Monday, April 23, 2012
Parshat Tazria-Metzorah
Leviticus 12:1-15:33
5772 Iyar 6 / April 27- 28, 2012
Leviticus 12:1-15:33
5772 Iyar 6 / April 27- 28, 2012
TWO DIVREI TORAH THIS WEEK:
Thou
Shalt be QUARANTINED!
by David Rosen, Moishe House Hoboken
The subject of this week’s Parashat Tazria has to do with the idea of purity and cleanliness, specifically with regard to childbirth, bodily discharges, and certain skin ailments. In the first part of this parasha, God speaks to Moses and commands that upon the birth of a boy, the mother remains in a state of impurity for 7 days, and upon the birth of a girl, the mother remains in a state of impurity for 2 weeks. People were also declared ritually impure by the high priest upon exhibition of skin diseases such as leprosy and during a woman’s menstrual cycle. When declared to be impure, a person must remain outside the Israelite camp for a prescribed amount of time and purify themselves by means of amikveh, ritual bath, before they may reenter the camp.
by David Rosen, Moishe House Hoboken
The subject of this week’s Parashat Tazria has to do with the idea of purity and cleanliness, specifically with regard to childbirth, bodily discharges, and certain skin ailments. In the first part of this parasha, God speaks to Moses and commands that upon the birth of a boy, the mother remains in a state of impurity for 7 days, and upon the birth of a girl, the mother remains in a state of impurity for 2 weeks. People were also declared ritually impure by the high priest upon exhibition of skin diseases such as leprosy and during a woman’s menstrual cycle. When declared to be impure, a person must remain outside the Israelite camp for a prescribed amount of time and purify themselves by means of amikveh, ritual bath, before they may reenter the camp.
There are a few Jewish ideas
that come from the reading of this Parasha. The first is the institution of
circumcision for newborn Jewish baby boys, which serves as a reminder of the
covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants. The next is the idea
of lashon harah, or bad language, commonly taken to mean
slander, gossip, speaking unkindly about someone behind their back. Lashon harah comes about when people were punished with
leprosy because they spoke unkindly about someone or God. There is a specific
incidence, recorded in a later parasha, when Moses’ sister Miriam is stricken
when she attacked Moses’ wife for being a Cushite.
Aside from the implications
that speaking unkindly leads to skin diseases, one of the main things I wonder
about when reading this portion is why there is a need for separation from the
community. What is the purpose of separation and who does it benefit more?
First, when discussing skin
rashes and irritations, there are the obvious health benefits of separation so
that whatever the afflictions are, they don’t spread. I don’t know what
medicine was like back then when the Israelites were wandering through the
desert, but I’m pretty certain there wasn’t a local pharmacy around that one
could go to for analgesic cream. Instead though, if you read the portion, the idea
of separating someone from the community was less health based, and more
spiritual based, as the one who declared if separation was needed was the high
priest. So what are the spiritual concerns then?
Surely skin rashes don’t spread
by means of spirituality. So what does it mean to be spiritually impure?
According to the torah, one who
is spiritually unclean is forbidden to take part in holy acts or customs, such
as entering the tabernacle or holy court. But for me it goes beyond that. For
me, being spiritually unclean has to do with, not only a person’s physical
state, but with their mental and emotional states as well. If you put yourself
in the place of someone who has a skin ailment, or have ever been in that place
yourself, how would you act around other people? It would change your normal
behavior around other people, make you self-conscious, and possibly force you
to lie about your condition if you tried to play it off as it not being as bad
as it actually is. I’m sure you would want to try to hide your condition too as
best as possible so as to not endure ridicule or social mockery.
Additionally, if you think
about the knowledge of medicine they had at the time, they probably didn’t know
if something was contagious or not, and a person might not take as much care as
needed to prevent it from spreading. Think about what would happen if it did
spread? As if there wasn’t enough complaining from the people, do you think
Moses wanted to hear about sand getting into open blisters?
All kidding aside, when someone
is stricken with any kind of debilitating ailment, it changes that person, how
they act around others and how others act around them. The effects of being a
social outcast can sometimes last longer than the physical effects of a skin ailment.
So in this case, perhaps separation from the community is the wisest thing to
do. It allows the person stricken to recuperate without facing ridicule or
scorn from others, gives them time to be alone and not worry about spreading it
around, and overall it protects the whole community. Don’t you feel better when
you know someone is sick and decided to stay home, rather than trying to stick
it out and risk the health of everyone else?
In conclusion, separation from
the community is not always a bad thing, or seen as punishment. In these
situations, it’s better for the community and the individual. The time away
will allow the person to heal up and get better, and also recover from any
mental or emotional harm that may have been done. Rejoining the community after
recuperating also lets everyone know that you are better and there is nothing
to worry about, or as the Torah would put it, you are clean again.
The
Blessing of the Living Bird
by Zvi Bellin, MHHQ
by Zvi Bellin, MHHQ
I find the ritual for
cleaning the person afflicted with Tzara’at simply strange.
Essentially, the Kohen takes two birds. He kills one bird and lets the blood
drip into a clay pot with water. Then he takes the second bird and dips it into
the water/blood mixture of the first bird. He sprinkles the blood that is
covering the live bird on the newly cleansed person and then sets the live bird
free.
I am not really sure what to make of this. But
I wanted to highlight this ritual as I enjoy taking note of some of the bizarre
practices that we have at our roots. I sometimes see Yogic community members
walking around in orange or yellow robes, with their little bells and thin
pony-tails sprouting from the top of their heads, and I think, “Hmmm…That is
strange.”
If I was able to time
travel back to the days of the Jewish people in the desert, or early Palestine,
I would probably shout with fright and feel uneasy with the lavish dressing of
the Priests, the uber-posh décor of the Temple, and the bloody worship rituals.
It does make me feel less judgmental about other people’s practices when I
think how strange Jewish people must have looked (and at times, still look) to
outsiders.
There is something in this ritual though, that
I really love. I feel joy when the Torah tells us that the live bird is set
free. It is like ourselves and our souls. The live bird has experienced the
trauma of witnessing and experiencing pain and suffering. It has been bloodied
and shaken by outside forces, yet that was all temporary. It is able to spread
its wings again and live on to experience new adventures, new sorrows and new
joys.
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