Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 3 Nisan, 5784
Parsha Tazria’ – “Conceives”: (Leviticus 12:1 – 13:59)
Fifth Portion: Leviticus 13:29 – 13:39

Good morning. Last night as I was driving home, I could see a sliver of the moon shining forth. Just that small amount of light reflecting from the new moon gives hope as we enter a tough time discovering our slavery, and the desires to be free as we enter Passover. Where have we been enslaved this past year? This is the question.

As we dig into the Torah, we’ve been discussing wounds and scars, and hair. Today we look at the head and face:

29If a man or a woman has a lesion on the head or on the beard [area],

30the kohen shall look at the lesion, and, behold! its appearance is deeper than the skin, and in it is a thin golden yellow hair, the kohen shall pronounce him unclean. It is a nethek, which is tzara’ath of the head or the beard.

31But when the kohen looks at the nethek lesion, and, behold! its appearance is not deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, the kohen shall quarantine [the person with] the nethek lesion for seven days.

The head (to me) represents thoughts.  If we have thoughts that are producing results we are struggling with, we need support for someone to support us going deeper into our mind to find the cognitive blocks that may have us stuck. It is our subconscious.

The “checks” in the Torah and the quarantines are all about discovering the sources of our wounds and lesions. And these are NOT just physical. These are spiritual lesions as well. Emotional.

It is helpful to go to a “priest” to have them explore the wound or lesion and decide whether it is merely on the surface, or whether there is something deep.

Our hair interestingly represents the bridge from within us to the outside world.  Our skin Is a boundary. It keeps what is inside of us, inside of us. The hair penetrates. The pores allow the outside world within us.

If the hair is white? It represents something inside that was connected to the wound. If it is not, then inside we are healthy.

How do we see our subconscious?  By looking at the “fruit” around us.

And. Think about this?  What CAUSES these lesions? It is external.  In the Torah here, these lesions begin by EXPOSURE from the outside, and they sickness goes into our bodies.

Spiritually, what are we being exposed to? How are we protecting our hearts and minds?

If we are not conscious of this? We run the risk of these spiritual lesions developing.

Let’s keep going. As we are in quarantine – the priest is looking at what is unfolding. Are we getting sicker? Or are we moving in the right direction:

32And the kohen shall look at the lesion on the seventh day. And, behold! the nethek has not spread, and no golden yellow hair was in it, and the appearance of the nethek is not deeper than the skin,

33he shall shave himself, but adjacent to the nethek he shall not shave, and the kohen shall quarantine [the person with] the nethek again for seven days.

So interesting. If the lesions haven’t spread – shaving all the hair AROUND the wound, but allowing the hair to stay near the wound allows us to be fresh – AND keep a test for what is going on within.

34Then the kohen shall look at the nethek on the seventh day. And, behold! the nethek did not spread on the skin, and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, the kohen shall pronounce him clean, and he shall immerse his garments and become clean.

35But if the nethek spreads on the skin, after he has been declared clean,

36the kohen shall look at it, and, behold! the nethek has spread on the skin, the kohen need not examine for golden yellow hair; it is unclean!

37But if the appearance of the nethek has remained the same, or if black hair has grown in it, the nethek has healed; he is clean. So the kohen shall pronounce him clean.

Again – the hair and skin can show what is going on within.

38If a man or a woman has spots on the skin of their flesh, white spots,

39the kohen shall look, and, behold! there are dim white spots on the skin of their flesh, it is a bohak [pigmentation] which has spread on the skin. He is clean.

This last part is interesting.  White spots on the skin? They are clean. They are an indicator purely of pigmentation. Pigmentation is not about clean or unclean.  The color of our skin is not as important as the smoothness and lesions on our skin.

These are my thoughts.  What are yours?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 26 Nisan, 5783. 11th Day of the Omer.

As we continue our double portion this week, let’s start with the Omer. Today’s theme is the “Netzach of Gevurah” or the “Determination of Discipline.”

From Chabad:

“Effective discipline must be enduring and tenacious. Is my discipline consistent or only when forced? Am I perceived as a weak disciplinarian?

Exercise for the day: Extend the plan you made on day two for a longer period of time, listing short-term and long-term goals and review and update it each day, and see how consistent you are; if you follow through.”

As I take stock of this – I look at the practices I have developed for my self care, and how they have become longer term, determined Disciplines. Meditation, Journaling, Drinking a 32oz cup of water when I wake up, Torah study, Davening. I have developed these disciplines that feed my mind, body, and soul. I am good at this follow through.

And there are OTHER disciplines I am not as good at following through. That’s what I am reflecting on.

