How can a woman be certain that she will give birth to a boy?
(12,2) “Speak to the children of Yisrael, saying: If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be unclean seven days.”
Chazal asked why the Torah specifically mentions the woman in connection with giving birth to a male, and they answered that it is to teach us that if a woman gives seed initially she will give birth to a male, but if the male gives seed initially then she will give birth to a female.
But we give another explanation according to the teaching of Chazal that there is no reward given for a mitzvah in this world. However, this only applies to a mitzvah which we have been commanded to do, because to this is applicable the posuk in Iyov 41:3 “Who preceded me and that I should pay them? Everything under the heavens is mine”, from which we learn that Hashem has already prepaid us in this world for the mitzvos that we perform. Therefore, a person does not deserve by right to be rewarded in this world for doing a mitzvah except as an act of kindness. But when he does a good deed that he has not been commanded to do, then he does deserve reward, and receives his reward immediately in this world.
Now, we know that a man is commanded in the mitzvah of procreation, but a woman is not. Therefore, even if a man does not intend in the act of procreation for his personal pleasure and his only intention is for the creation of offspring, he is still not guaranteed that he will father a male because there is no reward for mitzvos in this world. But if a woman’s intention is for the sake of heaven, to bring about the creation of offspring, then since she is not commanded in this mitzvah she will be rewarded in this world by giving birth to a male.
This is what our posuk is saying: “if a woman conceives” - if her intention is only to conceive and not for her pleasure, then she “gives birth to a male” - I guarantee that she will be rewarded for this by giving birth to a male.
How does Hashem encourage us to keep the Torah?
(12,2) “Speak to the children of Yisrael, saying: If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be unclean seven days.”
The Midrash says that our posuk is explained by the posuk in Iyov 36:3 “I will take up my knowledge from afar, and to my Maker I will ascribe righteousness”. We can explain the meaning of this Midrash with that which is written in the Midrash Tanchuma - Said Adam: After Hashem created all the animals and birds and the creeping and crawling creatures He then created me. So too a baby before he exits his mother’s womb is commanded by Hashem: From this you can eat, and from this you cannot eat. And one who accepts upon himself all the mitzvos of the Torah in his mother’s womb is born. Therefore it is written, “If a woman conceives”.
The explanation of the Midrash Tanchuma is that it had a difficulty with the juxtaposition of the beginning of this week’s parsha which deals with a woman giving birth, and the end of last week’s parsha which warned about what was pure and what was impure. Therefore, it explained that the Torah is coming to teach us that Hashem first warns the foetus in its mother’s womb what to eat and what not to eat, and then “if a woman conceives” - if the foetus accepts upon itself all this then it will be born, and if not it will be stillborn. And this is why there are stillborns.
But this still leaves us with a difficulty, because the Midrash Tanchuma concludes that he is obligated to promise that he will keep all of the Torah. If so, why does Hashem warn him only about eating forbidden animals and not the rest of the Torah?
Therefore, it seems to me that we should explain the Midrash Tanchuma according to the Midrash Rabbah on Koheles, which says: Why is the kingdom of Edom called (symbolised by) the חזיר (the swine)? Because in the future Hashem will return (להחזיר) greatness to the rightful owners. That is, in the future Hashem will announce: Anyone who has not eaten pig meat, let him come and take his reward. And many people from the nations who have never eaten pig meat will come to take their reward. And Hashem will further announce: Anyone who has not eaten carcasses and creeping and crawling creatures let him come and take his reward. Therefore Edom is called חזיר, because in the future Hashem will return greatness to the rightful owners.
Behold, the actual explanation of this Midrash I explained elsewhere in my writings, but what is clear is that by refraining from eating pig meat and creeping and crawling creatures, Yisrael will merit to have greatness returned to them. Now, the foetus, before his exit from the womb into this world is in a situation of great difficulty, because he has to leave the upper world and come to this lower, murky world where there lurks a great danger from the seduction of the evil inclination which wishes to destroy him forever. As it says in Pirkei Avos, “against your will you were born”, and Chazal teach that it would have been better not to have been created than to have been created. Therefore, lest a person act ruinously, Hashem shows him that just by something as simple as refraining from eating pig meat and creeping and crawling creatures a person can merit the world to come. And since this is so, he should not be distressed that he was created, and it is in fact better that he was created.
This is the meaning of the above Midrash - since the Torah juxtaposed the section concerning a woman conceiving and the warning against eating forbidden creatures, it is clear that the foetus is warned in particular about eating these things more than the rest of the Torah. And this must be to show that through this he can merit the world to come. This is why the Midrash brings the posuk from Iyov “I will take up my knowledge from afar” - I will set my mind to the time of my formation before coming into this world, to what Hashem informed me at that time. And because of this, “to my Maker I will ascribe righteousness” for creating me, because it is better that I was created than not created.
Why did Adam HaRishon not need to be circumcised?
(12,3) “And on the eighth day he shall circumcise the flesh of his foreskin.”
The connection between the previous posuk which discusses a woman who gives birth and this posuk can be explained with the Midrash on parshas Bereishis, which says that a heretic once asked R. Hoshaya that if circumcision is so beloved, why was it not given to Adam HaRishon?
The answer to this question is that the main purpose of circumcision is to rectify a person by removing from him the evil and uncleanliness that is in him. And this is true only for someone who was born from a putrid drop, since he came to the world through something which is very material and contains much uncleanliness, especially as a male is born because the woman gave seed first, as Chazal taught. But Adam HaRishon who was formed by Hashem’s hands and thus even his foreskin was completely holy, did not need any rectification at all. This is how we could answer that heretic.
With this we can understand the rest of the Midrash which says that R. Hoshaya answered him that everything that was created needs rectification, even a person. All the commentaries have tried to understand what R. Hoshaya meant, but we can understand his words with what I wrote above. Because there is a dispute in the gemora Nedarim whether circumcision is required because the foreskin is something loathsome or because circumcision is something great. According to this, the distinction that we wrote above is true only if the reason for circumcision is because the foreskin is something loathsome because the birth was very materialistic, and so one who was formed by Hashem and thus contains nothing evil does not require circumcision. But if circumcision is something great then this distinction is irrelevant, and Adam should also require circumcision.
Therefore, we must explain that the heretic held that circumcision was something great, and this can be seen from his choice of words - "if circumcision is beloved, why was it not given to Adam HaRishon?". But R. Hoshaya answered him that the reason for circumcision is not because it is something great, but because the foreskin is loathsome and therefore also man requires rectification. And since the reason for circumcision is to rectify and to remove the filth, it follows that Adam HaRishon who was formed by Hashem’s hands did not require rectification.
This is what the Torah is saying: “if a woman conceives and gives birth to a male” - if from a woman comes the formation of the male, and thus contains much uncleanliness, then "on the eighth day he shall circumcise the flesh of his foreskin". But Adam HaRishon who was not born from a woman did not require circumcision.