Parshah Summary – P’sha
The word metzora refers to a person afflicted by tzará’at, a scaly affliction of the skin which places them in a state of being ritually unfit to make offerings. The parshah begins by detailing how the recovered metzora is purified by the kohen (priest) with a special ritual involving two birds, spring water in an earthen vessel, a piece of cedar wood, a scarlet thread and a bundle of hyssop. A home can also be afflicted with tzará’at by the appearance of dark red or green patches on its walls. In a process lasting as long as nineteen days, a kohen determines if the house can be purified, or whether it must be demolished. Ritual impurity can also be engendered through a seminal or other discharge in a man, and menstruation or other discharge of blood in a woman, necessitating purification through immersion in a mikvah.
Torah of Awakening
זֹ֤את תִּֽהְיֶה֙ תּוֹרַ֣ת הַמְּצֹרָ֔ע בְּי֖וֹם טׇהֳרָת֑וֹ וְהוּבָ֖א אֶל־הַכֹּהֵֽן׃ וְיָצָא֙ הַכֹּהֵ֔ן אֶל־מִח֖וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה וְרָאָה֙ הַכֹּהֵ֔ן וְהִנֵּ֛ה נִרְפָּ֥א נֶֽגַע־הַצָּרַ֖עַת מִן־הַצָּרֽוּעַ׃ וְצִוָּה֙ הַכֹּהֵ֔ן וְלָקַ֧ח לַמִּטַּהֵ֛ר שְׁתֵּֽי־צִפֳּרִ֥ים חַיּ֖וֹת טְהֹר֑וֹת וְעֵ֣ץ אֶ֔רֶז וּשְׁנִ֥י תוֹלַ֖עַת וְאֵזֹֽב׃ This shall be the ritual for a metzorah on the day of their purification: they are brought to the priest. The priest shall go outside the camp, and the priest shall see that the metzorah has been healed of the scaly affliction. The priest shall then command to take for the one to be purified: two live pure birds, cedar wood, crimson thread, and hyssop. - Vayikra (Leviticus) 14:2-4; Parshat Metzorah
A couple sits anxiously in the therapist’s office, unsure how to begin talking about their problems at home. “Why don’t you start,” says the therapist to the woman. “My husband is a jerk!” she blurts. “Please,’” says the therapist, “Only ‘I’ statements. Don’t tell me about him, tell me what’s going on with you. You can start by saying, ‘I feel…’”
“Okay,” says the wife, “I feel like he is a jerk!” Differentiating between your actual feelings in the present moment and your impulse to accuse, judge, or blame, is not easy when emotions are inflamed, but making this distinction is crucial. There is a world of difference between. “I feel like he is a jerk,” on one hand, and “When he comes home late, I feel a pain in my stomach,” on the other. The first is an attack – it is accusatory. It is also an opinion, a judgement, not a true statement, and it puts the responsibility on something outside of oneself. The second is absolutely truthful – and also vulnerable, exposing the actual experience of what happens when he “comes home late.” The difficulty, of course, is that when we feel emotional pain, the last thing we want is to be vulnerable. The impulse is likely to attack back, to accuse, to blame. But ultimately, this is a self-defeating impulse; our negative words perpetuate our problems rather than correcting them. There’s a Jewish proverb of unknown origin: “A bird that you set free may be caught again, but a word that escapes your lips will never return.” שְׁתֵּֽי־צִפֳּרִ֥ים חַיּ֖וֹת טְהֹר֑וֹת – two live pure birds… In the ritual of purification, one of the birds is slaughtered over an earthenware vessel filled with water. The remaining live bird is then held together with the cedar wood, the crimson thread and hyssop, and dipped into the bloody water. The water is then sprinkled on the afflicted person seven times, and the live bird is set free into an open field. What does this mean? Medieval commentator Rabbeinu Ephraim explains the symbolism of this ritual in transformational terms. The first bird represents negative speech – gossip and slander. The “earthenware vessel” represents our physical bodies. The “bird” being “slaughtered” over the “vessel” means freeing ourselves from arrogance by becoming aware of the fragile and temporary nature our bodies, so that the impulse toward negative speech is “slaughtered.” כְּלִי־חֶ֖רֶשׂ עַל־מַ֥יִם חַיִּֽים – an earthen vessel, over living waters… The “living waters” represent Truth, which fills the humble “earthen vessel,” our bodies, once the arrogance is removed. The bird that is set free represents the disease of tzará’at, – just as the bird flies away, so should the disease depart. But, just as the bird might return, so too can the affliction return if one falls back into patterns of negative speech. Why is it so easy to fall back into negative speech? Why is it so hard to stay free from judgement and projection, and instead stay present with what we are actually experiencing, so that we might be nourished by the “living waters” of the vulnerable truth? Because the truth can be painful and ego crushing. And yet, when we project blame and judgment without fully being with the truth of our experience, healing cannot happen. Instead, we become the disease – a disease of living on the surface of life, of holding back from our inner depths, out of fear that our depths will be too painful; that is why tzará’at is a skin disease. Like returning home after a trip – the windows and doors have been shut and the atmosphere is stagnant and stuffy, until they are opened to let the air flow again. That’s what it’s like – our inner world can be like a shut up house, festering. But open the doors and windows – speak the truth, and healing begins: שִׁוַּ֥עְתִּי אֵ֝לֶ֗יךָ וַתִּרְפָּאֵֽנִי – I cried out to You and you healed me… (Psalm 30) This is the true potential of prayer and meditation – to “open up the house” every day – to feel whatever needs to be felt in meditation, and to express whatever needs to be expressed in prayer. In this way, we tap the healing power of Presence; the “living waters’ can nourish the “home” of our bodies and renew our spirits. There is a story that the poverty of Reb Mordechai of Pintchov was so extreme, he could barely support his household at all. His wife would nag him incessantly to tell their woeful situation to his rebbe, the Seer of Lublin. Time after time he would travel to Lublin, but never once did he mention his troubles to the Seer, because upon arriving there he would forget them completely. Being a practical woman, his wife decided to say nothing more, but to make the journey there by a separate wagon immediately after he had left home. When Reb Mordechai arrived at Lublin, he was confronted by the fact of his wife’s presence. There was no way out, and so he told the Seer all about their state of affairs at home. “Why did you never mention this until now?” asked the Seer. “Master,” answered Reb Mordechai, “I assumed that my situation would be known to you through Ruakh Hakodesh – through the holy spirit that rests upon you.” “Not so,” answered the Seer. “It is true, the Torah says: A person whose skin has the plague of tza’árat shall be brought to a priest, וְרָאָ֣ה הַכֹּהֵ֣ן – the priest shall see. That is to say: As soon the ailing person is brought before the priest, the priest will be able to see the malady for himself, without being told. But, in the case of plagues that affect houses, the Torah teaches otherwise: And the house owner shall come and tell the priest, saying: כְּנֶ֕גַע נִרְאָ֥ה לִ֖י בַּבָּֽיִת – ‘Something like a plague seems to be in the house!’ From this we see that for plagues affecting houses, the priest cannot see it; he must be told about it.” On this Shabbat Metzorah – the Sabbath of Affliction – may we not shrink away from the “bitter herbs,” but rather may we fully feel and truthfully express our inner afflictions as they arise – not with judgment and blame, but as healing prayer. And in this Passover season, may our journey of inner liberation be reflected swiftly in the world; may our current plagues of violence and war come swiftly to an end for peace and wellbeing of all peoples.
Read past teachings on Metzorah HERE
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