Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 2 Nisan, 5784
Parsha Tazria’ – “Conceives”: (Leviticus 12:1 – 13:59)
Fourth Portion: Leviticus 13:24 – 13:28

Good morning! It is now the second day of the first month – the time we remember and prepare for the Passover. To get ready to leave our personal Egypts.  Are we getting ourselves ready? Where are those places we are stuck?

The context for today’s passage continues to be looking at where we need healing – and where our sickness is connected to being “unclean.”  We discussed the difference between feeling “unclean” and feeling “broken.”  Which are we?

Let’s dig in:

24If [a person’s] flesh has a fire burn on its skin, and on the healed area of the burn, there is a reddish white or white bahereth,

25the kohen shall look at it. And, behold! the hair has turned white in the bahereth, and its appearance is deeper than the skin, it is tzara’ath which has spread in the burn. So, the kohen shall pronounce him unclean. It is a lesion of tzara’ath.

The white hair is something I’m reflecting on. I feel like it is connected to the hair being cut off from the normal nutrients of the body that produce the color of the hair. If the nutrients can’t get to the hair? The hair turns white.

In addition, we are talking about the impact of a burn on our lives.  When we are burned by others.

What is our takeaway here?

The nutrients of our lives are contained in the Torah.  We want to remain connected to Hashem and be “clean” we need to continue to dig into the Torah on a regular basis. Maybe that is daily? Maybe it is weekly? But connecting to the source on a regular basis is crucial for us to get the daily nutrients we need to bring “life” and color to our lives.

When our lives get “burned” by others – hard lessons that require resilience – are we maintaining our lives, or do we lose our color?

As we assess our lives going into Passover – where do we need more color?

Is it in our intellectual lives?

Physical lives?

Emotional lives?

Spiritual lives?

Take stock – can we have more fun? Can we be more fluid and discerning? How can we be more colorful?

Let’s keep going:

26But, if the kohen looks at it, and, behold! there is no white hair in the bahereth, and it is not lower than the skin and it is dim, the kohen shall quarantine him for seven days.

27And the kohen shall look at it on the seventh day. If it has spread on the skin, the kohen shall pronounce him unclean. It is a lesion of tzara’ath.

28But if the bahereth remains in its place, not increasing on the skin, and it is dim, it is a se’eith of the burn, and the kohen shall pronounce him clean, because it is the scar tissue of the burn.

Yesterday we discussed wounds and scars.  How do we know whether something in our lives is an emotional wound or an emotional scar? Whether we remain colorful.

How is your color? Are you white?  Are you sick and in an open wound which blocks nutrients getting to your heart?  Or are you maintaining your color?

This is the takeaway of the Torah this morning.

What are your thoughts?

My thoughts from two years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 27 Adar II, 5782

Let us keep going on this journey of Tzara’at (leprosy).

Today we explore burns and leprosy. Before we dig in, I’m reflecting on how we suffer literal burns; but I also think about the spiritual or emotional burns we suffer because of a fire caused in our hearts. How often are we burned by others, and we don’t take time to examine the wound to look for leprosy (toxicity) so that the wound (emotion or otherwise) can heal?

So as we dig in, I’m reflecting on how we can apply these concepts emotionally and spiritually as well!

The portion starts today with Hashem saying “if a person has a burn caused by fire on their skin, and on the healed area of the burn there is a streaked red and white spot or a white spot, the priest should examine it.”

So. Right away, when we are emotionally burned by someone, and we believe we are healing from that; and we see an issue; we are called to have a priest (rabbi, therapist, etc) explore it with us. To know whether this is a normal part of the emotional healing process, or whether there is some form of disease that could make things worse for us in the future.

Here is what the priest is supposed to look for;

• If the appearance is deeper than the skin AND the black hair has turned golden, he is spiritual impure. It is a netek lesion; which is Tzara’at of the head or beard area.
• If the netek lesion is not deeper than the skin and there is no black hair hair in it, the priest should quarantine the person for seven days

So let’s stop. After a wound is discovered and we are unsure if it’s just a burn or something worse; we still need time to heal and look for clarity.

On the seventh day of the quarantine the priest should examine the lesion again:

• If the netek has spread or it has golden hair in it then the priest should declare him ritually impure.
• If it has not spread, and there is no golden hair in it, then the afflicted person should shave himself around the netek. They should leave a two-hair border around the netek to determine if it’s spreading or not. And then quarantine the person 7 more days.

After seven more days, the priest should examine the netek again;

• If it hasn’t spread and the appearance is not deeper than the skin, the priest should declare them ritually pure. However, because the person was quarantined, the garments need to be cleansed
• If it HAS spread, the priest doesn’t need to look for golden hair because the person is ritually impure.
• If it has remained the same or if dark hair has grown into it, the netek is healed. He is ritually pure.

Finally, the portion concludes with discussing white spots.

If it is merely Just white spots on the skin of their flesh, the priest should still examine them: – but if it’s just devoid of pigment, the priest would render them ritually pure.

So – my thoughts here. When we engage with others and they impact us; it can be something really changing about our character (leprosy) that needs to be addressed and quarantined. It can be something impactful, but it will heal with time. Or it could just be a change in pigment: with no real deep impact (it’s only skin deep).

Life is about opening yourself up with others to the possibility of being burned and wounded with Tzerarat. The Torah doesn’t tell us to avoid this; until we are afflicted with it; then we separate ourselves from the population to protect OTHERS.

We either address the deep leprosy within us, or we continue affecting others.

If the wound is smaller, and not leprosy; we still need healing; quarantine of at least two weeks. Then a determination can be made whether this is something really deep like leprosy – or just a small wound that will heal on its own.

Finally, some things are minute; we carry them with us in a change of the pigment of our skin; but not something that alters who we are.

Interesting thoughts today. I’m curious as to what you think!