One
of the unique things about the shul for which I serve is the fact that it is a
spiritual home to many Holocaust survivors and their children. Survivors
essentially built the synagogue and placing it in a Toronto neighborhood that
had been known as a neighbor populated by survivors. Earlier this week, the
Jewish People commemorated Yom Hashoa (Holocaust Memorial Day) with a simple
candle light vigil in the Synagogue’s memorial garden dedicated to the 1.5
million children who perished in the Holocaust. As my children and I held our
own flickering candles with approximately 100 other congregants, as memorial
prayers were recited and the mourner’s Kaddish was said, I found myself looking
at my children and thinking about what was happening in Europe. Throughout the
day, the French people were going to the polls and voting. Normally, I don’t pay
such close attention to European elections. However, in France, one of the
candidates Marine Le Pen, who will now be in a run off later in June gave me
pause to think about the rise of Nazi Germany, the rise of fear, populism and
hatred. Marine Le Pen is the leader of
the National Front Party. It is highly nationalistic, highly populist, it is
anti-immigrant, and it is extremely right wing. It is also reminiscent of the
rise of a similar political party during difficult economic and political times
in post WWI Germany. Despite being so many decades removed from the Shoah, the
seeds of hate, ignorance, and intolerance infect so many souls in Europe and
North America.
This
week we combine two Parshiot: Tazriah and Metzorah. God tells Moshe the laws of
purity and impurity as it relates to birth. God instructs Moshe about the
appropriate korbanot (sacrifices) that a mother should make as she re-enters
the camp. God also instructs Moshe about Tza'arat, or for lack of a good
translation; leprosy. Throughout the rest of Tazria and Metzora, we are told all
about Tzaarat. We are told what it is. We are told how it is diagnosed. We are
told how it is treated. We are told how it spreads. We are told what to do in
case it spreads.
Basically, Tazriah is a type of Tza'arat, a
type of skin ailment which is commonly thought of as leprosy. However this skin
ailment is not treated by the resident dermatologist. Even if they had
dermatologists in the Torah, we would not bring someone suffering from Tazriah
to the dermatologists. Why? The skin ailment was not a symptom of any type of
physical malady. Since the person with the skin ailment appears before the
Priest, the Kohen, we know that the skin condition must be spiritual malady and
not a physical one. Adam Ki Yiheyeh V'Or
B'Saro S'Eit O Sapachat O Va'Heret V'Hayah V; Or B'Saroh L'Negah Tzara'at
V'Huvah El Aharon H'Kohen O el Achad Mi'Banav Ha'Kohanim - If a person will have on the sin of his
flesh a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration and it will become a scaly
affliction on the skin of his flesh; he shall be brought to Aaron the Kohen, or
to one of his sons the Kohanim (Lev. 13:2-3). The rest of the Parsha
teaches us the appropriate protocol for treatment. The Kohen checks again to
determine if that person has become ritually impure. If so, they must be sent
out of the camp in order to avoid the risk of the skin ailment spreading to
others. The quarantine would last for seven days. Afterwards, the Priest would
check again, if there was no contamination the person was brought back into the
camp, However if the contamination remained, then the quarantine would continue
for another seven days. Then the process would begin all over again. We also
learn that if this contamination spread to the clothes or vessels; then
everything would be burned and destroyed.
In
the Talmudic Tractate of Arichin, which primarily focuses upon the laws of
valuations; we learn that the skin ailment is a punishment for the sins of
bloodshed, false oaths, sexual immorality, pride, robbery, and selfishness
(Arichin 16a). All of these physical occurrences are accompanied by a spiritual
component. These occurrences all demonstrate the offender's failure to empathize
with the needs of others. It is fascinating to think that in an ideal
community, we are not only concerned with our own well-being. We should also be
concerned about others as well. Our failure to do so leads to a spiritual
sickness including: petty jealousy, alienation, and a further erosion of
community and society. All of which diminish the holiness within the individual
and the holiness within the community. By removing the contaminated offender
from the community two positive results occur. First the welfare, integrity and
holiness of the community is spared from spiritual sickness. This is the
primary concern since we fear that God will cease dwelling in a community that
becomes spiritually sickened or spiritually dysfunctional. The second positive
result is that the contaminated offender has experienced the isolation and
concern from others. This is exactly what he/she wrought upon the community
with such behavior.
Certainly we can understand how emotions can affect ones
physical well-being. The Torah reminds us that our spiritual shortcomings can
also affect our physical well-being. Our
psychological well-being, our spiritual well-being, and our physical
well-being, according to Tazriah/Metzorah must reflect life. Just as important,
we need to have life affirming rituals that we can engage in when we are
confronted with things that threat our life affirming existence. So watching my
children, hold flickering candles, commemorating the Holocaust, standing with a
hundred other people in a garden dedicated to children reaffirmed my faith in
humanity. It reaffirmed my belief that the human soul desires light, goodness
and purity, as opposed to darkness, evil and impurity. Each act of kindness,
each Jewish ritual, each act of remembering reminds me and my children who
ultimately won the War and who will ultimately not only survive but thrive in
the future; those that strive towards Kedusha (holiness) and Chesed (kindness).
Peace,
Rav Yitz
No comments:
Post a Comment