Addict Torah: Tazria 5784/2024

Addict Torah's Mission: To interrogate Torah deeply so as to create space, connection and safety for people with addictive patterns and behaviors that have led them to a crisis of the spirit to tell and shape their stories for the purpose of healing, growth, and a return to their whole selves.

Every Thursday at 12 Noon Pacific, 3 pm Eastern

REGISTER HERE FOR THE WEEKLY LINK (for security purposes)
(And no, we won't give anyone your email address)
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYldeitqTIoHtI-pkfmXu8UYUUe8EA4FY4o

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 649

Tumah has unmistakable negative connotations. It is defined by what one may not do, and the Torah tells us how to be relieved of it. It need not, however, imply wrongdoing on the part of the affected person...Tumah seems to be the result of coming in contact with an awesomely potent force that disqualifies one from entering the sanctuary...We might postulate that there are two types of holiness in life, two ways of encountering the divine. There is a natural holiness found in the miracles of pregnancy, birth, and recovery from illness. And there is a stipulated holiness - the arbitrary designation of certain times, places, and acivities as sacred. One meets God in the experiences of birth ands death, sickness and health. But they are not everyday occurrences. The person who years for contact with God on a regular basis must rely on...[that which]...we have chosen to designate as holy.

Vayikra Rabbah 14:3

(3) ... Another possibility: "When a woman conceives and gives birth to a male" [Leviticus 12:2] Thus when it is written "Life and lovingkindness you have given me, Your care has guarded my spirit" [Job 10:12] Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said three [things]: In the way of the world if a person takes a purse of money and places the opening downward, does not the money scatter?! A fetus that rests in the womb of his mother, The Holy Blessed One guards him so he does not fall and die, is this not praiseworthy?! Thus - "Life and lovingkindness you have given me."

Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, loc. 1191, Kindle edition

The moment of childbirth is thus highly paradoxical and not a little bit confusing: “new life but also a new threat to life.”83 Maternal impurity, then, is a way of coping with and responding to the ways in which the boundaries of life and death have been crossed and to the great dangers that that crossing brings in its wake.

Sanhedrin 38b, 5-6

The angels said before him: Master of the Universe: “What is man that You are mindful of him? And the son of man that You think of him?” (Psalms 8:5), i.e., a creature such as this is not worth creating. God outstretched His small finger among them and burned them with fire. And the same occurred with a second group of angels. The third group of angels that He asked said before Him: Master of the Universe, the first two groups who spoke their mind before You, what did they accomplish? The entire world is Yours; whatever You wish to do in Your world, do. God then created the first person. When history arrived at the time of the people of the generation of the flood and the people of the generation of the dispersion, i.e., the Tower of Babel, whose actions were ruinous, the angels said before God: Master of the Universe, didn’t the first set of angels speak appropriately before You, that human beings are not worthy of having been created? God said to them concerning humanity: “Even to your old age I am the same; and even to hoar hairs will I suffer you; I have made and I will bear; and I will carry, and I will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:4), i.e., having created people, I will even suffer their flaws.

Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation: Leviticus, p. 172

The angels were opposed to the creation of man because they knew in advance that of all life forms, humans alone were capable of sinning and thus threatening the work of the Creator. The passage implies that God knew that humans would sin and yet persisted in creating humanity. This may explain the sin offering brought on the birth of a child.

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 652

In biblical Israel, the kohen was both the religious and the medical authority. The biblical mind saw the connection between the physical and spiritual dimensions of illness and recovery (perhaps more clearly than we see it today)...the role of the kohen was not simply to diagnose the ailment but to reintegrate the person into the community as soon as possible. Religion sought to include, not to isolate, the affected person (emphasis mine)...the kohen performs the ritual only after the tzara'at has disappeared, to avoid the appearance of performing a magical cure.

Arakhin 16a

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Leprous marks come and afflict a person for seven sinful matters: For malicious speech, for bloodshed, for an oath taken in vain, for forbidden sexual relations, for arrogance, for theft, and for stinginess. The Gemara explains the source for the claim that each of these seven sins is punishable with leprosy.

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 652

[The sages describe] tzara'at not as a bodily disease but as the physical manifestation of a spiritual malaise.'

Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, v. 2, loc. 1283, Kindle edition

I do find it striking that the Torah seems deeply concerned to prevent permanent stigma being attached to one who has been afflicted by tzara’at. Bible scholar Tamara Eskenazi observes that “after offering many details about the conditions that require separation and isolation, Leviticus . . . also concentrates on reconnecting the persons who have been isolated and on bringing them back to the center. The more marginalized the ill persons have been, the greater the effort to bring them back into the fold.”

Vayikra Rabbah 16:1

(1) "This will be the law of the metsora" (Leviticus 14:2). This is that which is written (Proverbs 6:16), "Six things the Lord hates; seven are an abomination to His soul" -- it's a dispute between Rabbi Meir and the rabbis. Rabbi Meir says six and seven together is thirteen. The rabbis say seven exist - the seven which is written is because the seventh is as harsh as them all put together. And which is this? This is "one who incites brothers to quarrel" (Proverbs 6:19). And these are them [the full seven]: "A haughty bearing, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood; A mind that hatches evil plots, feet quick to run to evil; A false witness testifying lies, and one who incites brothers to quarrel" (Proverbs 6:17-19). And Rabbi Yochanan said, "And all of them are struck with tsaraat."

