-hammond","old_id":"45030","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"102","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Leviticus 12","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/leviticus-chapter-12-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"12","chapter_main_number":"102","date":"20260119","wall_id":"102"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"106000","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Purification - And Healing ","post_title":"Purification - And Healing","slug":"purification-and-healing","old_id":"106000","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"102","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And also atonement for untoward things she might have said in the moment\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

On the completion of her period of purification, for either son or daughter, she shall bring to the priest, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering (verse 6).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why does the woman have to bring a sin offering after giving birth? This seems antithetical to the Torah commandment to be fruitful and multiply! One school of thought is that the sin offering is meant to atone for anything the woman might have said during the pangs of childbirth. Ibn Ezra believes this is for generic unseemly things that she may have yelled. Ramban, quoting the Gemara, focusing on a more specific pronouncement. During childbirth, the mother may have sworn that she would never sleep with her husband again to avoid having to go through childbirth again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Kli Yakar takes a different approach altogether. The sin offering is part of the atonement process for the sin of Eve. After Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, God punished Adam that he would have to till the soil to get food and Eve that she would have pain in childbirth. Soloveitchik offers a slightly different version of this idea. The connection to Eve is not with the sin offering, but rather to the time the mother must wait in a state of impurity. Adam and Eve could not wait a few hours until they ate from the tree of knowledge. Therefore, a mother must wait a certain period of time after giving birth before she can be pure again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is interesting that the father has no part of this chapter at all. It's possible that the Torah established this time period of impurity in order to protect the mother. By forcing her to sit out, it allows the mother to heal from the delivery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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She has taught Bible for the Wexner Heritage program, and she is also an adjunct faculty member of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, where she teaches the Pedagogy of Tanakh. \r\nShe received her BA in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, is a graduate of the Drisha Institute's Scholars Circle, and completed her PhD in Midrash at the University of Pennsylania in 2010 as a Wexner Graduate fellow. Dr. Jacobowitz is currently at work on a parsha book, geared towards parents reading to young children. Her research interests include the spiritualizing tactics of Midrash, gender and the body in the Bible and Rabbinics, purity and impurity, and the contemporary use of Midrash. She lives in Teaneck, NJ with her husband, Ronnie Perelis, and their four children.","short_description":"Dr. Tammy Jacobowitz is the chair of the Tanakh department at the SAR High School in Riverdale, NY,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34286,"alt":"","title":"tammy j","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","width":512,"height":768,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","medium_large-width":512,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","large-width":512,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","1536x1536-width":512,"1536x1536-height":768,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","2048x2048-width":512,"2048x2048-height":768,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","post_full_size-width":512,"post_full_size-height":768,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"102","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The midrash replaces what is missing in the text: God, and God\u2019s presence and intimacy","post_main_content_content":"

God\u2019s presence permeates the whole of the book of Leviticus. The priests direct the cultic service of God, who resides at the center of the camp. And yet, God is largely absent-- in an immediate sense -- from the book. God is impersonal and removed, in whose presence the only proper response is silence. No one, not even Moses, speaks to God, although God speaks to humans. The High Priest, who gains access to the holiest depths of the sanctuary on the holiest day of the year, does not confront God directly. In Leviticus, the average person achieves forgiveness just by performing the required ritual acts. Atonement does not depend on the will of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Contrast this with the portrait of God which emerges in the Midrash on Leviticus 12. In response to the opening verse, \u201cWhen a woman conceives and bears a male child,\u201d Leviticus Rabbah highlights the missing character in that verse: God. In the Midrash, God is the personal, providential caretaker of each human being, From the earliest stage of life as \u201cthe whitest drop,\u201d God provides for each person\u2019s needs, overcoming all obstacles in the path of a healthy birth. In focusing on the fetus, the rabbis frame the relationship between God and each human being as always already present, even as the person himself is still in formation. In the Midrash, God\u2019s involvement is exquisitely intimate. The relationship with God is imagined within that impossibly small space-- the womb-- drawing God into the personal universe of each and every human being. God is man\u2019s companion, friend, nurturer, parent, and caregiver.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Leviticus, God resides in the details of the cult. Drawing from the verses, the Midrash invites its readers to feel God more intimately in their lives. Rather than focus in Leviticus 12 on the mother and her postpartum rituals, the Midrash directs us to our common origin as a fetus. From there we can recover the site of our earliest relationship with God. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

