Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 6 Nisan, 5784
Parsha Metzora’ – “Tzara’at sufferer”: (Leviticus 14:1 – 15:33)
First Portion: Leviticus 14:1 – 14:12

Greetings! I just got back from an amazing weekend in Philadelphia with my (chosen) family. It was a great weekend – full of life and learning.

Today we start a new portion – Parsha Metzora’ – or Tzara’at sufferer.  As much as we want to protect ourselves from being “unclean” – I think the Torah hints at ALL OF US suffering – and being “unclean.”  We have judged ourselves HARSHLY for this. The Torah this week is going to share with us – what to do when we are unclean.  Let’s dig in;

1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2This shall be the law of the person afflicted with tzara’ath, on the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the kohen.

3The kohen shall go outside the camp, and the kohen shall look, and behold, the lesion of tzara’ath has healed in the afflicted person.

So basically being unclean WILL result in becoming clean. And when we are clean, the priest will come and check to make sure it’s clean.  Once it is clean, then the ritual begins!

4Then the kohen shall order, and the person to be cleansed shall take two live, clean birds, a cedar stick, a strip of crimson [wool], and hyssop.

5The kohen shall order, and one shall slaughter the one bird into an earthenware vessel, over spring water.

6[As for] the live bird, he shall take it, and then the cedar stick, the strip of crimson [wool], and the hyssop, and, along with the live bird, he shall dip them into the blood of the slaughtered bird, over the spring water.

7He shall then sprinkle seven times upon the person being cleansed from tzara’ath, and he shall cleanse him. He shall then send away the live bird into the [open] field.

This is a fascinating ritual. It was a way to cleanse the sufferer. Two birds. One bird is killed, the blood mixed with water, and then the live bird is dipped into it, sprinkle the sufferer with it and then release the bird.

This is a way to send the guilt and shame away. Releasing it. Freeing it. It has to die and be reborn onto the live bird. It’s a beautiful ritual.

The person is then clean – but there is more:

8The person being cleansed shall then immerse his garments, shave off all his hair, and immerse [himself] in water, and become clean. After this, he may enter the camp, but he shall remain outside his tent for seven days.

The clothes get washed. ALL HAIR is shaved. Then into the Mikveh. He get’s to re-enter the community, but he may not go home for seven days.

9And it shall be, on the seventh day, that he shall shave off all his hair: [that of] his head, his beard, his eyebrows; indeed, all his hair, he shall shave off. He shall then immerse his garments and immerse his flesh in water, thus becoming clean.

This is a LOT to release the guilt and shame of the lesion. After seven days ALL the hair is removed AGAIN.  Go into the Mikveh again. And is then clean.

10And on the eighth day, he shall take two unblemished [male] lambs, one unblemished ewe lamb in its [first] year, three tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with [olive] oil as a meal offering, and one log of [olive] oil.

11And the kohen who is performing the cleansing shall place the person being cleansed [together] with these [things], before the Lord, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

12And the kohen shall take one [male] lamb and bring it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and wave them as a waving before the Lord.

Today’s portion ends with the ritual NOW going to the most holy place – the Tent of Meeting. This person who was once cast outside the camp now stands at the entrance of the holy place in the community.

How beautiful is this?  The “dirty” person – who had a lesion-  they became cleansed.

If THEY can return to the camp and the tent of meeting? How much more than those who were only unclean until evening?

We need to release guilt and shame. That is the big key takeaway here.

Those are my thoughts. How about you?

Here are my thoughts from Two years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 2 Nisan, 5782

Happy first day of the week! We have a new Parsha to study!

This week’s Parsha is Metzora’ which means “Tzara’at sufferer.”

The Chumash I’m reading begins our Parsha with this thought:

“Like the quarantined metzora’, we all need to retreat from our lives, from time to time, away from the “camp,” to do our inner work. By spending some focused time in introspection, the force of our re-integration is so much stronger.”

I’ll confess; as we’ve been reading about the concepts of “impure” and “pure” it is difficult not to connect those with judgments – impure = bad and pure = good.

