Niddah is the Hebrew word describing the seven days when a woman is ‘unclean’ during her period and has not completed a mikveh or ritual bath. ‘Unclean’ means being ‘in a state of ritual impurity.’ These seven days are also known as tumah which refers to the period of time when sexual relations between a husband and wife are not to occur. Being ‘ritually impure’ or ‘unclean’ does not mean a woman is in a sinful state or inferior. It is quite the opposite. Scripture emphasizes the holiness inherent in a woman’s cycle to create and nurture a new life within her womb. When as woman is ‘ritually impure,’ it only means she is incapable of conceiving a child.
Author: Yahulia
Parashah 26: Sh’mini (Eighth)
After spending seven days in the Tabernacle, Aaron and his sons are called by Adonai to make offerings. The number eight in Hebrew is sh’mona and is represented by the letter chet. The number eight symbolizes ‘new beginnings.’ Eight people in Noach’s family were saved on the Ark and had a ‘new beginning’ in a changed world. The circumcision of a baby boy happens on the eighth day, a ‘new beginning’ as a child of the covenant. Feast of Tabernacles is an eight-day festival prophetic to the restoration and ‘new beginning’ of the Messianic Era. Yeshua was resurrected on the first day of the week, but in a continuous cycle of days, it was the eighth day, ‘a new beginning.’ All dedications of the Tabernacle took eight days, and the account of the holy oil lasting eight days during Hanukkah brought a ‘new beginning’ through purification for the Temple.
Parashah 25: Tzav (Give an order)
Fire is a symbol of the Divine Presence of Adonai. In the bush that didn’t burn, Moshe encountered the presence of Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh. The presence of Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh was in the column of fire that led the Israelites during the night as they trekked through the wilderness. When Adonai gave His Torah, the mountain was covered in smoke and fire.
Parashah 24: Vayikra (He called) – LEVITICUS
The sacrifices and offerings stopped in 70 CE because there was no longer a Temple where they could be done. In other words, whenever there is a Temple, there will be a sacrificial system. In the coming Millennial Kingdom, another Temple will be built. According to the prophet Ezekiel, there will be an Altar of Sacrifice in this Temple and there will be regulations for its consecration as well as its offerings (Ezekiel 43). The ‘prince’ will be obligated to present burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, sin offerings, and peace offerings on the Altar for the House of Isra’el (Ezekiel 45:17).