Parshat Tazria-Metzora: Waiting for Release

Dear Online Hevre/community,

This week we read the double parashah/portion of Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12:1 - 15:33). In the Torah portion Tazria, God describes to Moses and Aaron the procedures for identifying and responding to those infected with tzara'at, a skin disease often mistranslated as leprosy. In Metzora, God describes the purification ritual for those afflicted with tzara'at.

This section of the Torah is often looked upon as archaic and problematic from a contemporary perspective. However, in a commentary by Cantor Max Axelrod he writes that “this part of the Torah may well be the most relevant, poignant, and emotionally powerful of the entire year. Rather than reading these chapters as esoteric excerpts out of a biblical medical textbook, the Torah is telling us something profound about the human condition. We can understand tzara’at as a metaphor for when a person’s body or health goes out of control— something many people deal with all the time. Like us, our biblical ancestors often felt helpless and frightened in these situations.

“And this doesn’t necessarily refer only to physical conditions. Tzara’at may refer to emotional distress as well. To paraphrase a famous passage in the Talmud, don’t read it as tzara’at, but rather, as tzarot—trouble and distress.”

Tzara'at was a highly contagious disease, just as is Covid-19, both of which have been the source of tzarot - trouble and distress - for each of us and for our society. 

Whether or not we are physically ill, we are all feeling the emotional, spiritual and psychological distress that comes from the uncertainty of the pandemic, the uncertainty of what our future holds, and feelings of isolation. This is then compounded for so many by a loss of work and income, a lack of food, and other consequences. So many of us feel “helpless and frightened” some, or all, of the time because so much is out of our control.

In the Torah, if someone appeared to have tzara’at, the kohanim/priests would assess the situation, as there was no separation between the physical and the spiritual (a concept first introduced centuries later). If they were diagnosed, then were quarantined away from their families and the community until the priest would declare that they were healed. After that, the priest would perform a detailed ritual before the person could return to the community. This would then be followed by a sacrifice eight days later.

Just as today, our ancestors made those afflicted quarantine themselves in order to physically protect others. However, as Cantor Axelrod wrote, this can also be interpreted in a spiritual manner. For when our bodies, and our world, go out of control, there is an emotional and spiritual distress that exists as well. For those of us who are not ill, but still need to be isolated from others, I believe that the emotional and spiritual interpretation has an even greater resonance. Yet the question remains, while we are in isolation, how are we going to respond in order to take care of and protect ourselves, as well as others?

Time in isolation can be a time of weeping, self-pity, and wailing or it can be a time for prayer, meditation, and introspection. I would like to believe that for our ancestors and for us the latter is true. But the truth is that everyone in isolation often feels helpless and frightened. The uncertainty can be overwhelming. And so, though we may like to use the time for more introspective pursuits, it can often be difficult when one is feeling this way. We can try our best, but we must also be realistic and simply try to do the best that we can each day. We can try to be present each moment in order to take care of ourselves, while also remembering to connect with others in order to give and receive needed support.

In reading the text, the ritual performed before returning to the community caught my attention as well. The priest didn’t just send the person back to the community once they were healed physically. First, two birds would be chosen. One would be ritually sacrificed. Then the other bird would be set free. 

I see the sacrifice of the first bird as symbolic of the death of the past. The time of disease and isolation had ended. The period of separation from everyone and everything they loved was over. It can also be seen as acknowledging and letting go of all those things that might have caused pain and suffering in their lives both during and before the isolation. Only after letting go could one proceed to the next step.

Then, the second bird, which was set free, represented the person’s reentry into the community, both physically and spiritually. 

The sacrifice of one bird and the release of the other together teaches us the importance of remembering and acknowledging the past, and then letting go of it. This includes the time of isolation, pain and suffering, so we can then let go and move into the present.  

Of course for us, we are all in isolation, whether or not we are sick. I hope that we are able to use at least some of this time as a time of introspection, though in reality we know that this is not always possible. We can also use it as a time to take stock of our lives and to let go of that which might have caused us tzarot - trouble and pain - in the past. It can be seen as a time to forgive ourselves for pain that we may have caused or ourselves, and to forgive others who have caused us pain, as well. 

Eight days following the ritual with two birds, they would go to the priest in order to make a sacrifice. Just as a male child entered the covenant on the eighth day after birth, so the recovered person reentered the covenant of community after eight days. 

Following the sacrifice they would then shave their head, bathe, and wash their clothes. It was almost as if they were going to the mikvah/ritual bath to purify and renew themselves physically and spiritually as the final step in rejoining the community. 

I can imagine when the time comes for us to leave isolation, we will need something to acknowledge and celebrate our release and rebirth as well. We will also need to acknowledge and let go some of who we were and what life was like beforehand. 

We all know that things will not be the same when this current crisis is over. So we must acknowledge what has changed, and what we have let go of, and then celebrate our release and rejoin our community and our world.

As we continue in isolation, let us take the time to really consider what it is that we want to let go of and what we want to keep in our lives. What have we lost and what have we chosen to give up during this time? What do we mourn and what do we celebrate?

We know that some of us will need to acknowledge the real loss of loved ones. But even if we don’t know anyone personally who has died, remembering them is an important part of the transition process. 

Once we acknowledge what we have lost, both literally and metaphorically, then we will then be able to rejoin our community and society. Until then, we must try to live our lives as best we can. Part of this is about staying connected to others virtually, which is something our ancestors could not do when in isolation. This is especially important when we are feeling isolated, anxious, or depressed. 

If we are able, let us also take time to think and meditate on the issues and questions I have raised above. Let us prepare ourselves, as best we can, for the future by truly being in the present. Then we will be ready, when the time comes, to fly free and rejoin the world, We don’t know when the release from isolation will happen. When it does, we know that life will not be the same as before. We know that we will not be the same as before. But I’ve no doubt that we’ll be ready to fly, no matter how scary that may be at first. We may all need to help each other take off, but I’ve no doubt that once we do we will all soar!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Steve