Rabbi's Drash

Tazria - Metzora

5769

Vayikra 12:1-15:33
 

In this double portion, chapter 12 speaks of Child bearing, chapter 13 of tsaarat, chapter 14 of animals and 15 of bodily emissions. Tazria begins with the woman needing to bring sacrifices to the altar after she gives birth. Why? Is giving birth to a baby a sin? If she has a boy, she is unclean for 7 days and then is able to attend the brit mila after which she must separate herself for another 33 days. If she gives birth to a girl, this becomes 14 days plus another 66 days. There are many reasons our sages give for this and for the rest of this portion but for the most part it remain a mystery. It belongs to the category of "chukkim" which is a statute that does not have a logical explanation-we simply have to accept it because G-d said so. In Deuteronomy 29:28 we read that there are some things which G-d has simply not revealed to us and we need to leave it like that. Some things have no explanation and are not based upon our logic but G-d has His reasons. Rambam being a doctor in his Guide for the Perplexed tries to explain in order to get an idea of G-d's intention. He explains that G-d is little by little taking Israel from the practices of paganism and superstition to His way, a more healthy way of living and practicing "religion". He has begun the weaning process from milk to solid food like Rabbi Shaul spoke about and it all has to do with their relationship with G-d. Why would the woman be required to offer an ola chatat…a sin offering? Of what is she guilty? One perspective from the sod, the mystical is that woman was the last of G-d's creation and the highest on a spiritual level. She was the person who G-d created to be the kenegdo, besherte of man, the one who would complete him. To whom more is given, more is required. Eve failed and through her the curse fell on woman. When woman gives birth to a woman, the potential to bring more sin into the world doubles so that she is required to double her offering both with a sacrifice and time. By trying to explain G-d's mysteries, we are removing the awesomeness and the mystery of His Presence in our lives. Today everything needs to have a logical explanation and a good reason before we are willing to follow it. This can lead to disaster in many areas which we simply need to be accepted because G-d said so. For instance, there is no greater contribution to mankind than childbirth. It assures our posterity and the building of community. Today one of the world's greatest sins is abortion and it is being accepted worldwide. Many countries have a negative birth rate and are facing the threat of total disappearance. Society is moving toward this idea which was espoused by Hitler and that this is to create the super race. It is doing so when it dehumanizes the fetus. G-d breathed His Spirit into the baby from its conception (Ps 139:13-16). When the medical profession changed the word "baby" to "fetus" thus dehumanizing it, it opened the door for us to take a life with no remorse or conscience. This would supposedly ensure humanity a better quality of life which would ultimately lead to us having the perfect excuse for euthanasia and other methods to allow for the purification of the races. Today everyone is running to go "Green. We read about Earth Day and the reverence the world is giving to preserving animals. The groups which espouse this care more about whales and polar bears than they do about babies being aborted or about people in places like Sudan who are dying daily. Could it be that their logic stems from the Darwinian theory of "the survival of the fittest"-that those who survive are the smartest and the strongest while the rest only consume and give little to society? This word "conscience" unlocks the key to the sod of this portion. The word for tsaarat is generally understood as leprosy but our rabbis today consider it to be all types of skin diseases. What is G-d trying to teach us apart from the medical perspective? Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a disease which destroys the nerve endings of the body and this all pain is eliminated from the patient. When they get a wound they don't feel it and so they don't treat the injury. Pain can be a good thing. We can look at this illness from another perspective -the lack of conscience is the leprosy of the soul. The sociopath has no conscience. He doesn't know that he is doing wrong and this is a modern disease separating conscience from the Presence of G-d. They are motivated by self-service instead of service to G-d and one another. In Chapter 15 we read about the bodily emissions. Rambam speaks of two types of fluids-menstrual, blood from the woman and semen discharge from the man. Both of these are a process of cleansing. When the woman is in her niddah or menstruation she is considered unclean for the 7 days. This is why an Orthodox Jewish man will not shake hands with a woman. The Perushim (Pharisees or separated ones) would strictly never touch a woman who might be in her niddah and they would dress in white always referring to purity. They would not go to the cemetery in order to avoid contamination from the dead. Why offer an ola chatat or sin offering for these bodily emissions? The fluids of the body contain life itself and the spilling of these fluids meant the loss vitality of life. When Onan the son of Judah spilled his semen on the floor instead of impregnating Tamar, G-d took his life. G-d has placed a great value upon life and our people have been taught to understand this. We have an expression "to save one life is to save the world." G-d was bringing order to Israel. Many people would be going to the Temple and we needed to learn how to avoid contagion. We were taught to build latrines outside the camp which was to be kept clean and considered holy. Sacredness and cleanliness went hand in hand. G-d taught us how to avoid contamination by giving us methods of cleanliness to adhere to. The idea of cleanliness served Israel well over the ages. If you look at the history of the Jewish people especially during the Middle Ages, fewer Jews than any other group of people perished in the Black Death and plagues. This was due to the cleansing practices that G-d laid out for us in this portion. We were blamed of course but the facts here are very clear. To bring all this together and practical application for our daily lives, let us examine how this relates to us in community. Let us ask ourselves…do I have tsaarat in my own soul? Why did G-d tell the person with tsaarat to go to the High Priest to check the area of infection? Who was the High Priest in Israel? He was the person who was trusted to take our deepest problems directly to G-d and to be our intermediary. He would examine the sore objectively every seven days and keep examining it until it was either gone or the person was declared unclean. The person was separated for seven days. How do we take this formula into our own lives? If you are sinning, for example gossiping about another person in the community, doing damage to their reputation, this is tsaarat. When Miriam spoke against her brother Moshe, G-d gave her tsaarat and she was put outside the camp for seven days. Moshe prayed for her and she was restored. During that time, she must have felt isolated and unprotected allowing her to come to repentance. You never hear of this again. Miriam was not accepting her position and that of Moshe. She wanted to take something that was not given to her. It is important for each of us to be satisfied with the position to which we were called and not to covet anyone else's position to which we were not called. We each are in a good position to help others and in doing so, we end up helping ourselves. The worst thing that we can do to each other is gossip. It is destructive…it is tsaarat. Yeshua gave us a simple 3 step process Matthew 18 for healing to take place in. If you have a problem with someone in the community, go to that person directly. If they will not listen, take 2-3 people with you and if they will not listen, take it public to the whole congregation. It is important to practice this. Few people are willing to go to the third step and yet this step is where the healing lies. In the Haftarah portion this week we read about how Naaman refused at first to dip 7 times in the Jordan. This is a simple case of pride. When he finally dipped in public, he was healed bringing him salvation. Many professionals believe that most diseases are self-inflicted. When you feel defeated, have a negative view of life, always feel like the victim, constantly complaining about life and preferring death, this destroys the immune system. The loss of joie de vivre, joy of life is total self-involvement. Are you holding things inside which you haven't dealt with? Do you think that someone did wrong to you and you can't forgive? Life is not fair! I can't do anything right! Low self esteem is like saying G-d made a mistake when He made me. It's time to go to the High Priest, Yeshua and be mikvehed (immersed) in him and be cleansed of our sin. He became one of us, identified with us so that through the spilling of his blood was can be cleansed (Isaiah 53). My prayer is that we start to be more sincere with ourselves. That we examine why we are failing G-d especially before we come to Him on Shabbat. We need to make it right and then come and worship Him. G-d is our vindicator. May He cleanse us and give us the mikveh of His Presence (read Ps 139).    May G-d add blessings to His Word!      Rabbi Percy Johnson      Netanel ben Yochanan      [nxy [b lantn      © 2008 Use by Permission      Kehilat She’ar Yashuv

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