Tazria-Mezora from beginner’s mind

The double portion Tazria-Metzora is the hardest for the modern mind to digest.  The details of skin condition that renders a person impure, the laws of menstruation, the male discharge – uh, we girls don’t need to know about this, we prefer to see our men honored and dignified, unaware of what goes on behind the scene.  And unless a man’s profession spells as ob-gyn, he does not wish to know all the details about the menstrual cycle either.  In Metzora Torah shoves our noses into each other’s business, removing the romantic glamour in favor of complete disclosure to uphold the sanctity of Israel.

The parsha Tazria moves Israelites from the laws concerning the animals to the laws of human purity, related to childbirth and skin conditions, various discolorations found on human skin and even clothes that would render the object impure.  The modern medicine has a term psychosomatic illness, that describes adverse condition of the body caused by a psychological trauma or sustained mental pressure, that leads to back pain, headaches, digestive disorders, or skin acne.  The people who received the laws of tzaraas were at such high spiritual level that any lashon hara, negative speech, caused very specific and clearly marked skin condition on their bodies.  The parshia Tazria also describes the special role of the Kohen as the arbiter of pure or impure state, the person to whom people would come for guidance, as the Kohanim were the teachers of the nation and role models in the zealous service of God.  (Deut 33:10, Malachi 2:4).

The parsha Metzora starts with the purification ritual that the Kohen performs for the metaher, a person who recovered from the affliction of taraas that would allow him rejoin the community.  The mysterious ritual signifies the spiritual rehabilitation of the metzorah in the areas of attitude, speech, action, intention and effort. It also describes the impurity and recovery of a house, showing that even one’s property damage or financial loss should be understood as a result of improper behavior and subsequent punishment.

The spiritual affliction of the modernity is that whatever misfortunes happen to people we would find all sorts of explanation or say that there is no explanation or reason to what happened. We struggle to our last breath not to acknowledge the punishment from God, because that would undermine our self-esteem, our position of self-righteousness.  Even understanding that accepting a punishment with humility is the first step at remediation, our ego fights its best against such acceptance. 

By describing the meticulous details of the purification rituals Torah teaches us the seriousness of the relationship between man and God, shows us the magnitude of the loss when it is damaged by impurity, and the hard work that goes into restoring such relationship, rebuilding the bond of holiness.