Why Does the Bible Require New Mothers to Atone after Childbirth?

The sections on purity and impurity in the book of Leviticus—which make up nearly a quarter of the book—are some of the most difficult for the modern reader of the Bible. The laws are complicated, the terminology obscure, the theological or moral message (if there is one) far from obvious, and some of the details (leprous houses, impure females) seeming logically or morally suspect. Even for the religiously observant Jewish reader, these passages, dealing with areas of halakhah rendered moot until the ultimate restoration of the Temple, may have little resonance.

One of the most confounding of such passages appears at the beginning of this week’s Torah reading of Tazria (Leviticus 12-13). Here God tells Moses that when a woman gives birth to a child, she is impure for several weeks, after which she must offer two distinct sacrifices: an “olah,” or burnt offering, and a “ḥatat,” or sin offering.

That a woman who gives birth should be required to bring a burnt offering is unsurprising, since this type of sacrifice, entirely consumed by the flames of the altar, is usually brought voluntarily or as part of the daily routine of communal offerings. It even brings to mind the theophany at Mount Sinai, when the Israelites offer such sacrifices at the foot of the mountain. In this sense, the requirement to bring an olah offers a kind of spiritual opportunity for the mother to build on her experience of childbirth, suggesting, perhaps, a parallel between giving birth and God’s revelation to Israel at Sinai.