On the Weekly Torah Portion of Metzora

Igal — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 02:16:00 +0000

Ancient mosaic from Lower Galilee

On the face of it, the weekly Torah portion of metzora (Leviticus Ch. 14 & 15) deals with the role of the priests in purifying physical impurities of all kinds, especially skin impurities and diseases (metzora means “lepper”). But the real message of this portion is best told with the help of a story from the midrash (the allegorical commentaries on the Torah).

The midrash* tells that a peddler was going around the lower Galilee region of ancient Israel, calling out for people to buy his elixir of life. Wherever he went, he attracted attention. Rabbi Yanai, one of the most prominent figures of the time (3^rd century C.E), was studying Torah in his luxurious living room when he was distracted by the commotion caused by the man.

After hearing what the excitement was about , he invited the peddler into his house and asked to buy his merchandise. “You don’t need it”, said the peddler, “It’s not for the likes of you.” Rabbi Yanai insisted, so the peddler showed him a verse from the Psalms:

מִי-הָאִישׁ, הֶחָפֵץ חַיִּים, אֹהֵב יָמִים, לִרְאוֹת טוֹב.
נְצֹר לְשׁוֹנְךָ מֵרָע וּשְׂפָתֶיךָ, מִדַּבֵּר מִרְמָה.

Who is the man who is eager for life,
Who desires years of good fortune?
Guard your tongue from evil,
Your lips from deceitful speech. (Psalm 34, 13-14)

Rabbi Yanai commented: “I have been studying this verse all my life, and until this peddler came, I did not realize how literally it should be taken.”

It seems obvious to me, that the kind of life that the Psalm and midrash are referring to is not biological life. We all know that there are some truthful people who never speak ill of others whose life is short, and some dishonest people whose life is long and even comfortable. Rather, it is the quality of life that they are referring to. Life that is infested with evil speech and deceit is not a life worth living.

What does this story have to do with the Torah portion, which deals exclusively with how to diagnose, isolate, and treat leprosy and other external impurities? Because leprosy has been connected by the sages to speaking ill of others. This connection is established in the book of Numbers, the next book in the Torah. We are told that Miryam, Moses’ sister, was speaking ill of her brother, and that she was punished by incurring leprosy on the spot (Leviticus 12). The sages, using a play on words, equated the Hebrew word metzora (מצרע) with motzi shem ra (מוציא שם רע).

And perhaps just as the “life” that is referred to in the story above is not biological life, but the internal dimension of life, so also the leprosy that is spoken off here is not physical leprosy, but an allegorical one. The result of speaking ill of others, then, is that your life is seriously ill—your soul becomes full of blemish.

It is interesting that one way in which a was treated was banishment. He or she could not come into the town, city, or camp with the rest of the people. This could also be understood allegorically, because a person who is in the habit of speaking ill of others isolates him- or herself from the sense of community, from being together with others. Outwardly, physically, he or she may be with others; but internally, he or she has banished themselves.

Speaking ill of others is probably the hardest “sin” to avoid. I have met very few people in my life who are genuinely saintly in this manner, and the sweetness and love the radiates form them is palpable (and very implicating!). That saintliness can feel to others that it’s too much, and they need to challenge it, to see if it’s really true.

It reminds me of a story that I’ve told once before on this blog. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the famous guru who founded Transcendental Meditation, told about an Indian saint who was known for his insistence on only seeing the positive in every situation. A group of young men took him upon themselves to expose him to utterly negative situation, in which he would not have anything good to say.

Inviting him to accompany them to a function, they made sure to pass through an alley where a rotten carcass of a cat run over by a car was lying in the middle of the road. When one of the men pointed to the carcass with disgust, the saint smiled and said: “Look at the beautiful, pearly white teeth of the cat”.

That men found the elixir of life. He was definitely not a metzorah, not a lepper.

———————

* Midrash Rabah Vayikra, 16:2

On the Weekly Torah Portion of Shemini

Igal — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 18:21:00 +0000

Maimonides

The Torah portion for last week was shemini (Leviticus 9 – 11). For various constraints, I was not able to submit the commentary on the portion before Shabbat, which is what I attempt to do normally; but the commentary on this week’s portion, tazria (Leviticus 12 – 13), will in fact pertain to both portions, as it will concern itself with the symbolism of the number eight (shemini means “eighth”).

However, in the spirit of the Talmudic statement:

לפוטרו בלא כלום אי אפשר

One cannot get away with nothing (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chullin, 27b)

I hereby offer a short comment regarding last week’s reading. not, however, with regards to the weekly reading of the Torah, but rather the reading of the haftarah*.

Because of the peculiarity of the Jewish calendar, and this year being a leap year, the haftarah reading for last week was from Ezekiel 36:18-38, which contains an inspiring description of transformation:

וְלָקַחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן-הַגּוֹיִם, וְקִבַּצְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִכָּל-הָאֲרָצוֹת; וְהֵבֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם, אֶל-אַדְמַתְכֶם. וְזָרַקְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם מַיִם טְהוֹרִים, וּטְהַרְתֶּם: מִכֹּל טֻמְאוֹתֵיכֶם וּמִכָּל-גִּלּוּלֵיכֶם, אֲטַהֵר אֶתְכֶם. וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב חָדָשׁ, וְרוּחַ חֲדָשָׁה אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם; וַהֲסִרֹתִי אֶת-לֵב הָאֶבֶן, מִבְּשַׂרְכֶם, וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם, לֵב בָּשָׂר. וְאֶת-רוּחִי, אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם; וְעָשִׂיתִי, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-בְּחֻקַּי תֵּלֵכוּ, וּמִשְׁפָּטַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם. וִישַׁבְתֶּם בָּאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם; וִהְיִיתֶם לִי, לְעָם, וְאָנֹכִי, אֶהְיֶה לָכֶם לֵאלֹהִים.

I will take you from among and nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you back to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your fetishes. And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit into you: I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh; and I will put My spirit into you. Thus I will cause you to follow My laws and faithfully to observe My rules. Then you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:24-28)

The great Maimonides taught, that the visions of the prophets are not relating to events that occur in the objective physical world but rather in the consciousness of the prophet (I tend to read most, if not all, the Jewish Bible in this manner, not just the Prophets). It is interesting to read Ezekiel’s words in this light, not as referring to historical events in the future, but as a description of the transformation of one’s psyche when one gets in touch with Being, either through meditation, through prayer or through Grace.

Ezekiel, using the expressing “you shall be my people and I will be your God” which was used by other prophets, basically asserts that this relationship of “God’s people” is not a function of DNA, but rather a result of an inner transformation, of purification, and profound humanity.

———–

* The recitation of scripture at the synagogue on Shabbat morning includes not only a parashah, a weekly Torah portion, but also a haftarah, a portion from the prophets section of the Hebrew Bible, generally one which has some thematic resemblance to that of the parashah.