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2 ‎[1] IF A WOMAN BE DELIVERED. After Scripture concludes the law of clean and unclean food, it deals with human uncleanliness. The Torah starts with the woman who gives birth, because human life begins at birth. Many say that if the woman produces the seed first, then she gives birth to a male. Scripture therefore states, *and bear a man-child*. The wise men of the Greeks similarly believed that the seed is of the woman. The seed of the male congeals. All of the child is created out of the blood of the woman. Note, the meaning of *tazri’a* (be delivered) means will give seed, for a woman is like the ground.
‎[2] The *vav* of *ve-tame’ah* (then shall be unclean) is like the unaspirated *vav* in Arabic. The reason that she is unclean for seven days is that she must wait until she completes a quarter of days. We find a similarity in the days of illness, for a change is seen at the end of the seven days.
‎[3] THE IMPURITY OF. The word *niddat* (impurity of) is a noun. It follows the paradigm of *bizzat* (spoil of). Both words come from a double root.
‎[4] HER SICKNESS. *Devotah* (her sickness) is a noun in the plural. Compare, *madveh* (diseases) in *the evil diseases of Egypt* (Deut. 7:15). The blood that comes out is an illness in the woman’s body.
Version: Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004
Source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH001102376/NLI
License: CC-BY-NC