If we allow it, those recovered memories can catalyze even deeper closeness and intimacy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

illustration: Michal Ben Hemo<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45004,"alt":"","title":"\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1","caption":"","description":"\u05d0\u05d9\u05d5\u05e8: \u05de\u05d9\u05db\u05dc \u05d1\u05df \u05d7\u05de\u05d5","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1.jpg","width":900,"height":386,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1-300x129.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":129,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1-768x329.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":329,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":386,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":386,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":386,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":386,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0_\u05d9\u05d1.jpg","home_baner-width":900,"home_baner-height":386}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Godless Rituals","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The midrash replaces what is missing in the text: God, and God\u2019s presence and intimacy","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":5694,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/main-1658.jpg","width":900,"height":386,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/main-1658-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/main-1658-300x129.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":129,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/main-1658-768x329.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":329,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/main-1658.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":386,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/main-1658.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":386,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/main-1658.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":386,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/main-1658.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":386,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/main-1658.jpg","home_baner-width":900,"home_baner-height":386}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"12","chapter_main_number":"102","date":"20260119","wall_id":"102"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"754","name":"Childbirth","old_id":"1154"}]},{"order":4,"id":"45079","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Why Aren\u2019t Jewish Women Circumcised? ","post_title":"Why Aren\u2019t Jewish Women Circumcised?","slug":"why-arent-jewish-women-circumcised","old_id":"45079","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":44911,"post_title":"Elana Stein Hain","slug":"elana-stein-hain","old_id":"44911","first_name":"Elana ","last_name":"Stein Hain ","description":"Dr. Elana Stein Hain is Scholar in Residence and Director of Faculty at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, where she serves as lead faculty and oversees the content of lay and professional leadership programs. Elana also leads the Created Equal research team.Elana earned her doctorate in Religion from Columbia University, and has also served for eight years as a clergy member on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at both Lincoln Square Synagogue and the Jewish Center. 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Why aren\u2019t Jewish women circumcised? Professor Shaye Cohen, in his book by that title, outlines four responses to this question from medieval Jewish scholars. One answer offered is that observance of ritual purity law for women <\/span>is <\/span><\/i>what circumcision is for men; it is a covenantal marker (see Bekhor Shor\u2019s commentary<\/span> here<\/span><\/a>). I believe Vayikra 12 contains the roots of this concept.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Its opening verses stipulate that a woman who births a boy is ritually impure like a <\/span>niddah<\/span><\/i> for the first 7 days postpartum, and on the 8<\/span>th<\/span> day the boy is to be circumcised. But a woman who births a girl is ritually impure like a <\/span>niddah <\/span><\/i>for the first 14 days, or two weeks, postpartum. Closer examination reveals a parallel between the circumcision of the boy and the second week of <\/span>niddah<\/span><\/i> for the girl: both happen\/begin on day 8.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On day 8 of life, a Jewish boy enters the covenant through a procedure which impacts his reproductive organs, marking him as a link in the chain of the Jewish People. Any future biological offspring are born of this marked organ. On day 8 of life, a Jewish girl enters the covenant, not through her own procedure but through her mother\u2019s proxy procedure: the mother keeps an extra 7 days of ritual impurity on behalf of a daughter who will herself keep ritual purity law if and when she is able to bear children. Thus, any of the daughter\u2019s future biological offspring will be born of this ritual observance.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If this reading is correct, it reinforces a fundamental truth about both covenantal entries: how much they fuse the identities of one generation and the next. In these moments, parents set up their children to take their place, though the children do not know it at the time.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To be sure, this model of covenant is not one-size-fits-all. For reasons of fertility, gender identity, other circumstances and\/or personal choices, there are people for whom this picture does not resonate. And this deserves recognition. Nonetheless, the blending indicated in this model between parent and child has broad familiarity to anyone who has been someone\u2019s parent or someone\u2019s child. These rituals, appearing here as a cornerstone of covenant, challenges us to consider how, in a world in which differentiation and individualized identities are so valued, transmission of covenant can be done well from one generation to the next.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"102","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Uniting the life of the soul with the passions of the body, and governing both with humility, self-restraint and love","post_main_content_content":"

