Metzora

Leviticus 14:1-15:33

Is It Blasphemous To Heal People?

Even if we view leprosy as a punishment, we must work to heal the afflicted, allowing our sense of compassion to override justice or logic.

By Rabbi Bradley Artson; Provided by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, which ordains Conservative rabbis at the American Jewish University.

Our ancestors, like others in the ancient Near East, suffered from frequent eruptions of a variety of skin diseases, called 'tzara'at.' Many of these 'leprosies' were quite severe, and they carried a severe social stigma in every culture in the ancient world.

Countless stories in the Bible and the Talmud attest to the dread consequences of this illness and the devastation it could bring into the lives of individuals, families and communities.

According to the biblical view of how the world works, 'tzara'at'--like all illness--was a divine punishment. If everything comes from the One God, then illness, too, must have its origin in Divine will. The logical assumption was that people got their illnesses because they deserved them. The only aspect open to question was to ask which illness resulted from which deed.

A Response to What?

According to the midrash [commentary] Va-Yikra Rabbah, God inflicted this dread illness as a response to libel, bloodshed, vain oaths, sexual crimes, robbery and refusing to pay 'tzedakah' (charity). It would follow that if God punishes through illness, then anyone who tries to heal the sick would be the equivalent of one who helps a murderer escape from prison.

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Shabbat Tazria HaChodesh

Lev. 12:1-13:59 and Ex. 12:1-20

“SEA” THE MIRACLES THAT WE CAN DO??

by Rabbi Stewart Weiss Director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra'anana

This Shabbat we read the last of the 4 special parshiyot; Parshat HaChodesh is always read just prior to the month of Nisan. In honor of becoming a Nation, our calendar is re-ordered and life, for us, begins anew, or Chadash.

It strikes me that the 4 Parshiyot represent a progression towards the climactic events of Nisan: We begin with Sh’kalim. The word “Sh’kalim” is, of course, connected to “mishkal,” or weight (a coin’s value was – at least at one time – a function of its weight). I suggest that the first step towards change is Shikul, weighing the pattern and progress of our life and considering how we can improve it.

Then comes Zachor. In order to shape our future, we must remember our past. Who we have been, and what we are capable of accomplishing in the days ahead. Knowing that we are resourceful, resilient and remarkably gifted as a People gives us the courage and conviction to change.

Next comes Para, the mystical, elaborate ritual that transformed us from a state of spiritual dormancy to one of purified elevation. By accepting G-d on faith alone – as the chok/statute of Para Aduma requires us to do – we can rise to a new level and become a partner with Hashem.

Finally, there is HaChodesh, as we emerge from this entire process a changed and new person, confident of where we come from and where we can get to. Just as G-d creates the world new each day, so we, too, have the opportunity to start over and re-create ourselves in a “new and improved” format.

The most popular of all miracles is that of K’riat Yam Suf, the Splitting of the Sea. The pasuk in Sh’mot records that after Bnei Yisrael went safely through, Moshe stretched his hands over the water and the sea “returned in the morning to it’s power – l’eytano.” This last term is quite unusual, and the Medrash connects it to “li’t’na’oh,” to its “condition, or terms,” explaining that the Reed Sea had been created explicitly with the stipulation that, when the right time came, it would split and perform this great miracle.

Rav Shlomo Carlebach writes that the Sea had to agree to undergo a complete and total change; it went from being roaring, expansive waters to dry land. That meant that it had to go against its routine and its very nature, and this was extremely difficult for it to do. But Hashem promised that if it DID cooperate, it would achieve an eternal notoriety and fame.

The choice is the same for us. In order to change and reach higher ground, to come closer to the will of G-d, we may also have to alter our behavior and routine. But if we do, then we, too, can rise to new heights and elicit Nisim worthy of Chodesh Nisan.

Shabbat Parah

Shemini, Leviticus 9:1-11:47 & Num. 19:1-22

Kashrut After Refrigerators

Jewish dietary practices allow us to welcome the sacred into our daily lives and into mundane acts.

By Rabbi Bradley Artson; Provided by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, which ordains Conservative rabbis at the American Jewish University.
Without attempting to justify the elaborate Jewish dietary laws, the Torah provides a lengthy list of which foods are kosher and which are not.

