Parshat Tazria-Metzorah-Isolation Throughout Jewish history
Parshat Tazria-Metzorah-Isolation Throughout Jewish history
!e have struggled to find our home. We have transitioned in and out of cultures and civilizations to the point that we are no longer sure where we truly belong. In many cases, conversion was the only hope for survival. Our women were raped, our children were stolen, our minds were degraded to that of animals and our loved ones perished before our very eyes.
After WWII, the Herzelian mentality has resurfaced: take away any separation between the Jew and the Gentile, thus the Jew and the Gentile will see each other as the same, and when it is the same, there is no need for persecution. But we don’t need Hitler to remind us, once a Jew always a Jew. As a people we are drenched in alienation, discrimination and in many cases terrorization. Our national confidence has never been worse, and our confidence that would allow us to present ourselves as a proud people is virtually non-existent.These insecurities not only have consequences amongst communities, but the Jewish nation worldwide.
Friends, although our scope limits (most of) us to the 1980’s we must recognize that there were many like us before us, and with much concern, it has never been this bad. The guardians of the Jewish tradition and its Torah are scattered, filled with sin, and lost the true sense of Sinai--unity. If we do not stop partaking in the terrorization of our fellow brothers and sisters, then no nation will cease to terrorize us. Until we stop insulting sects and denominations within our own people, more victims will die at our feet. If we believe in G-d and if we believe redemption can come, we must also believe that we can bring it.
In this week’s Torah portion we look at the physical blemish of Tzaarath (leprosy). Although it is a physical white splotch on the skin, according to Jewish tradition, Tzaarath comes from spiritual impediment, not physical. The Talmud teaches: Through seven things the plague of leprosy is incurred: slander, the shedding of blood, false oath, incest, arrogance, robbery and envy.[i]
These acts and character traits come from a place of insecurity. All of these things are meant to compensate for impediment. When one speaks badly about another, they are simply saying, “I have not acquired my unique place in the world, and I feel that with my uncertainty of who I am, I must degrade others in order to elevate myself and compensate.” When people use their mouths to pray and then to slander their fellow human beings, they lack the fundamentals of what Judaism teaches - desecrating G-d through His creations is not what G-d wants from our “prayer.” We should not judge these gossipers with hatred, but we should pity their desperate cry for help at the expense of another’s reputation.
Gossipers beware, it is you who are the walking hypocrite, not the one you speak of. There is a Rabbi who speaks in between the afternoon and evening services. He finds it necessary to consistently alienate a sect of Judaism because of their desired method of practice. Is this a flaw within this particular sect of Orthodoxy, or does the real flaw lie within the Rabbi who does not consider speaking words of Torah and degrading G-d’s creations, regardless of religious preference, as antithetical to one another? Is this Rabbi, with his ancient texts girded on his lions, serving his congregants with greatest courage, our leader?
We are being misled, but our own insecurities do not allow us to believe in ourselves or others, so, the leaders mislead, and the led remain lost.The very nature of Tzaarath is that we all can see it. If I spoke badly about another, my insecurities are recognizable by all: “ And the person with tzaarath in who there is the affliction—his garments shall be rent, the hair of his head shall be unshorn, and he shall cloak himself up to his lips; he is to call out: “contaminated, contaminated!” All the days that the affliction is upon him, he shall remain contaminated, he is contaminated. He shall dwell in isolation; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.”[ii]The Talmud teaches, why does one need to “dwell in isolation?” because just how one isolates a person through the slandering of his name, so too, s/he must isolate themselves from the community.
This Shabbos --- just go into isolation, realize that you may have not been so good to yourself. Reflection and silence are sometimes the only remedy. The Torah is saying to us “Everyone has problems, everyone has flaws, but to acknowledge them and conquer them at the expense of your pride and sense of self--- AH that’s splitting the sea. To go through the streets and scream “I am contaminated, I made a mistake!” --- That’s what makes someone pure.
This week I will try to: be conscious of my speech. I will not try to raise myself up at the expense of others. I will work on attaining a deeper understanding of the concept of humility, and I will correct myself when speaking badly about others, realizing that such an act is a cry to really correct what lies in our deeper selves. I will reflect in order to decipher this.. Remember don’t judge the fool who slanders, pity her/him.Shabbat Shalom!