The sign of the covenant is circumcision, the commandment given in the first chapter of this week\u2019s parsha, Tazria. For faith to be more than the worship of power, it must affect the most intimate relationship between men and women. In a society founded on covenant, male-female relationships are built on something other and gentler than male dominance, masculine power, sexual desire and the drive to own, control and possess. The alpha male must become the caring husband. Sex must be sanctified and tempered by mutual respect. The sexual drive must be circumcised and circumscribed so that it no longer seeks to possess, and is instead content to love.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is thus more than an accidental connection between monotheism and monogamy. Although biblical law does not command monogamy, it nonetheless depicts it as the normative state from the start of the human story: Adam and Eve, one man, one woman. Whenever in Genesis a patriarch marries more than one woman there is tension and anguish. The commitment to one God is mirrored in the commitment to one person.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The love of husband and wife \u2013 a love at once personal and moral, passionate and responsible \u2013 is as close as we come to understanding God\u2019s love for us and our ideal love for Him. When Hosea says, \u201cYou will know the Lord,\u201d he does not mean knowledge in an abstract sense. He means the knowledge of intimacy and relationship, the touch of two selves across the metaphysical abyss that separates one consciousness from another. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

That is the meaning of one of the definitive sentences in Judaism: \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength\u201d (Deut. 6:5).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Judaism from the beginning made a connection between sexuality and violence on the one hand, marital faithfulness and social order on the other. Not by chance is marriage called kiddushin, \u201csanctification.\u201d Like covenant itself, marriage is a pledge of loyalty between two parties, each recognizing the other\u2019s integrity, honouring their differences even as they come together to bring new life into being. Marriage is to society what covenant is to religious faith: a decision to make love \u2013 not power, wealth or force majeure \u2013 the generative principle of life.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Just as spirituality is the most intimate relationship between us and God, so sex is the most intimate relationship between us and another person. Circumcision is the eternal sign of Jewish faith because it unites the life of the soul with the passions of the body, reminding us that both must be governed by humility, self-restraint and love.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: The Circumcision of Desire (Covenant & Conversation, Tazria-Metzora 5775)<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":93326,"alt":"","title":"pro30-man woman couple love","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love.jpg","width":1280,"height":853,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":853,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":853,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Circumcised And Circumscribed","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Uniting the life of the soul with the passions of the body, and governing both with humility, self-restraint and love","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":93326,"alt":"","title":"pro30-man woman couple love","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love.jpg","width":1280,"height":853,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":853,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":853,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro30-man-woman-couple-love-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"12","chapter_main_number":"102","date":"20260119","wall_id":"102"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"381","name":"love","old_id":"781"},{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"480","name":"Holiness","old_id":"880"},{"term_id":"549","name":"Circumcision","old_id":"949"},{"term_id":"574","name":"Sex","old_id":"974"}]},{"order":6,"id":"45081","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Is Giving Birth A Dirty Sin? ","post_title":"Is Giving Birth A Dirty Sin?","slug":"is-giving-birth-a-dirty-sin","old_id":"45081","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"102","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A surprising - even humorous - rabbinic answer","post_main_content_content":"

