Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 25 Nisan, 5783Day 10 of the Omer.
So MUCH going on this morning! This will be a really long post – just to warn you.
First, let’s talk Omer:
Today is “Tiferet of Gevurah” which means the “Compassion of Discipline.”
From Chabad:
Not just love but compassion has to drive discipline. Love comes from recognizing one’s merits and positive qualities (discipline channels and directs those strengths and weeds out the negative). Compassion is unconditional love. It is love just for the sake of love, not considering the others position. Tiferet is a result of total selflessness in the eyes of G‑d. You love for no reason; you love because you are a reflection of G‑d.
Does my discipline have this element of compassion?
Exercise for the day: Be compassionate to someone you have reproached.
How do we have compassion for those we have hurt? How do we have compassion for the pain we have caused others?
And – how do we do this when we reject ourselves? We abandon ourselves? We reproach ourselves?
Ok. Let’s now dig into this weeks’ Parshot (yes. Two). This week, we read TWO Parshot: Tazria and Metzora. Lets start with Tazria. Below you will find commentary from last year. Start at the top and work your way down – the post connected here and shared is the last one for today.
One of the big things I am reflecting on is the connection today between the concept of “conception” and the compassion of discipline.
Lately I have been learning about plants. Some plants grow in dry soil well. Succulents, for example, do better with dry soil – if the soil gets too moist? Their roots will rot.
I am also growing an avocado tree from a pit. It requires moist soil. When I started growing the avocado pit and a cactus, I watered them the same. The avocado tree sprouted and is super healthy. The cactus died. Roots died and it fell over.
These roots are conceived in soil. We tend to judge the soil as “too moist” or “too dry.”
Let’s connect this to people. Instead of soil, let’s look at the soul.
We may require a LOT of nourishment for our roots to grow. We are conceived in soil that is moist. Instead of looking at others who may require less and judging ourselves as “needy?” Let’s look at ourselves with the compassion we need to love ourselves. Let’s be honest about the nourishment we need.
Or. We may require very little nourishment for our roots to grow. We were conceived in soil that if it gets too moist, we will rot. We could also judge ourselves as there being something “wrong” with us because we don’t want the nourishment others have.
Instead of judgment. And treating others with what we need (daily nourishment, or waiting for the soil to fully dry out before providing nourishment). What if we instead just looked with curiosity in each moment and asked “what do we need?”
Because the truth is, sometimes those of us who require daily nourishment may need a break and want some space because our soil is too moist and we need to digest. Others who normally may need nourishment when dry may need LOTS of nourishment in the moment. Instead of putting ourselves (and others) into boxes and creating formulas, the key is to be present. In the moment.
And. If we don’t do this? Leprosy can develop. Sickness. We can get root rot. We can die out from a lack of moisture.
And I feel like this is what today’s long Torah portion may be trying to teach us. In this moment.
Thoughts?
Here is my commentary on this portion from a year ago:
Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 24 Adar II, 5782
Today’s Parsha is Tazria which means “conceives.”
From the Chumash I’m reading; “The afflictions of life, of which tzara’at (leprosy) is an example, are not meant to punish us, but to act as a stimulus for personal healing. That is why the laws of childbirth are also included here, suggesting the purpose of any affliction is the rebirth that follows.”
This is crucial to keep in mind; as we have been journeying in the Torah so far, we have come to the place where we understand why the Jews came to the desert. Why they build the tabernacle. And last week we learned what sacrifices Hashem wants us to make.
May this week’s portion bring conception and birth to new spiritual ideas and wisdom!
Todays portion begins with child birth;
God spoke to Moses and told him to tell the people of Israel:
1. If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male (or miscarries) she will be ritually impure for seven days – even if no flow of blood accompanied the birth. She will be impure just like the days of her menstrual flow
2. On the eighth day, the flesh of the child’s foreskin should be circumcised
3. After 7 days, when the woman enters the Mikveh, then for 33 days she will have a waiting period in which even if she sees blood she is ritually pure to her husband. However, she should not touch or eat any holy animal, nor may she enter the sanctuary until the 33 days are completed
4. If she gives birth to a female she will be ritually impure for two weeks, just like during her menstruation period. Then for 66 days she will have a waiting period.
Ok hold up. Why longer if she gives birth to a female? Are women “dirtier” than men and require more time for purification? No. The Talmud says
“When a woman experiences the pain of birth, she swears that she will never have children
again. When a boy is born she soon regrets her oath, after seven days. After a girl is born, the
concern is deeper, knowing that when the baby grows up she too will suffer the pain of child-
birth–so it takes longer for the mother to regret her oath”
That’s a fascinating take!
Also, Kabbalah says “All souls in the upper world are both male and female. When the souls come below they initially emerge as male and female; then each side separates and goes its own way. If you merit, the two will join together again as one unit. Your marital partner will be your true soul mate. You will join together as one unit in everything, in spirit and in body.”
Let’s keep going. Next after childbirth, we are going to talk Leprosy.
The basic mitzvahs are; if you find Tzara’at on your body, you are to bring it to the priest. The priest examines – if there are two hairs within lesion that turned from black to white it is a genuine Tzara’at lesion.
