Tazría - Metzorá 5775 - English

Tazria- Metzorah

The two sections of the Torah from the book of Vayikra (Leviticus) that we read this week, Tazria and Metzorah, are somewhat old-fashioned and dark for most modern readers.  One of the main topics relates to the illnesses of the skin, and to the impurity of people’s clothes and houses, as well as a description of their symptoms.  

The Torah describes the process of calling the Cohen to evaluate the problem, then the recommendation of imposing a quarantine, and finally the stages of healing or repair that will culminate in the offering of gratitude after it is resolved.  

In a previous chapter, the Torah focuses on the topic of birth. Until very recently, labor was terribly dangerous, and many times deadly.  In past generations, many mothers and babies passed away during the process of giving birth.  However, giving birth may be considered one of the biggest miracles of all, and it never ceases to amaze us.  

Given that science progressively extends the borders of human knowledge, many wonderful things lose their wonder.  This does not happen with giving birth; the more we know, the more we marvel at the great complexity of cells dividing in different directions to form a human being. 

For Judaism, birth is such an extraordinary event that divinity itself is involved.  “Three are the partners that intervene in the creation of a baby, a man, a woman, and God,” so our sages claim.  

This is clear in our ritual and customs.  Women usually say birkat hagomel, which is the public prayer of gratitude after overcoming a dangerous situation, and the father is called to the Torah on the next Shabbat after birth, where a special blessing is read for the mother and child.  

Even so, what starts with the greatest pleasure could even with the greatest pain.  

The Torah always combines the physical with the spiritual.  Its approach is what today we call “holistic”.  The rituals presented in the Torah are designed to give time and attention to the mother, so that she may recover her strength and mend after what usually is an emotionally loaded experience.  She needs time to adapt after the stress, exhaustion, and anxiety generally associated with giving birth.  

Through the juxtaposition in the Torah of labor with difficulty, the message is that every time the body goes through a moment of shock or transformation, we must be sensitive to what people are going through and help them with the process of healing, so that they may return back to normal.  

Experiencing limit situations provides us with a bigger senses of appreciation for normal life, and with gratitude when we are favored with the long-awaited recovery.  An integral vision includes both the physical and the spiritual.

The prayers of gratitude for the birth of a son or daughter are unique occasions in the lives of their parents, where they get to express their deepest feeling in the context of Torah and tradition, generation after generation.  

Rabbi Daniel Kripper

Beth Israel Aruba