Animals with cloven hooves and which chew their cuds are kosher. Fish with fins and scales are kosher. Birds which eat grain and vegetables, and which can fly, are kosher. Insects, shellfish and reptiles are not.

Since the earliest stages of our history, Jews have understood the patterns of kashrut (the dietary laws) to be at the very center of our heritage. Jews have sacrificed their lives rather than desecrate themselves with 'treif' (non-kosher) food. From the biblical and into the rabbinical period, new guidelines and restrictions developed as Jews encountered different cuisines and aesthetic standards, yet the core of kashrut has remained unchanged over the millennia. Some of our most stirring stories of Jewish martyrdom--of Jews who preferred to lay down their lives rather than abandon their Judaism--center around the laws of kashrut.

Thus, as early as the time of the Maccabees (167 B.C.E.), we have stories of Jews forced to eat pork by the Syrian oppressors. In those stirring tales, the Jews chose to die with their integrity intact, to expire still obedient to the dictates of God and Torah. They could not conceive of a Judaism without kashrut, so central were the dietary laws to the entire rhythm of Jewish living.

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Tzav,

Leviticus 6:1−8:36 

Ears, Thumbs, And Toes 

The ceremony installing the priests teaches the importance of consecrating the entire body for sacred service.

By Rabbi Bradley Artson; Provided by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, which ordains Conservative rabbis at the American Jewish University.

Traditionally, the Book of Vayikra (Leviticus) was known as Torat Kohanim, "the Teachings of the Priests." Its contents are directed to people who would be ministering in the Temple in Jerusalem, and its topics pertain to priestly sacrifice, ritual and purity.

Yet, our tradition also holds that the eternal task of the Jewish People is to mold ourselves into a nation of priests, a holy people.

In doing so, the standards that apply to a 'kohen' (priest) in the Beit Ha-Mikdash (the Temple) are essential tools for elevating our own spiritual and ritual status as well. The same guidance that the Torah provided the '' at his task can ennoble and uplift the serious Jew of today as well.

In seeking to fulfill our divine mission, we turn to the very book that trained God's servants in antiquity as well. At the outset of our commitment to become a nation of priests, we can look with special benefit to the ordination of the 'kohanim' (priests) into their sacred service.

An Elaborate Ceremony

That installation took place amidst elaborate ceremony. The 'kohanim' washed themselves to become ritually pure, and then donned special clothing to demarcate themselves for their activity in the Temple. Anointed with a special oil, the 'kohanim' sacrificed a sin offering to atone for their own shortcomings and errors before attempting to intercede for the atonement of the people.

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Vayikra

Leviticus 1:1−5:26

The Value Of Animal Sacrifices

The institution of animal sacrifice allows us to confront our deepest subconscious urges and needs.

By Rabbi Bradley Artson; Provided by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, which ordains Conservative rabbis at the American Jewish University.

Sefer Vayikra, the Book of Leviticus, is at the center of the Torah, not only spatially, but also spiritually.

More than any other single book, Vayikra sets the tone and establishes the central themes of biblical and rabbinic Judaism throughout the ages.

Establishing a Sacred Community
The central focus of Vayikra is on establishing a sacred community--"a nation of priests" whose daily deeds perfect the world under God's rule. By establishing an ideal community, Vayikra recognizes that deeds speak far more eloquently than words, that living in a holy community can provide a sense of God's presence far more pervasive than more ethereal approaches. So far, so good.goat

Few modern Jews would have any problem, at least in theory, with those general remarks. Our problem starts when we examine how Vayikra defines the detailed practices of a sacred community. What kind of deeds and activities create the core of Vayikra's vision?

At the center of this central book lies a preoccupation with animal and vegetative sacrifice, which is far from the world view of most contemporary Jews (and most contemporary Americans, for that matter).

When we think of religious devotion, we tend to picture silent meditation, appreciation of nature, perhaps even a commitment to ethical living. But the connection between killing animals and serving the Lord escapes us completely.

To understand our own sacred heritage as Jews, to appreciate the religious perspective that emerges from the Torah, the Talmud, and most later Jewish writings, we must come to an understanding of the centrality of Temple ritual and of sacrifice.

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