Tazria 5771

Parshah Tazria
Leviticus 12:1-13:59 II Kings 4:42-5:19

Google says Tazria means "A woman became pregnant" or "Give Seed". These are related but are both right? I think it must be closer to the former as I have it "If a woman be delivered". The fact that "becomes" pregnant and "is delivered" are different is instructive. Hebrew is agglutinative. It modifies the root; and the tenses of past, present, and future can be confounding. I like to think this evidences a distortion of Torah prose caused by G*d's own eternality.

My Hebrew is a wet noodle! I found that the sage R. Johanan had it "If a woman conceived seed and bore."

In any event, Parsha Tazria begins with halacos regarding childbirth, and then discusses purity and impurity of various skin diseases. These afflictions include a condition called 'tzaraat' Tzaraat is not strictly speaking leprosy. This second theme will also be a concern of the next parsha Metzora which means again roughly, leper. (Interestingly the rabbi's point out that clothes and even buildings can get tzaraat.)

These subjects though continuing with what I call 'the forensics' contain much controversy. Before stirring that pot, I again turn to my new crutch and quote the Sefer Chinuch .

According to Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are 5 positive and 2 negative commandments in the parshat:

• The precept about the ritual uncleanness of a woman after childbirth (Leviticus 12:2.)
• A ritually unclean person is not to eat meat of holy sacrifices. (Leviticus 12:4.)
• The precept of a woman’s offering after giving birth (Leviticus 12:6.)
• The precept regarding the ritual uncleanness of a m’tzora (person with a skin condition) (Leviticus 13:12.)
• The prohibition against shaving the area of a nethek (an impurity in hair) (Leviticus 13:33.)
• That one with a tzara'at condition (skin condition), among others, should rend clothes. (Leviticus 13:45.)
• The precept of tzara'at in cloth (Leviticus 13:47.)

(Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 2:201–33. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1984. ISBN 0-87306-296-5.)

I am not in the habit of looking for any particular coherent pattern in the mitzvahs. The Sages offer so many good systems tying them together you can become quite dizzy. Their questions are of course fascinating. For example, I will paraphrase: "[Normally when] two offerings are brought as a pair, the chatas (sin offering) is always offered first. Why in Tazria is the olah (burnt offering) listed first?" Or "Why is the period of impurity after child birth twice as long for a female child?

Regarding the order of the offerings, theories abound. Everything from pride of the mother to her swearing she would never sleep with her husband again while in labor!

Regarding the period of impurity being longer for females, some say it is because for boys circumcision on the eighth day interferes. Others claim that the impurity is twice as long for females because they can become mothers and bring more impurity (life-death) into the world.

Interestingly, the Sefer Ha-Chinuch doesn't list the brit milah again (it think) because it was already commanded to Abraham (Bereshit 17:12-14). The text of Parsha Tazria repeats it stating "And in the eighth day the flesh of his [newborn] foreskin shall be circumcised." (V12:3).

The haftorah (II Kings 4:42-5:19) is fascinating. It first touches upon a miracle of 20 loaves feeding an army. Then the text describes the healing of Naaman, an Aramean commander (The Aramaeans are also known as the Syriacs) by the prophet Elisha. Naaman is afflicted with leprosy and this represents the connection to parshat Tazria.

The Haftorah was uplifting being full of miracles. Naaman first expects that a cure will be very involved, and even protests when told simply to wash. When he is healed however he says, "Now I know that the God of Israel is the only G*d in the whole world." (II Kings 5:15)

Halleluyah!

Thinking of skin disease, I can't help but think of Job. Job is often cited as theodicy (the problem of evil happening to good people.) I believe it is more about truth. Disease afflicts all people. There is no doubt that our ancestors associated it with the 'wrath of G*d' as in the case of Miriam who was struck with 'leprosy' when she spoke ill of Moshe's wife (24:8). Moreover, as I read in an essay by R. Roderick Young: "Metzora (usually translated as "leper"). To the rabbinic ear, this sounded like the words "motzi ra," ("bring about evil") which in the phrase "motzi shaym ra" means "to spread slander about someone."

This idea, that disease is a punishment exists today and has for millennium. It led to so many centuries of the disabled being treated badly. It is hard to contemplate. It does however point to/ or emerge from a constructive idea seldom considered in our age; that our bodies and our souls are not separate. They are a unity; something greater than their sum.

The pain of the body can shape belief. This is true in ourselves and when we see it in others. Pain and evil are inseparable. The fear of both leads many to reject faith. Whether macrocosm or microcosm can pull the spirit down in fear, dread, and hopelessness. Even being overweight (my own fault) causes me to sometimes to bemoan fate when my life is full of joys. How much more so for the disabled and their loved ones, how much harder is it to have faith for those who suffer in age and disease?

G*d have mercy.

Yet, in the context of the parsha we are dealing with Ritual purity (and impurity or tumah). The text is exacting like a medical manual for discerning the degree of the affliction. The details are gruesome to read but they reflect a reality that high ideals of virtue can sometimes hide.

Turning from the practical to the mystical, it is interesting to consider that birth can create an impurity when it is natural. Also it may be said that disease is natural but it creates impurity. Circumcision however is unnatural but is required to perform rituals.

This directly informs references in my study like the following:

According to the midrash (Tanchuma, Tazria 5), Tarnus Rufus, the Wicked, once asked Rabbi Akiba: “Whose works are better, those of God or those of creatures of flesh and blood?” Akiba answered: “The works of flesh and blood are better.” To which Tarnus Rufus retorted: “Is that why you Jews circumcise, to prove that you’re better than God?” To which Akiba replied: ”I anticipated your second question in your first. God has given us commandments for the sole purpose of enabling us to perfect [tikkun] the divine works of creation, as God’s partners.”

I disagree violently:
Akiba had powerful faith which gave him insights few have had but I will never agree with him on this point. We are not partners. At best and only in our greatest moments can we be instruments. I argue this by saying it was not Abraham’s idea to circumcise. People are vain and think their will, ideas, and dreams are important. What have we done that matters? How much evil have we done that we choose to ignore while worshipping our games and entertainments?

We don't know what is best for us to begin with let alone to think we can perfect what G*d has done. Everything G*d does is perfect. The good we do is his. The power, intelligence, and opportunity we have to act in the world are his. We are perfectly vain and selfish when we think we can 'judge' things. How many of us truly even work on our faculties of judgment? How many of us even try to educate ourselves? We are all quite ridiculous. We can move from watching cartoons one minute to speculating on G*d's purposes? I ask you!

G*d have mercy on us and keep us from being self righteous. G*d forgive our imperfections and strengthen our faith. G*d help those in adversity. Glory to you, our hope and our reason.