But what if, like the quote above, it’s just a matter of where we are at in terms of our connection to the community? That if we are bitter and have lesions, we need to retreat and spend time on our mental health so that we can be helpful to building up the community around us as opposed to draining it? There are times for both, for sure, but the idea of taking care of our inner selves so that we can love others seems like a good concept.

Yet society today says we aren’t allowed to do this. We don’t treat mental health the way we do physical health. If someone gets sick (cough cough like COVID) we send them to quarantine and isolation so they can get better and rejoin the community. Yet, when someone is struggling or sick with their mental health we tell them to “suck it up” and ignore the impact that may have on others.

Just something I’m reflecting on going into this weeks Parsha.

Let’s jump in to today’s portion:

God speaks to Moses to tell him what to do when someone is declared having Tzara’at, when it was time to be made ritually pure.

So it is good to know; despite what myths have told us, Tzara’at is something that could/would heal. I think I was always led to believe it would never heal. The Torah indicates otherwise. This is a paradigm shift in my head.

There is a lot written about this I want to share:

From the Talmud;

“Our Sages understood the Hebrew word for tzara’at sufferer–metzora – as a contraction of three Hebrew words, motzi’ shem ra’, which mean “defamer.” They were of the opinion that the tzara’at lesions afflicted people who defamed and slandered others”

This is interesting given what I wrote yesterday about Leshon Harah. The critical nature of our speech and how we speak about others is crucial to our mental health.

Rabbi Isaac Ben Moses Arama writes:

“Speech is a function that elevates humans above the rest of the animal kingdom. Targum Onkelos translates the verse “He blew into his nostrils a living soul” (Genesis 2:7) as referring to a speaking soul.

There is immense power vested in speech: It can perpetuate good, or be harmful and destroy.

It is this abuse of speech that the Torah wishes to curtail, by writing, “This will be the law of the defamer-the metzora'”

Interesting – these are all variations on a theme!

And of course, the Rebbe; Menachem Mendel Schneerson has some really deep thoughts to add:

“The Talmud describes the Messiah-as he exists during the state of exile, waiting to redeem the Jewish people-as a tzara’at sufferer (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b). While the Messiah himself is a pure and holy individual, he nevertheless bears the suffering of the Jewish people in exile – “In truth he has borne our sicknesses and endured our pains, yet we held him to be stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4, cited by Talmud, ibid.).

The ritual purification of the tzara’at sufferer that we read of here alludes to the true and final redemption, when the Messiah takes the Jewish people out of exile. From this we can learn:

(a) The Messiah is not a person who will spontaneously arrive with the redemption. Rather, he is found in exile with the Jewish people, and helps to bear their difficulties and sorrows.

(b) The previous Torah portion (Tazria’) contains the laws of the affliction of tzara’at, alluding to exile. The current portion (Metzora), on the other hand, contains the laws of ritual purification of tzara’at, alluding to redemption. The fact that these two Torah portions are usually read together teaches us that we should not perceive exile and redemption as two separate, sequential events. Rather, each commandment that we observe in exile should be actively in fused with the knowledge that it is an act which is hastening the redemption.

(c) In earlier generations the current portion was referred to not as Metzora, but as Zo’t Tihyeh (“This will be the law”), but more recently this name was rejected, by Jewish custom. The inner reason for this change is that the Jewish people became more aware (at least subconsciously) that the Messiah’s coming is very close, and it is therefore inappropriate to refer to this Torah portion, which alludes to the Messiah’s coming, in the future tense (“This will be”).

(d) The ritual purification of the tzara’at sufferer is through the laws of the Torah (“This will be the law (lit. “Torah”) of the tzara’at sufferer”). One of the most effective ways to accelerate the coming of the Messiah is to study the concept of the Messiah and Redemption as it is described in the Written and Oral Torah.” (End quote)

In my head, yes I’m thinking about the ways I talk about others, but I am ALSO thinking about how I talk about myself in my own head. The vitriol I speak about myself inside my brain is definitely a lesion that needs healing; and I’m working on that! Therapy, Torah study, Journaling, davening, and meditation have all been incredibly helpful resources towards healing of my Tzara’at!