It's a hard chapter to read. Almost every one of chapter 12's eight short verses says something that evokes reactions from puzzlement to discomfort to outrage. To grapple with these challenges, we need to listen most carefully to something which is not said.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's students ask him one of the most troubling questions the chapter demands that we ask. What has this poor woman done to deserve this? Impurity? A sin offering? She should get a prize, a medal of bravery, a certificate of honor! A woman who gives birth fulfills mankind's first, and ultimate, commandment, one of the highest expressions of <\/span>imitatio dei<\/span><\/i>. In partnership with God, she has become a creator. For this she brings a sin offering?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What Rabbi Shimon answers might bring a knowing smile to anyone who has witnessed or experienced childbirth. Her sin is taking an oath that she won't keep, an oath heard from time to time in the throes of labor, sometimes accompanied by an accusing glare at the husband- \"I will never, EVER, do this again!\" (Nidda 31b).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It's hard to imagine Rabbi Shimon wasn't himself smiling when he said it, but it's what he isn't saying that is truly profound.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The mother's sacrifice is a particular type of <\/span>chatat<\/span><\/em> called an \"<\/span>oleh veyored<\/span><\/em>\", meaning, a korban <\/em>which offers a variety of payment plans depending on financial ability. When the Torah introduced it in chapter 5, we learned that it is brought for two basic reasons: a false oath, or touching something impure. Which one of those would you think best fits the situation of the woman who has just given birth? If you read the chapter 12, the answer is completely obvious. The woman becomes impure immediately after birth, and the korban is said to \"atone for her, and purify her from the source of her blood.\" Clearly, her sin is impurity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Shimon <\/span>refuses<\/b> to read the Torah as a text which considers the impurity that accompanies childbirth to be sinful. He <\/span>chooses<\/b> instead to hear in God's word a rich humor informed by human experience. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is he wrong?<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102500,"alt":"","title":"-621cdfd04d037--621cdfd04d038gen18-lol laugh.png","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621cdfd04d037-621cdfd04d038gen18-lol-laugh.png.png","width":1280,"height":917,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621cdfd04d037-621cdfd04d038gen18-lol-laugh.png-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621cdfd04d037-621cdfd04d038gen18-lol-laugh.png-300x215.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":215,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621cdfd04d037-621cdfd04d038gen18-lol-laugh.png-768x550.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":550,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621cdfd04d037-621cdfd04d038gen18-lol-laugh.png-1024x734.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":734,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621cdfd04d037-621cdfd04d038gen18-lol-laugh.png.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":917,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621cdfd04d037-621cdfd04d038gen18-lol-laugh.png.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":917,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621cdfd04d037-621cdfd04d038gen18-lol-laugh.png-1200x860.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":860,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/621cdfd04d037-621cdfd04d038gen18-lol-laugh.png-586x420.png","home_baner-width":586,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Is Giving Birth A Dirty Sin?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A surprising - 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He's originally from Minneapolis, MN.","short_description":"Samuel Blustin is 5th year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":44970,"alt":"","title":"samuel blustin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/samuel-blustin-e1543695813134.jpg","width":454,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/samuel-blustin-e1543695813134-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/samuel-blustin-e1543695813134-213x300.jpg","medium-width":213,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/samuel-blustin-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/samuel-blustin-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/samuel-blustin-e1543695813134.jpg","1536x1536-width":454,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/samuel-blustin-e1543695813134.jpg","2048x2048-width":454,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/samuel-blustin-1200x801.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":801,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/samuel-blustin-e1543695813134-298x420.jpg","home_baner-width":298,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"102","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A message to take the giving, and taking, and maybe also the tinkering, of life more seriously","post_main_content_content":"