Rabbi Mark Borovitz, Finding Recovery and Yourself in Torah, p. 187

We also learn about the obligations of the community when someone is suffering from a spiritual malady. Unlike in today’s society, where keeping secrets is so treasured and seemingly honorable, Torah tells us that we have to know that people are ill in order to help them. In fact, we must let the priest, rabbi, or leader know about those who are suffering in order to help them. Likewise, we must identify addiction in ourselves and in our communities in order to be able to help those afflicted recover.

Leviticus Rabbah, 16:1

“A lying tongue” (Proverbs 6:17) from Miriam, as it is written: “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses” (Numbers 12:1). From where is it derived that she was afflicted with leprosy? As it is stated: “The cloud withdrew from upon the Tent, and behold, Miriam was leprous like snow” (Numbers 12:10).

Rabbi Mark Borovitz, Finding Recovery and Yourself in Torah, p. 189

Our tradition says three people are hurt by lashon hara: the speaker, the one being spoken about, and the listener. To avoid infecting a community, we have to separate the sick from the rest, ministering to them for healing. Putting someone outside of the camp is not punitive; rather, it is an act of chesed (kindness) to create separation for someone in order to help him or her heal.

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 657

One commentator reads, 'the impure shall call out 'impure!'" That is, people tend to project their own failings onto others. A corrupt person sees corruption all around.

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 653

Is should be noted that the Torah itself presents tzara'at as an affliction to be cured, not as a punishment to be explained. We might ask: What actions or conditions cause an individual to be isolated from the community today? And what can religious institutions do to restore that person to the community

Ayala Sha'ashoua Miron, Torah Queeries, p. 141-142

Tazri’a offers us a substantial test case to examine our real social potential for tolerance and inclusion, the potential to turn a touch from a moment of fear into one of redemption. Tazri’a pushes us to ask ourselves how tolerant we really are of variations from our picture of an “ideal” human body. How willing are we to examine, look into, consider, and understand these differences carefully before throwing them into one generalizing basket of rejection? We can expand this challenge and ask ourselves how comfortable we are with divergence, diversity, and deviation from the “norm” in general, both in others and in ourselves.

Meshekh Hokhmah, cited in RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 653

3. when the priest sees it One commentator reads this as 'when the priest sees him.' The priest is to examine the whole person, not only the diseased limb. He is to see what is whole and healthy about the person, not only what is afflicted.

Rabbi Shefa Gold, Torah Journeys, p. 115

There are many times in life when it may be necessary to seclude oneself for a time. Tzara'at, which is usually translated as 'leprosy,' can be understood as a difficult inner psycho-spiritual passage that manifests as a disturbance on the surface. Someone with this condition needs to separate himself from the community for a time in order to pay close attention to those inner changes, which are the causes of the outer confusion. At the time of inner geowth, it might feel like your life as become too small. There is a chafing irritability, and it is time to 'leave the camp.' It is time to go on a retreat. The blessing of Metzora comes to us as the force of re-integration, symbolized by the priest, as it reaches out to you in your place of alienation, recognizes your transformation and brings you back to the community. In the ritual, two birds are brought. One is killed, to symbolize the old self that has died; and one is set free in the open country to express the re-born self flying free into an expanded life.

Rabbi David Kasher, ParshaNut, p. 221-222

We try to present an impressive, invincible self to the world, and hope that we are convincing. And then we run home, lock the door, and only there, behind the cover of the walls, are we left alone with our true selves. But even then, we have our masks. You look in the mirror and see a face. Is that really you? Are you just your skin, your flesh? Or is there something more to you? Where is the essential self? What are we, when everything is stripped away? If we took off all of our coverings, what would we find? It would not be hidden gold, that much is certain – not our money or our success. Not our intelligence, our charisma, or our beauty. Forget about where you live, what you wear, or what you look like – none of that matters. When you are finally and completely exposed, what is waiting inside, at the core of your being? Who are you, really? That is the question that haunts us.

Rabbi Shefa Gold, Torah Journeys, p. 115

Often, a person's growth happens on the inside before it manifests in the outer world. The spiritual challenge lies in navigating this awkward time of dissonance between inner and outer. During this time the two realities must be reconciled. It is an uncomfortable time because there is a tendency to resist change and that resistance can manifest in the physical body. Retreat time is required in order to attend to and integrate the inner changes. The spiritual challenge of Tazira/Metzora is to know when to separate yourself from the community and to know how to return. The separation depends on having a community/ relationship / family who honor and trust the process. This means that they understand the process of retreat as necessary and valuable to the life of the community. When someone 'leaves the camp' to do the inner work that is calling them, they will be fully available upon their return and will have an integrated wholeness to give back to the community.