Ok. Now that we have all of that; let’s dig into how someone is purified:

1. The Tzara’at case should be brought to the priest
2. The priest should go outside the camp where the Tzara’at sufferer was isolated
3. The priest should examine the sufferer. If the lesion is healed:
   • two live birds, a stick of cedar wood, a strip of crimson wool and hyssop should be taken for the person who is ritually pure.

Now. Interesting. Why birds? Rashi writes because birds are constantly chirping, and the Belief that Tzara’at is caused by gossip which is done by chattering. That is reallly fascinating!

Why cedar wood? Rashi says it is because Tzara’at comes because of haughtiness symbolized by the tall cedar tree. What is the remedy? The individual needs to be humble themselves like the worm used to make the the crimson dye and the hyssop plant which does not grow tall.

That’s really cool stuff!

Ok. Let’s keep going:

4. Upon the priests instructions, one of the birds should be slaughtered – allowing its blood to fall into an earthenware vessel containing spring water
5. The remaining live bird should be taken, with the stick of cedar, the strip of crimson wool and the hyssop (the stick and hyssop should be tied together with the crimson wool) and he should dip them, together with the live bird, into the blood of the slaughtered bird which was mixed with spring water.

Rabbi Samuel Edels wrote this, and I believe it is helpful:

He who desires life can acquire it with his tongue by studying Torah. He who desires death can acquire it with his tongue by slandering and defaming others (Babylonian Talmud, Arakhin 15b).

This idea is hinted to by the tzara’at sufferer’s method of purification, where two birds are brought and one is slaughtered while the other is kept alive. The one that is slaughtered suggests that, with his speech, he was capable of bringing upon himself death.

The bird that is kept alive suggests that it is with his tongue, if used properly, that he also can bring upon himself life. (End quote)

The tongue is such a sharp tool in our lives, and how we use it has a deep impact on our soul.

Let’s keep going in this process:

6. The priest should then sprinkle some of the blood/water mixture seven times upon the person being cleansed of the Tzara’at. This is a crucial part of his ritual purification process.
7. He should then send away the live bird into the open field
8. The person undergoing the ritual process should then immerse his garments in a ritual pool.
9. He should shave off all his hair and bathe in the water of a ritual pool. This is a crucial part of his ritual purification process
10. After this, he may enter the camp, but he should remain “outside his tent” (ie seperate from his wife) for seven days.

Let me stop here. It is interesting, that although he can go back into camp, he is not yet supposed to be comfortable. He needs time to reintegrate with the community.

11. On the seventh day being in the camp, he should have off all his hair; not only the hair on his head, his beard and his eyebrows, but he should shave off all of his other visible hair as well.

Rabbi Ephraim of Lunshits wrote this:

“Although all body hair needs to be shaved off, the Torah mentions specifically hair on the head, the beard, and eyebrows, because they symbolize three primary causes for the tzara’at affliction. Hair on the head represents haughtiness; the beard, which surrounds the mouth, represents slander; and stinginess (tzarut ayin, lit. “narrowness of the eyes”) is symbolized by the eyebrows.”

Really interesting stuff!

Let’s keep going;

12. Then he should immerse his garments and immerse his body in the water of the mikveh and then he becomes ritually pure!

But that’s not the end. There is an aftermath. On the eighth day, this is what they should do;

1. Take 2 perfect male lambs for a guilt offering and and a burnt offering
2. Take one perfect female lamb in its first year as a sin offering
3. Take Three tenths of an Ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil as a meal offering.
4. Take one log of olive oil

The priest performing the Ritual purification should place the Person who is to be ritually purified together with these things before God at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

The priest should take one male lamb and bring it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil – and wave them as a wave offering before God.

And thus we close todays portion.

Wow. So my biggest takeaway here is we need to be very careful with our speech. And how we talk about others. Because the consequences are grave and lengthy to come back from that.

ESPECIALLY if you are talking bad about yourself. Our internal dialogue is likely harder to cleanse than those things our tongue speaks negatively about others!

What are your thoughts?