At the end of November, a news story broke: \u201cChinese scientist creates world's first genetically edited babies\u201d. The unconfirmed experiment, which was illegal in China, altered the genes of twin girls, whose father was HIV-positive and mother HIV-negative, so that they could not contract HIV. The news caused an uproar across the world. Experts are worried about the unintended health consequences, both for the children and for their potential offspring, since we can\u2019t actually map out the entire human genome, and therefore can\u2019t anticipate how one change may affect the body in unintended ways. In subverting worldwide standards, this scientist decided to take matters into his own hands and play God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Whenever we attempt to play God, we enter into dangerous territory. Leviticus 12 explains that a woman, after a period of rest and time apart from community, brings a chatat, purification, offering, in addition to an elevation offering giving thanks to the Lord. Perhaps this is because a woman\u2019s ability to birth new life is only paralleled by the Creator\u2019s own ability.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why, though, does she need purification? Because life and death are the Creator\u2019s domain. This is the idea of the purity laws, as we see in the previous chapter. \u201cIf an animal that you may eat has died, anyone who touches its carcass shall be unclean until evening\u201d (Leviticus 11:39). Shortly afterwards, it states the reason:\u201cFor I the LORD am your God: you shall\u00a0<\/span>sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy\u201d (Lev. 11:44). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Death, like life, is in the realm of the holy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When we return, we must purify ourselves, or as Everett Fox says, become \u201cdecontaminated from the state of danger between life and death that childbirth represents\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In a world without a Temple, \u201cpure\u201d and \u201cimpure\u201d may not be categories we use to guide our lives. So what can this mean for us? Perhaps it can teach us to take the giving of life and the taking of life more seriously. And maybe the tinkering of life as well. Do the potential benefits of \u201cplaying God\u201d outweigh the potentially disastrous consequences?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Jackie Niam \/ shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45090,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1079982929","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929.jpg","width":8889,"height":5556,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-300x188.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":188,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-768x480.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":480,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-1024x640.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-1200x750.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":750,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-672x420.jpg","home_baner-width":672,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Playing God","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A message to take the giving, and taking, and maybe also the tinkering, of life more seriously","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45090,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1079982929","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929.jpg","width":8889,"height":5556,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-300x188.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":188,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-768x480.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":480,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-1024x640.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-1200x750.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":750,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1079982929-672x420.jpg","home_baner-width":672,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"12","chapter_main_number":"102","date":"20260119","wall_id":"102"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"401","name":"Life","old_id":"801"},{"term_id":"756","name":"Science","old_id":"1156"}]},{"order":8,"id":"45067","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Blood of Purification ","post_title":"Blood Of Purification","slug":"blood-of-purification","old_id":"45067","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":44687,"post_title":"Tamar Kamionkowski","slug":"tamar-kamionkowski","old_id":"44687","first_name":"Tamar","last_name":"Kamionkowski ","description":"Dr. Tamar Kamionkowski serves as professor of biblical studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where she has trained rabbis for over 20 years. She holds a B.A from Oberlin College, an M.T.S from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D in Near Eastern and Judaic studies from Brandeis University. Tamar is the author of Leviticus: A Wisdom Commentary (Liturgical Press, 2018), Gender Reversal and Cosmic Chaos: Studies in the Book of Ezekiel (Sheffield Academic Press, 2003) and co-editor of Bodies, Embodiment and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures (T&T Clark, 2010).","short_description":"Dr. Tamar Kamionkowski is professor of biblical studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where she has trained rabbis for over 20 years.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":44688,"alt":"","title":"tamar kamionkowski","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","width":287,"height":292,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-208x300.jpg","medium-width":208,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","medium_large-width":287,"medium_large-height":292,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","large-width":287,"large-height":292,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","1536x1536-width":287,"1536x1536-height":292,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","2048x2048-width":287,"2048x2048-height":292,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","post_full_size-width":287,"post_full_size-height":292,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-292x420.jpg","home_baner-width":292,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"102","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A feminist reading of the woman\u2019s rituals surrounding childbirth","post_main_content_content":"

Leviticus 12 addresses the ritual impurities that follow childbirth. Although it is the shortest chapter in Leviticus, it raises a variety of questions that have stumped scholars for years. As a feminist reader, I notice a few aspects of the text that are often overlooked.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For example, the text tells us that when a woman is in her postpartum ritual impurity, she may not enter the Sanctuary or come in contact with sacred items. This implies that at any other time, she may enter the Sanctuary and handle sacred items. I may be stating the obvious, but there is often the assumption that the world of the Sanctuary was restricted to men. This is not true. In fact, post-menopausal women may have had the easiest and most routine access to the Divine space!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Leviticus 12 also introduces a phrase that never appears elsewhere in the Bible: d\u2019mai tohorah<\/em>, usually translated as \u201cblood of purification.\u201d After women give birth, they enter into two different stages of ritual impurity. The first stage is compared to the impurity of a menstruant while the second stage is called the period of d\u2019mai tohorah<\/em>. When she completes the waiting time for each stage, she is no longer ritually impure. But, she is not required to launder her clothes or to bathe, as is the prescription for just about every other ritual impurity. Why doesn\u2019t she bathe (what we have come to know as immersing in a mikveh)? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

