Tazria- Metzora
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People are often very uncomfortable with the subject of this week’s Torah portion, the double portion Tazria-Meztora, which deals with skin diseases, bodily functions, and impurity. The detailed laws about various states of impurity seem outdated, not relevant to our modern lives. We no longer isolate women after childbirth, or send someone with a skin disease out of the community. How can we relate to these laws today?
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The concept of purity - tahor, and impurity - tame, were crucial to the people of the biblical world. They had no modern medicine available, and perhaps developed these concepts to feel more in control and help stem the outbreak of diseases and ailments they did not understand the cause of. Ritual purity was an important part of religious life and was taken very seriously. The parsha describes the process people who had become ritually impure, through leprosy, contact with the dead, menstruation, or childbirth, had to go through to return to a pure state. It involved a period of separation, followed by an offering of some kind, made by a priest on their behalf. Leviticus 14 describes such a purification ritual for a person who has been healed of leprosy -
"the priest shall order two live clean birds, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop to be brought for him who is to be cleansed. The priest shall order one of the birds slaughtered over fresh water in an earthen vessel; and he shall take the live bird, along with the cedar wood, the crimson stuff, and the hyssop, and dip them together with the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. He shall then sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the eruption and cleanse him; and he shall set the live bird free in the open country"
The ritual continues with bathing, shaving all one’s hair, and finally being let back into the camp. This ritual, in and of itself did not fundamentally change anything physically about the person. They were already healed of their condition. Yet these actions allowed the afflicted person to once again feel part of the group, the feel renewed and whole again. Impurity, as it was understood, was not merely a physical state, but one affecting our entire selves.
The experience of illness, or of childbirth, and even menstruation, affects us emotionally as well as physically. We may look at ourselves and the world completely differently, following an illness or the birth of a child.
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Perhaps the concept of purity in the bible is not all that different than for us today. While ritual purity and impurity is not as big a concern, we all know what it means to feel a sense of being at peace, and in balance with the world around us, or the opposite- ill at ease, not ourselves, somehow thrown off. For me, I feel pure when I feel closeness to those around me, to God, and to my purpose in the world. When my mind feels clear, and not muddied by trivial things which don’t matter.
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Our morning liturgy speaks about purity – one of the first prayers we say upon waking up is “Elohai neshama shenatata bi tehora hi” Oh God, the soul You have given me is pure.
Within these simple and words hide incredible depth. Our souls, it says, are pure, and every morning is a new opportunity for us to return to that pure, and whole state. Our bodies and souls are constantly in flux from one state to another.
What this week’s parsha shows us is that what was impure can once again become pure. We can always return to the clarity and sense of peace that we seek, no matter how far afield we find ourselves.