If we were to consider the avos ha’tumah, main categories of spiritual contamination, i.e.: tumas meis, corpse of a human being , sheretz, neveilah, dead bodies of large and eight small mammals, shichvas zera, zav, zavah, various body emissions, niddah, menstruate and yoledes, a woman who has just given birth, we would note that the one common theme among them is death or cessation of life. In one way or another, each one alludes to a termination of life, a lost opportunity for producing life, or a time frame in which reproduction is not a viable condition. Even the new…
In the Talmud Niddah 30b Chazal describe the scenario of an embryo in its mother’s womb. They say that a light burns above his head, so that he is able to see from one end of the world to the other. Man enjoys no greater satisfaction and happiness than during his months in utero. He is also taught the entire Torah. Immediately before he is born, an angel catalyzes him to forget all of his learning. This well-known statement of Chazal stimulates a number of questions. First, why is the child taught in the womb? Would it not have…