The Daily Audio Bible

Kashrut for Holiness

11 Adonai spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, ² “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, saying: These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. ³ Whatever has a split, divided hoof and chews cud among the animals—that you may eat.

⁴ “Nevertheless, you should not eat of those that only chew cud, or have a split hoof. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof, is unclean to you. ⁵ The coney, though it chews the cud yet does not have a divided hoof, so it is unclean to you. ⁶ The hare, though it chews the cud, does not split the hoof, so it is unclean to you. ⁷ The pig, though it has a split, divided hoof, does not chew cud, so it is unclean to you. ⁸ You are not to eat meat from them, nor are you to touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you.

⁹ “From all that are in the waters, you may eat whatever has fins and scales, within the waters, in the seas and in the rivers. Those you may eat. ¹⁰ But any that do not have fins and scales in the seas or the rivers, among those that swarm on the waters, or among any of the living creatures that are in the waters, they are loathsome to you. ¹¹ They are to be detestable to you. You shall not eat meat from them and you should detest their carcasses. ¹² Whatever has neither fins nor scales in the waters, that is a detestable thing to you.

¹³ “Among the birds you should detest the following—they are not to be eaten—they are loathsome: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, ¹⁴ the red kite, any kind of black kite, ¹⁵ any kind of raven, ¹⁶ the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, ¹⁷ the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, ¹⁸ the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, ¹⁹ the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.

²⁰ “All flying insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you. ²¹ Yet you may eat from all winged creeping things that go on all fours, which have legs above their feet, with which to hop on the earth. ²² You may eat from any kind of locust, any kind of katydid, any kind of cricket and any kind of grasshopper. ²³ But all winged creeping things that have four feet are loathsome to you.

²⁴ “Moreover, by these also you will become unclean: whoever touches their carcasses shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁵ Whoever carries any part of their carcass is to wash his clothes, and will be unclean until the evening. ²⁶ “Every animal with a separating hoof but not split, or does not chew cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them will become unclean. ²⁷ So whatever moves on its paws, among all animals that go on all fours, is unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean until the evening. ²⁸ Whoever carries their carcasses, is to wash his clothes and will be unclean until the evening. They are unclean to you.

²⁹ “Among the creeping things that creep on the earth, the following are unclean to you: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, ³⁰ the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon. ³¹ Among all that creep these are the ones that are unclean to you. Whoever touches them when they are dead, will be unclean until the evening. ³² Whatever falls on them when they are dead will become unclean, whether it is any vessel of wood, or clothing, or skin, or sackcloth. Whatever vessel it is, with which any work is done, it must be put into water, and it will be unclean until the evening, then it will be clean.

³³ “Now if any of them falls into a clay pot, everything that is in it will become unclean, and you are to break it. ³⁴ Any food that may be eaten but has water on it from such a pot will become unclean. Also any drink that may be drunk in any such pot will become unclean. ³⁵ Everything on which part of their carcass falls will become unclean. An oven or stove for pots is to be broken in pieces. They are unclean and will be unclean to you. ³⁶ Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern for collecting water will be clean, though anyone who touches their carcass will become unclean. ³⁷ If part of a carcass falls on any seed for sowing that has yet to be sown, it is clean. ³⁸ But if water is put on the seed, and part of a carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you. ³⁹ “If any animal that you may eat dies, the one who touches its carcass will become unclean until the evening. ⁴⁰ He who eats of its carcass is to wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. Also, the one who carries its carcass is to wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.

⁴¹ “Every creeping thing that crawls on the earth is detestable—it should not be eaten. ⁴² Whatever moves on its belly or crawls on all fours or has many feet among all the creeping things that crawl on the earth, these you are not to eat, for they are detestable. ⁴³ You are not to contaminate yourselves with any creeping thing that crawls nor make yourselves unclean with them or defiled by them.

⁴⁴ “For I am Adonai your God. Therefore, sanctify yourselves, and be holy, for I am holy. You are not to defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth. ⁴⁵ For I am Adonai who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God.^[a] Therefore, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

⁴⁶ “This is the Torah of the animal, the bird, every living creature that moves in the waters, and every creature that creeps on the earth, ⁴⁷ to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.”

Parashat Tazria

Niddah Rest for New Mothers

12 Then Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ² “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, instructing: If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she will be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her niddah she will be unclean. ³ In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin is to be circumcised. ^{[b] 4} She must wait during the blood of purification for 33 days.^[c] She is not to touch any holy thing, nor come into the Sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed. ⁵ But if she bears a female child, then she will be unclean for two weeks, as in her niddah, and she is to wait in the blood of purification for 66 days.

⁶ “When the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she is to bring to the kohen, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, a year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove, for a sin offering. ⁷ He is to present it before Adonai and make atonement for her. Then she will be cleansed from the discharge of her blood. This is the Torah for her who gives birth, whether to a male or a female child. ⁸ If she cannot afford a lamb, then she is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons,^[d] one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. Then the kohen will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.”

Power in His Touch

²¹ When Yeshua had crossed over in the boat again to the other side, a big crowd gathered around Him; and He was by the sea. ²² Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, comes. Seeing Him, he falls at His feet. ²³ He begs Him a great deal, saying, “My little daughter is near death! Come and lay hands on her so that she may be healed and live!”

²⁴ So Yeshua went off with him, and a big crowd was following Him and pressing upon Him. ²⁵ And there was a woman with a blood flow for twelve years, ^{[a] 26} who had suffered much under many doctors. She had spent all that she had without benefit; instead, she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Yeshua, she came through the crowd from behind and touched His garment. ²⁸ For she kept saying, “If I touch even His clothes, I shall be healed.”

²⁹ Right away the blood flow stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her disease. ³⁰ At once Yeshua, knowing in Himself that power had gone out from Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

³¹ His disciples responded, “You see the crowd pressing upon You and you say, ‘Who touched Me?’” ³² But He kept looking around to see who had done this.

³³ But the woman, scared and shaking, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. ³⁴ And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in shalom and be healed from your disease.”

³⁵ While Yeshua was still speaking, messengers come from the house of the synagogue leader, saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why do you still trouble the Teacher?”

³⁶ But ignoring what they said, Yeshua tells the synagogue leader, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” ³⁷ He did not let anyone follow Him except Peter, Jacob, and John, the brother of Jacob.

³⁸ They come to the house of the synagogue leader. He sees a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹ After entering, He said to them, “Why make such a fuss and weep? The child didn’t die, but is sleeping.”

⁴⁰ They start jeering at Him. But after sending all of them out, He takes the child’s father and mother, and those with Him, and enters where the child was. ⁴¹ Then, taking hold of the child’s hand, He tells her, “Talitha koum,”^[b] which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.” ⁴² Immediately, the girl stood up and began to walk around! (She was twelve years old.) And they were overcome with astonishment. ⁴³ But He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said something to eat should be given to her.

A Burden Too Heavy for Me

Psalm 38