I suggest that there is something unique about a woman\u2019s discharge after birth. A woman begins with bleeding for a few days, and then over the course of several weeks her discharge begins to lighten in color until it is almost clear with no trace of red. No other discharge shifts from blood red to clear. Perhaps there was a belief that a woman\u2019s own body ritually purifies itself, that the female body transforms the blood into a clear discharge. This would explain why the blood of purification is never used in any other setting and it would explain why the parturient was not required to bathe!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image by Aggie11 \/ shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":41227,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_521912170","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","width":1000,"height":888,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170-300x266.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":266,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170-768x682.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":682,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":888,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":888,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":888,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":888,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170-473x420.jpg","home_baner-width":473,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Blood Of Purification","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A feminist reading of the woman\u2019s rituals surrounding childbirth","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":41227,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_521912170","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","width":1000,"height":888,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170-300x266.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":266,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170-768x682.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":682,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":888,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":888,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":888,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":888,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_521912170-473x420.jpg","home_baner-width":473,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"12","chapter_main_number":"102","date":"20260119","wall_id":"102"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"365","name":"Gender","old_id":"765"},{"term_id":"740","name":"Blood","old_id":"1140"},{"term_id":"742","name":"Purity","old_id":"1142"}]},{"order":9,"id":"73699","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Tazria: Naaman The Aramean Leper ","post_title":"Tazria: Naaman The Aramean Leper","slug":"tazria-naaman-the-aramean-leper","old_id":"73699","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46171,"post_title":"Avner Moriah","slug":"avner-moriah","old_id":"46171","first_name":"Avner ","last_name":"Moriah ","description":"Avner Moriah is a prolific Israel artist who has addressed a wide range of Jewish and Israeli themes during the four decades of his artistic journey. 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The unique illuminated books contain hundreds of original drawings that offer a profound, provocative and humorous perspective. \r\nFor the entire weekly portion series, visit: https:\/\/avnermoriahprints.com\/collections\/parasha\r\nFor more of his work visit: https:\/\/avnermoriah.com\/\r\n","short_description":"Avner Moriah is a prolific Israel artist who is illuminating the entire Chumash.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":46173,"alt":"","title":"avner moriah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679.jpg","width":1387,"height":1425,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-292x300.jpg","medium-width":292,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-768x789.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":789,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-997x1024.jpg","large-width":997,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679.jpg","1536x1536-width":1387,"1536x1536-height":1425,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679.jpg","2048x2048-width":1387,"2048x2048-height":1425,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-1168x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1168,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-409x420.jpg","home_baner-width":409,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1093","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And the prophet Elisha's miraculous cure\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Tazria\u2019 <\/em>describes various skin diseases called tsara\u2019at<\/em>, and tells us that the priests were required to determine the nature of the affliction, the degree of the sufferer\u2019s uncleanness, and the duration of the quarantine.<\/p>\r\n

Avner Moriah\u2019s painting does not relate directly to the parasha<\/em>, but rather to the haftarah<\/em>, found in 2 Kings, which deals with tsara\u2019at<\/em>. We see an apparently naked, white-skinned, bearded man immersed to the waist in water and a second, darker-skinned, man pouring water over his head. Two brown strips of land running parallel to the blue water accent the narrowness of the Jordan River, pictured here with flowers in the foreground. The three blue mountains hint at the land of Aram.<\/p>\r\n

The white-skinned individual is Naaman, a captain in the army of Aram, who was a leper. Hearing from a captive Israelite slave girl that a great Israelite prophet named Elisha could heal him, Naaman traveled to Elisha\u2019s home bearing gifts. The prophet did not come out to meet him but sent a messenger with instructions: \u201cGo and bathe seven times in the Jordan and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean\u201d (2 Kings 5:10). Naaman at first refused, declaring that there were even larger and better rivers in Aram, but he finally agreed and immersed himself in the Jordan, whereupon he was healed. Interestingly, the artist\u2019s image of this scene is similar to a Piero della Francesca Renaissance rendition of a baptism.<\/p>\r\n

