When we encounter such aspects of life, we must nonetheless remain undefiled: we should pay their enticements no mind, remaining staunchly true to our true selves and our Divine mission. By not succumbing to the allurements of the material world, we will be able to proceed to the next stage in this process: elevating the material world itself, transforming it into an expression of Divinity (i.e., revealing that the “blood” itself is undefiled). The required period of waiting will then be over,
5 If she gives birth to a female child, she becomes ritually defiled—to the same degree as she does during her menstruation period—and remains so for two weeks instead of one. She must immerse herself in a mikveh after these two weeks have passed; this immersion purifies her from the ritual defilement caused by the birth. Her transitional period, too, is twice that of a woman who gives birth to a boy: she will remain in this state—during which defilement-by-bleeding is deferred, her uterine blood is not a source of defilement, and she is forbidden to eat consecrated food or enter the Sanctuary—for 66 additional days. Similarly, she may only eat terumah after nightfall following the 80th day, and she may only eat sacrificial meat and enter the Tabernacle precincts the following morning.
6 When the period of her purification has been completed, whether the 40 days for a son or the 80 days for a daughter, then, the following morning (i.e., of the 41st or 81st day, respectively), she must bring a sheep in its first year as an ascent-offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin-offering to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and give them to the priest. Although the woman has committed no sin by giving birth, she is nevertheless required to bring a sin-offering in order that the birth contribute toward the eventual full atonement for Eve’s sin of having eaten of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, part of the corrective punishment for which was that childbirth be painful.
7 The priest must first offer up the sin-offering before God and thereby effect atonement for her. Inasmuch as until this point she was forbidden to eat sacrificial meat or enter the Tabernacle precincts, she was considered “defiled” in that regard. Thus—through the sin-offering—she will be purified, not only in fact but also in name, from the ritual defilement that she contracted when she delivered a child from the source of her blood, and from that time on be allowed to eat sacrificial meat and enter the Tabernacle precincts. After offering up her sin-offering, the priest must offer up her ascent-offering. This is the law that applies to a woman who gives birth, whether to a male or a female.
8 If she cannot afford a sheep for her sin-offering, she may—instead of bringing a sheep for an ascent-offering and a fowl for a sin-offering—take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and offer up one as an ascent-offering and one as a sin-offering. The priest must first effect atonement for her through the sin-offering and she will thus be rid of this defilement. He must then offer up the ascent-offering on her behalf.
