Leviticus 12:1-15:33
By Rabbi Joseph Ozarowski, provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox Congregations for MyJewishLearning.com
The opening verses of Tazria deal with the various rituals a woman undergoes after childbirth. After the birth of a child she brings two offerings: a year-old lamb or a turtledove or a pigeon as an olah, a burnt offering; and a turtledove or a pigeon as a chatas, a sin offering.
The Talmud questions the order of the offerings as they are described in the Torah, pointing out that when these two offerings are brought as a pair, the chatas is always offered first. Yet in these verses about childbirth, the olah is listed first.
Raba maintains that, in fact, the chatas is brought first. Why, then, is it listed second?
The late Rabbi Menachem Sacks of Chicago, in his wonderful homiletic work, Menachem Tzion, views this sequence as a message on how we ought to view our children’s future.
Parents continually sacrifice for their offspring, with their efforts, funds and time spread out on the altar of child development. The olah and the chatas symbolize the dual nature of parenting.
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