In the case of the birth of a female the days of tumah, impurity, and tohar, cleanliness, are doubled. While the entire period of y’mei tumah v’taharah after a male birth consists of forty days, a female birth requires eighty days. Horav S.R. Hirsch, zl, suggests that the “double” period of time required for a female birth indicates a dual cycle – one for the mother and one for her female child. This extra cycle of tumah v’taharah accomplishes for the female child what the Bris Milah does for a male. The striking characteristic of a Jewish woman, the emblem…