If the hair has not turned white, then…get this…they get quarantined for seven days. If the lesion spread, then he should Be pronounced ritually impure. If it hasn’t they get quarantined an additional 7 days. 14 days of quarantine so far.
This is fascinating to think the Torah addresses a quarantine situation. The portion closes on a cliffhanger as we don’t know what happens after the second quarantine.
Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 25 Adar II, 5782
Today we continue to talk about Tzara’at (leprosy). Yesterdays portion finished two quarantines of the lesion to try and determine whether the lesion was indeed Tzara’at.
Todays portion opens with the end of the second quarantine – the priest is supposed to examine them on the seventh day of the second quarantine. If the lesion remained the same or spread, he should be pronounced ritually impure. If the lesion has faded and the lesion has not spread, the priest should announce him to be ritually pure. It is merely a discoloration.
However, since he was quarantined, they must cleanse their garments in the mikveh (ritual pool) and then he will become ritually pure.
If, after this process, the discoloration spreads – the process starts over and the priest will examine again.
This is a pretty strict quarantine process.
Next we are looking at lesions where the hair in the lesion turns white. Then the priest determines them to be ritually impure.
If there is healthy looking skin within the white blotch, one should not think this is NOT Tzara’at – this is because of an old wound; but the Tzara’at is still there.
Rabbi Moses Feinstein had something interesting to say about this:
Some people perpetrate gross injustices, but also perform some good on the behalf of others. They justify their wrongs by focusing on their positive accomplishments. In this verse, the Torah warns against such behavior: True, you have some “healthy-looking” skin–you may have accomplished some good in your life.
-but that does not excuse any injustices that you have perpetrated; those actions remain a “lesion” that stands to be corrected.
That’s a really interesting application to our lives.
Todays portion covers lesions that go over the entire body. In an interesting twist; if the lesions are over the entire body the lesion is ritually pure.
Whaaaaaaat? Let’s stop. This seems confusing. Why?
Rabbi Bahya Ben Asher writes:
“This case is like the law of the Red Heifer, a suprarational decree of Scripture”
This means we just can’t understand it; but we must accept it is true.
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra had this to say:
“When tzara’at covers the person’s entire body it has completely exited his system and is only
on the exterior”
Rabbi Jacob Ben Asher said this:
“Thus the fact that it covers his whole body is a sign that he will soon be completely cured”
The Talmud digs even deeper:
“The Messiah will only come when every government becomes heretical. Rabbah said, “Where do we see an allusion to this in Scripture? From the verse, ‘He has turned completely white, he is ritually pure” (v. 13). Just as when the affliction has spread throughout the entire skin the person is ritually pure, so too, when all the governments have become heretical, the Redemption will come.
So interesting. What are your thoughts?
But wait. Get this. If the lesions cover the body, and then healthy looking skin appears in the lesion? He becomes ritually impure!
Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 26 Adar II, 5782
Today is a very short passage continuing our journey looking at skin lesions.
Todays portion begins discussing inflammation caused by an infection. If that inflammation heals, but on the place of inflammation there is a white blotch, or a streaked red and white spot, it needs to be shown to the priest.
If the blotch is white, making it look deeper than the surrounding skin of the body, and the hair has turned white, the priest will announce him ritually impure.
If it isn’t white or it’s white but does not contain a white hair, the individual goes to quarantine for 7 days. After 7 days, if:
1. It spreads on the skin, the priest will pronounce him ritually impure
2. If it doesn’t spread, it is merely scar tissue and the priest will pronounce him ritually pure.
Ok. Seems like a simple passage. But we have some interesting commentaries here.
First the Talmud teaches us in looking at this portion:
Unlike earlier passages, that refer to “a person” (adam), who has a lesion, this verse reads literally, “If flesh (basar) will have
an inflammation on its skin.” The passages are also dissimilar in their conclusion: Although this verse speaks of healing, earlier passages do not.
The lesson here: Healing comes only when you are humble and supple like flesh (basar). A person who is arrogant and rigid like the earth (adamah) will not be healed.
Next, Rabbi Menachem Ben Solomon writes this about the Priest’s examination:
A person can see all blemishes, except his own (Mishnah, Negaim 2:5).
People do not see faults in themselves. If a person does something wrong, he will explain it away, saying that it is not a fault. Therefore it is important that you have close friends whom you can listen to when they point out your faults.
To me, this is the BIGGEST takeaway from todays portion. How often do we surround ourselves with Echo chambers of people who tell us what we want to hear and confirm our own beliefs. We need to have people who care about us and can point out our faults so we can see reality for what it is. We often get hyper focused on our own reality. We don’t consider others may have a different view, and those views have validity.
When we are wounded, we must show our wounds to another who we can hear and we can listen to in order to have an opportunity to heal. We must hear the pieces we are responsible and need to work on for ourselves AND we need to listen to how maybe what happened wasn’t about us and is something someone else must deal with; independent of ourselves.
Having friends and those who care about us to tell us hard truths is something critical in our Jewish lives!
What are your thoughts?
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