My Weekly Drash (a mini D'var Torah) - Tazria/Metzora

A major subject in this week's double portion of Tazria/Metzora has to do with ritual impurity. One group of people deemed ritually impure who were required to bring sacrifices were women who had given birth. We're told, "The priest shall make expiation on her behalf; and she shall be pure." (Lev. 12:8) Expiation? Did she do something wrong? Not in the act of giving birth, which is deemed a good thing, but perhaps during the process of it. The Talmud suggests that some women, in the agony of labor, might have screamed that they would never go through this again and wouldn't let their husbands near them. That's not such a good thing. If such statements were considered vows, that's serious business. The purification sacrifice was deemed part of the process of releasing women from such in extremis vows, promoting peace at home.