When a woman gives birth she becomes tamei. What is the reason for that? This mitzvah is especially difficult to understand according to the Chazal in Taanis 2 אמר ר' יוחנן שלשה מפתחות בידו של הקב"ה שלא נמסרו לשליח תחיית המתים גשם וחיה

Three powers only Hashem triggers and doesn't give to a messenger, resurrection of the dead, rain, and the beginning of the birthing process. If Hashem alone starts this process not even a malach, how could tuma come out from this?

The Rebbi from Kotzk answered that the tuma comes after the birth. The Avnei Neizer explains his father in law's words according to the Zohar. What causes the Avi Avos of Tumah of coming in contact with a corpse? The Zohar writes that it is not death that brings it on but rather what happens to the body after the neshama departs from it. Kelipos which are forces of tumah, impurity and evil, nurture themselves from incomplete kedusha. When a person is alive he has a neshamah which is sacred life energy. When he dies his neshama exits the body yet it leaves a residue of kedusha inside the body. The analogy is to a container of honey even when it is emptied from its contents it will still attract bees to come because of its residue. It is this residue of neshama that attracts the Sitra Acharah and it forces to come to the corpse and nurture themselves from this residue. The congregating of kelipos in the dead body is what causes the Major Tumah of a corpse.

When a woman gives birth the presence of Hashem is with her, for only He alone has the key to begin the birthing process. When the child is born the Shechina has left leaving behind a residue of incredible kedusha. It is this residue of Hashem's light which draws the kelipos to enter the body of the mother and thereby making her Tamei.

With this understanding of tuma we can understand an episode in last week's parsha concerning the death of Nadav and Avihu. Their demise was in the Mishkan which contained many holy vessels. Why didn't their death cause all the vessels to become tamei tumas Ohel (a covering carries the tumah throughout the entire covered area from top to bottom)? The answer that Rav Pesasch Frank ztl gave is based upon the above. This question only exists if one learns that death alone causes tumah. However, according to the Zohar the tumah comes only after the death via the kelipos that are now attracted to enter the body of the deceased bringing about Tumahs Meis of the corpse. In the case of Nadav and Avihu who died in the Mishkan this regular process cannot occur because the Shechinah resided in the Mishkan thereby warding away any kelipah that would desire to enter within.

Let us take this thought a step further. Chazal tell us that on Shabbos a Yid receives a Neshamah Yesairah. At the end of Shabbos the neshamah leaves וינפש וי אבדה נפש . Does that also leave a residue that would attract kelippos to enter one's body after the neshama yesairah departs from him? Is it something that a Yid should worry about?

We begin Havadalah Motzei Shabbos with הנה אל ישועתי אבטח ולא אפחד כי עזי וזמרת יה ויהי לי לישועה. We beseech Hashem that You are my yeshuah and I trust in you and will not be afraid. When a person tells someone else not to be afraid it means that there is a basis and reason to be afraid but in this circumstance I will protect you. What would we be afraid of on Motzei Shabbos? When the neshamah yeseirah leaves its residue can attract kelipos to enter your body. However, we tell Hashem that we are not afraid and trust in Him that no harm should happen to us. Why? Because on Motzei Shabbos we make the seudah of Melava Malka on order to accompany the Shabbos Queen on its journey back to Shamayim. As we do with our guest, we accompany him out which serves as a protection for him from any evil, so too when we accompany the Shabbos it serves as a protection for the entire neshama yesairah which includes even the residue which still remains by us.

Interestingly, the mitzvah of Milah is placed in juxtaposition of the woman's tuma of childbirth. What is the connection? Just as giving birth leaves a holy impression of Hashem's Shechina inside of a person's body, so too Milah leaves a holy impression on and in a baby who undergoes this mitzvah. The passuk says דבר צוה לאלף דור that Milah was given for a thousand generations. Rebbi Mordechai Yosef from Ishbitz explained that when a baby eight days old undergoes Milah he gains at that very moment a gifted madraigah of spirituality that would take a tzadik a thousand years of non stop avodah 24/7 to achieve. Look at this unbelievable matanah that Hashem gives to a Yiddishe baby without his agreement to have his body changed for life and yield such an incredible residue and metamorphosis of ruchniyus. The Bris with Hashem is an unfathomable upgrade of the spirit. The passuk says וכרות עמו הברית and the Yalkut learns that these words teach that Hashem held the knife of the Milah and Avraham cut. With Hashem's presence in the mitzvah of Milah it can be considered comparable to the presence of Hashem at the time of childbirth. The holy impression and residue that it leaves upon the individual being circumcised is beyond human comprehension.

We are now in the days of Sefirah. At the night of Yetzias Mitzrayim Hashem revealed Himself to Am Yisrael. This revelation was taken away the second day of Pesach. Now Yisrael had to strive in the following days of Sefirah to bring back the gift of revelation this time by our personal avodah. In order for this to happen Hashem left the residue of the first night and day of Yetzias Mitzrayim within us.