[i] Tractate Arichin 16a.[ii] Leviticus 13:45-46
!e have struggled to find our home. We have transitioned in and out of cultures and civilizations to the point that we are no longer sure where we truly belong. In many cases, conversion was the only hope for survival. Our women were raped, our children were stolen, our minds were degraded to that of animals and our loved ones perished before our very eyes.
After WWII, the Herzelian mentality has resurfaced: take away any separation between the Jew and the Gentile, thus the Jew and the Gentile will see each other as the same, and when it is the same, there is no need for persecution. But we don’t need Hitler to remind us, once a Jew always a Jew. As a people we are drenched in alienation, discrimination and in many cases terrorization. Our national confidence has never been worse, and our confidence that would allow us to present ourselves as a proud people is virtually non-existent.These insecurities not only have consequences amongst communities, but the Jewish nation worldwide.
Friends, although our scope limits (most of) us to the 1980’s we must recognize that there were many like us before us, and with much concern, it has never been this bad. The guardians of the Jewish tradition and its Torah are scattered, filled with sin, and lost the true sense of Sinai--unity. If we do not stop partaking in the terrorization of our fellow brothers and sisters, then no nation will cease to terrorize us. Until we stop insulting sects and denominations within our own people, more victims will die at our feet. If we believe in G-d and if we believe redemption can come, we must also believe that we can bring it.
In this week’s Torah portion we look at the physical blemish of Tzaarath (leprosy). Although it is a physical white splotch on the skin, according to Jewish tradition, Tzaarath comes from spiritual impediment, not physical. The Talmud teaches: Through seven things the plague of leprosy is incurred: slander, the shedding of blood, false oath, incest, arrogance, robbery and envy.[i]
These acts and character traits come from a place of insecurity. All of these things are meant to compensate for impediment. When one speaks badly about another, they are simply saying, “I have not acquired my unique place in the world, and I feel that with my uncertainty of who I am, I must degrade others in order to elevate myself and compensate.” When people use their mouths to pray and then to slander their fellow human beings, they lack the fundamentals of what Judaism teaches - desecrating G-d through His creations is not what G-d wants from our “prayer.” We should not judge these gossipers with hatred, but we should pity their desperate cry for help at the expense of another’s reputation.
Gossipers beware, it is you who are the walking hypocrite, not the one you speak of. There is a Rabbi who speaks in between the afternoon and evening services. He finds it necessary to consistently alienate a sect of Judaism because of their desired method of practice. Is this a flaw within this particular sect of Orthodoxy, or does the real flaw lie within the Rabbi who does not consider speaking words of Torah and degrading G-d’s creations, regardless of religious preference, as antithetical to one another? Is this Rabbi, with his ancient texts girded on his lions, serving his congregants with greatest courage, our leader?
We are being misled, but our own insecurities do not allow us to believe in ourselves or others, so, the leaders mislead, and the led remain lost.The very nature of Tzaarath is that we all can see it. If I spoke badly about another, my insecurities are recognizable by all: “ And the person with tzaarath in who there is the affliction—his garments shall be rent, the hair of his head shall be unshorn, and he shall cloak himself up to his lips; he is to call out: “contaminated, contaminated!” All the days that the affliction is upon him, he shall remain contaminated, he is contaminated. He shall dwell in isolation; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.”[ii]The Talmud teaches, why does one need to “dwell in isolation?” because just how one isolates a person through the slandering of his name, so too, s/he must isolate themselves from the community.
This Shabbos --- just go into isolation, realize that you may have not been so good to yourself. Reflection and silence are sometimes the only remedy. The Torah is saying to us “Everyone has problems, everyone has flaws, but to acknowledge them and conquer them at the expense of your pride and sense of self--- AH that’s splitting the sea. To go through the streets and scream “I am contaminated, I made a mistake!” --- That’s what makes someone pure.
This week I will try to: be conscious of my speech. I will not try to raise myself up at the expense of others. I will work on attaining a deeper understanding of the concept of humility, and I will correct myself when speaking badly about others, realizing that such an act is a cry to really correct what lies in our deeper selves. I will reflect in order to decipher this.. Remember don’t judge the fool who slanders, pity her/him.Shabbat Shalom!
[i] Tractate Arichin 16a.[ii] Leviticus 13:45-46
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