Tazriah

Leviticus 14:1 - 15:23
Haftarah: 2 Kings 4:42 - 5:19

3 Nisan, 5760
4/8/00

Focus Passage: Leviticus 14:1-53

Cleansing and Purifying

Once leprosy had been healed, the leper presented himself to the priest for examination and purification. If the examination by the priest proved that he was indeed healed, then the person began a somewhat complicated process of purification. The first part of the ceremony suggests a process of transference. Two birds were brought to the sanctuary. One was killed and the other, after being sprinkled with the blood of the former, was allowed to fly away into the field. Afterward the worshiper washed his clothes and shaved his hair; then he was permitted to go into the camp. After going into the camp he could not enter his tent, however, but was required to dwell outside his tent for seven days. On the eighth day the sacrifices described in verses 10-20 were offered, and the person through that ritual was restored to a state of ceremonial "cleanness." Should he be a poor person and unable to afford the prescribed sacrifice (vv. 10-20), he could offer the alternative (vv. 21-32).

Since not only persons but nonhuman objects could be clean or unclean, the house of a leper was declared unclean. Some do assume however, that the house was infected with mildew, and not with leprosy. Assuming that leprosy was involved, following the healing of the leper, the house had to be restored to its condition of cleanness. Specific details for this are described in three paragraphs. Israel did not deal with secondary causes, and in all Israel all action ultimately was ascribed to G-d. So in this instance, in describing an outbreak of "leprosy", verse 34 reports the L-rd as saying: "I put a leprous disease in a house." The fuller revelation of G-d within the Tanach acknowledges the contingencies of secondary sources as causal factors in historical events. But Moses dealt only with that ultimate relationship, his relationship with G-d. It was this that must be restored, however that communion may have been destroyed.

Piety is a mode of living. It is the orientation of human inwardness toward the holy. It is a predominant interest in the ultimate value of all acts, feelings and thoughts. With his heart open to and attracted by some spiritual gravitation, the pious man (and woman) moves, as it were, toward the center of a universal stillness, and his consciousness is so placed as to listen to the voice of God.
Abraham Joshua Heschel

Shalom U'Vracha (peace and blessings),
Thomas