Below you will find commentary from last year. As I reflect this go around, I am thinking about risk. Emotional and Physical Risk. You may have seen the pictures of me from my hike to Judds Falls. When we got to the falls, I knew immediately I wanted to climb. I had prepared myself for water – i was wearing the bathing suit, i had flip flops so I could put my feet in the water.

I looked and surveyed the ascent. Could i have gotten hurt? Sure. And I realized. I could take it one step at a time. Make sure each step was secure. If there was no way forward, I could turn back.

And I made it. You can see in the pictures on my feed – I had my fists in the air in victory. Because I am proud of my body at 51 – that I can do something like climb up a waterfall in flip flops.

This is the salient point from my writings a year ago:

“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. “

As I navigate this in my life – being vulnerable and opening myself up with others; friends, kids, professionals. I am opening myself to being burned. I am opening myself up to being wounded with Tzerarat.

And. I am reflecting on all the deep wounds from my past. And how I have healed them (or not). And how many of those wounds have festered with Tzerarat and have cut me off from living my best life? Having adventures? Taking risks?

These are my thoughts. What are yours?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 28 Adar II, 5782

Good morning! Today, we are going to look at suspected Tzara’at of the head and beard area.

It is interesting that yesterday’s focus was on burns; and we discussed emotional burns and how they can either be leprosy or healed. Today we are focused on the head.

Going into this passage, I am reflecting on our brains; how our brains experience trauma and how that trauma may be Tzara’at or it may be – or it may be something else. Let’s dig in;

Once again if there is a lesion on the head or face, the priest should examine it. If it looks deeper than the skin and the black hair in it has turned golden, they are to be considered ritually impure.

If the priest looks at the lesion and it is not deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it (which would render it ritually pure) then the priest should quarantine the person for seven days.

Now. Something I’m noticing in this weeks Parsha. Hair seems to be crucial. Is what grows from the lesion black, white, golden? That is an indicator of the type of lesion it is. If black hair grows from the lesion, the person is ritually impure. If there is no hair, they go into quarantine. If there is white or golden hair, it’s Tzara’at.

That’s important to consider. What is produced from our trauma? If it’s emotional trauma; there needs to be a recognition of healing; and if what is produced from the healing is “black hair” then you know you have healed to the point of being “ritually pure” which I would equate to being emotionally healthy. Maybe not perfect emotional health: but certain pure enough to connect with others.

Now when it comes to the brain; which is our focus today; with brain trauma it is the same thing. When our brains experience trauma, we need to have a priest (therapist?) help us determine whether what is being produced in our lives is “black hair” or “white hair” or “golden hair.” Or if nothing is produced then to quarantine us.

We cannot figure this out by ourselves; the Torah seems pretty clear on this. Our own self judgment of our wounds/lesions requires someone (someones?) with authority to look at our trauma to help Us figure out whether we are “impure” (which I would equate to having a ton of work to do before being ready to connect with others) or whether we just need to be quarantined (a temporary stay away for a period of time) or whether we are “pure” and healthy to engage.

These are just thoughts of mine, mind you; please don’t take this with any kind of authority. I’m just working to connect the Torah to our lives in a practical way.

I do believe the Torah will tell us how we move from being “impure” with Tzara’at to regaining purity; but I might be wrong. We may be isolated for a long time.

But for today; the internal and external assessment of where we are at is paramount. When we experience a lesion; or a trauma – what kind of hair does it produce. That’s what I’m really reflecting on.

Ok. Let’s keep going; but the portion parallels yesterdays portion about the burn.

If the person is in quarantine, after seven days the priest should examine the lesion again; if it’s spread or hairs grow golden, then they are ritually impure.

Ok. So I need to stop for a moment and apologize. Yesterday’s Torah thoughts overlap with todays. I realized that the thoughts about end of yesterdays portion were actually focused on today’s portion.

I’m reflecting on why that happened. I do believe Hashem works things out for our good; there must have been a good reason for this. But here is what we are to do with a lesion of the face that hasn’t changed in the seven day quarantine:

If There is no change, the person shave around the lesion (netek) and 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 ritualy pure.

Ok. So. What this tells me is that maybe my own head and heart might be conflicting with one another; yesterday instead of focusing on the emotions and heart, my brain wanted to dig into my headspace.

How often does this happen to us? Where we get our brain and our emotions mixed up. Which drives us? And is that caused by trauma or is that normal? Is that a lesion?

Just some things I’m reflecting on.

It’s really interesting as I study the Torah. To sort things out; and to determine (with the help of others) where I am at; are these lesions (wounds) deep? Are they minor?

This Torah study went in a completely different direction today. Interesting.

I’m curious as to your thoughts!