Gratefully, Naaman said to Elisha: \u201cNow I know that there is no God in the whole world except in Israel! So please accept a gift from your servant\u201d (2 Kings 5:15). Elisha refused the gift and they parted ways. However, as Naaman was leaving, Elisha\u2019s servant Gehazi ran after him, saying that he was sent to ask for the gifts for two youths that had just arrived from the hill country of Ephraim, and Naaman gave him the gifts that the prophet had refused. When Elisha discovered Gehazi\u2019s perfidy he declared: \u201cSurely, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever and as [Gehazi] left his presence, he was snow white with leprosy\u201d (2 Kings 5:27).<\/p>\r\n

This story of Naaman does not deal with the many different diseases mentioned in Tazria\u2019 <\/em>and Elisha\u2019s role is not like that of the priests, but it does illustrate the essence of uncleanness and impurity. Naaman was a leper and, despite the fact that he was an enemy, Elisha cured him. Naaman then experienced the greatness of the God of Israel and of His prophet, who was able to accomplish what the priests of Aram could not. Elisha did not diagnose Naaman\u2019s disease or see to it that he was isolated to keep the Israelite camp clean and holy. He simply cured him, and in so doing gave a convincing demonstration of the spiritual holiness of Israel.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":73713,"alt":"","title":"27 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Soften my eyes, like Leah\u2019s, who used to look<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>At each child as if he were her only one,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>He alone her evening moon and morning sun,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>A page inscribed to her in a treasured book.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Soften my eyes, like Leah\u2019s, who never took<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>A child\u2019s hug for granted, but used to run<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To bake her children bread when there was none,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To hold each frightened child when forests shook.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Grant me the skill to love \u2014 a mother\u2019s love,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To see a son with Leah\u2019s eyes and grace;<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To hear the silence in a daughter\u2019s sighs;<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To let my glove become a mother\u2019s glove;<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To accept my children\u2019s flaws; and in each face,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To find, reflected, the light of Leah\u2019s eyes.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94002,"alt":"","title":"job10-mother baby pregnant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"The Mother Of The New-Born Child","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Grant me the skill to love \u2014 a mother\u2019s love ","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94002,"alt":"","title":"job10-mother baby pregnant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job10-mother-baby-pregnant-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"12","chapter_main_number":"102","date":"20260119","wall_id":"102"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"604","name":"Mothers","old_id":"1004"}]},{"order":12,"id":"45009","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Leviticus 12 ","post_title":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Leviticus 12","slug":"sefaria-source-sheets-leviticus-12","old_id":"45009","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42228,"post_title":"Sefaria","slug":"sefaria","old_id":"42228","first_name":"","last_name":"Sefaria","description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. 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\u201cSuch Shall Be the Covenant\u201d<\/a> by Mordecai Schwartz: Sources on circumcision and covenant.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLife Cycle Events\u201d<\/a> by Elizabeth Goldstein: How do Jews mark life milestones?<\/p>\r\n

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    \r\n\t
  1. A daughter is twice a son.<\/em> In case the math was confusing\u2026<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Between blood and blood.<\/em> Both during the days of impurity, and the days of purification, the new mother is still recovering from the birth, with all the attendant physiological implications. However, the blood of the time of purification is does not make her impure (verses 4-5). The purification period is simply a matter of time.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Why?<\/em> The law doesn\u2019t hint at a reason - but plenty can be found in the commentators.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. Sin offering?<\/em> The new mother must bring both a burnt offering and a sin offering. Why a sin offering? Is there something sinful about giving birth? There are various responses to this. In any event, please remember that a sin offering (Lev. 4) is not a \u201cpunishment\u201d but rather a purifying sacrifice that can restore balances that have gotten out of whack unintentionally.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  5. A sacrifice for every wallet.<\/em> \u201cIf, however, her means do not suffice for a sheep, she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering\u201d (verse 8).<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Leviticus 12","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"12","chapter_main_number":"102","date":"20260119","wall_id":"102"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/44945"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}