Torah For Today

Tazria/Metsora

Lev. 12:1-15:33

T= his week our Torah portion is about maintaining purity or holiness. This is not a new concept for us. = There are many Scriptures that talk about the need to forsake sinful activity such as= the worship of idols, adultery, injustice and other unethical and immoral activities. What is dif= ferent about this passage is that it does not have to do with morals or ethics. In this passage, holiness or profanity has to do with natural situations that = may even be beyond our control such as illness and child birth. In previous yea= rs, we have discussed possible reasons why these situations would make a person ritually unclean. All I want to say this year about that is to remind us th= at the impurity is ritual impurity. In other words it was not impurity as a result of sin; it was impurity as a re= sult of a physical condition. Contextually this state of impurity had to do with one’s relationship to cult or ritual – not their direct relationship with God. In chapter 10, Moses ins= tructs Aaron that the priest is supposed to teach the people about the division between the holy and the profane, the pure and the impure. Chapters 11-15 teach us what is considered ritually profane and ritually impure. Beginning again in chapter 16, the narrative continues where it left off in chapter 10. (See 16:1).

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W= hile these laws do not apply to us today (because there is no temple and because= the Messiah has come,) they do have much to teach us about holiness. Something that I find glaring at m= e in the text is that the “impure” person must be separated until the time arrives when he or she is considered clean and is allowed to enter the community once again. It remi= nds me of the command of God for the Jewish people to sanctify themselves in preparation to receive the Torah at Mt. Sinai. When God commanded Moses to tell t= he Israelites to “sanctify themselves” Moses tells the Israelites = to separate from sexual relations. We learn that consecration means separation – separation from that which is normal activity. We all enter periods of life when = we need a time of separation to rejuvenate and to be revived in our faith. The Hebrew word for profane –= ; the opposite of holiness – means “common” or “everyday”. We spend much of our time being contaminated by the profane, by what we see and hear everyday. When we constantly come into con= tact with that which is unholy, we need time to remove ourselves – be separated – be alone – to once again enter the sphere of holine= ss. While it is not exactly the same thing as being “unclean”, it m= akes the point of the need to be alone in order to be prepared and holy. The period between Passover and the Feast of Weeks – the period we are in right now – is called “counting the omer”. It is in a sense a period of separation wh= en we refrain from joyous festivals (except for the 33^rd day). Some= say that it is a period of mourning and others identify it as a period of prepa= ration for Shavout when it is believed that Moses rece= ived the Torah. It is, so to speak a period of consecration. During this time it would behoove us to perhaps, have a bit o= f a different routine of reading the Scriptures or journaling, or taking time t= o be alone with the Lord in a different way.&nb= sp; The point is to in some way separate yourself for a season. The end of the time of separation or consecration is dedicati= on and celebration! May these da= ys be days of refreshment and a renewed relationship with God= . Shabbat Shalom!

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