Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 12:4/אבן עזרא על ויקרא י״ב:ד׳
אה״א טהרה. נח נעלם והי׳ ראוי להראות כה״א ויקרא לה נבח. וטעם דמי טהרה. שהוא דם טוהר כנגד דם נדה ואיננו מטמא והשם גזר על הזכר כמספר הזכר אשר תשלם צורתו בבטן והנקבה כפלים וזה דבר ברורה ומנוסה:
1[PURIFICATION.] The heh of tohorah35 should be rendered, her purification. (purification) is unsounded.36 (dot) in it. According to I.E. the heh of tohorah (purification) is a pronominal suffix, and tohorah should be rendered as her purification. Such a heh usually has a dot in it. Hence I.E.’s comment. It should have been pronounced. It is like the heh37 in it. in lah (it)38 in and called it Nobah (Num. 32:43). The meaning of deme tohorah (the blood of purification) is clean blood.39 as blood of cleanliness. This blood, in contrast to dam niddah (menstrual blood), is clean. It does not cause uncleanliness. The forty days that God decreed regarding a male child40 corresponds to the time it takes for the form of the male to be completed in the womb.41 3:7). It takes double that time for a female.42. This is clear and tested.
בבכל קדש לא תגע. כמו המעשר והתרומה ובשר שלמים:
2SHE SHALL TOUCH NO HALLOWED THING. Such as the tithe, trumah,43 and the flesh of peace offerings.
גואל המקדש. אל חצר אהל מועד או אל העזרה בבית המקדש:
3NOR COME INTO THE SANCTUARY. The courtyard of the tent of meeting or into the temple courtyard.44
דבדמי טהרה. או על דמי טהרה אחד הוא:
4Be-deme tohorah (in the blood of purification) (v. 4) and al deme tohorah (in the blood of purification)45 have one meaning.