This article has been generously sponsored anonymously in the merit of Tzvi ben Yitzchak Yaakov. May his neshoma have an aliyah. To sponsor an article and to help us continue our important work please email us at nitzotzos@gmail.com וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־משֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר: דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר אִשָּׁה֙ כִּ֣י תַזְרִ֔יעַ וְיָֽלְדָ֖ה זָכָ֑ר וְטָֽמְאָה֙ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֔ים כִּימֵ֛י נִדַּ֥ת דְּוֹתָ֖הּ תִּטְמָֽא: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be unclean for seven days; as [in] the days of her menstrual flow, she shall be unclean. (Vayikra 12:1,2) The sensitive ear will pick up on the nuanced language of the passuk. Why does the Torah speak about the conception of the child? The Tumah that a woman experiences when birthing a male child has nothing to do with the conception but rather is a function of the actual birth. The conception is seemingly irrelevant. The Gemara in Brachos notes the strange language of the passuk (in the context of a different discussion) and brings a tradition from Rav Yitzchak the son of Rav Ami, who taught that the gender of the fetus is determined at the moment of conception. If the man emits seed first, his wife gives birth to a female; if the woman emits seed first, she gives birth to a male, as it is stated: “When a woman emitted seed and bore a male” (Vayikra 12:2). In fact, in a similar Gemara in Niddah (31a), Chazal point out
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