Metzora

Leviticus 14:1-15:33

Dvar Torah by ROBERT TORNBERG for ReformJudasim.org

M'tzora, the name of this week's parashah, refers to a person or a house afflicted with a skin condition called tzaraat. Often mistranslated as "leprosy," tzaraat is something totally different than what we, today, call leprosy. Most years, M'tzora is read as a double portion, combining last week's very difficult concepts with this week's equally challenging ideas.

M'tzora can be divided into three distinct, but related sections:

• Part 1 (Leviticus 14:1-32) picks up from the previous parashah, Tazria, which discusses the rituals surrounding those found to have various skin ailments. Someone afflicted with tzaraat was considered tamei1, ritually "impure," and was temporarily banished from the community (Leviticus 13:46). M'tzora outlines the rituals of purification for a person who is found by a priest to be free from tzaraat. We are told in detail about the process and the rituals by which the person may again become part of the general population once he or she is considered tahor 2, ritually "pure."
• Part 2 (Leviticus 14:33-57) discusses in similar detail what happens when a house develops a scaly outbreak on its walls or elsewhere. As with a person, there is quarantine process. No one may enter the house, and specific rituals are outlined for declaring the house tahor once the scaly growth has been permanently removed. In the case of a home that cannot be rid of the outbreak, the entire structure is destroyed.
• Part 3 (Leviticus 15:1-33) tells us that genital discharges (from men and women), abnormal discharges, "normal" seminal emissions, and menstruation also make one tamei. The laws concerning the ways in which people with discharges or emissions can return to a tahor state are also specified.

If, when reading this parashah you find it difficult to relate, you are not alone. Our greatest commentators also found it complicated and wandered far from the p'shat, the "plain meaning" of the text, to make these ideas somewhat comprehensible.

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Shabbat Tazria HaChodesh

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

Dvar Torah by ROBERT TORNBERG for ReformJudasim.org

Annoying “Un-Understanding”

What a difficult portion Tazria is! It looks at issues of purity; birth; and illness of men and women, fabric and skin. Even without touching on leprosy (or whatever skin disease it is) there's plenty to discuss in this parashah!

There's more than enough to explore with childbirth and blood, boy babies and girl babies, quarantine and sin offerings. And the questions abound . . .

• Why are there 7 days of isolation and 33 days of "blood purification" for birthing boys?
• Why are there 14 days of isolation and 66 days of blood purification for birthing girls?
• Do 40 (7 plus 33) and 80 (14 plus 66, or twice 40) have anything to do with all the other 40s in our tradition (for example, the Israelites' 40 years in the wilderness, and the 40 days and nights of rain in Noah's time?)
• Why is a woman tam'ah, "impure" at all, after creating life in her body?
• Bringing an olah, "burnt offering" after the period of purification may make sense. But why also a chatat, "sin" (or "purgation") offering?

The questions puzzle and bother! My "un-understanding" annoys!

Our Torah is frequently perplexing. I encounter the Creation story in the first portion of the Book of Genesis, B'reishit, with energy and enthusiasm despite the fact that it is a challenging text. And I approach the account of Revelation at Sinai (Exodus 20) in Parashat Yitro in a similar way. Our text this week demands no less.

How do we examine these questions with all the problems they present for gender scholars?

I turned to the shelf of Jewish feminist literature in our library – commentaries, theology, polemics, and views – for wisdom.

I learned a lot; perhaps, most of all, I understood that the scholars I read had as many – maybe more – questions than I do.

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Shabbat Parah

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

Dvar Torah by ROBERT TORNBERG for ReformJudasim.org

Learning from a Sandwich

This week's parashah, Sh'mini, consists of three distinct parts that do not appear, on the surface, to relate directly to one to another. Let's begin by looking at a summary of each of these parts.

The first section of this portion appears to be a continuation of the previous two parashiyot. Vayikra and Tzav, deal in great detail with how the various sacrifices were to be offered at the Tabernacle (and later, the Temple), and end with a description of the dedication of the Tabernacle and the ordination of the priests (kohanim). Sh'mini opens on the eighth day of the ordination ceremony. Moses instructs Aaron and his sons to bring specific animals for a burnt offering (olah), a sin offering (chatat), an offering of well-being (zevach sh'lamim), and a meal offering (minchah), to atone for any sins they or the people may have committed.

Suddenly in the next section, the "documentary-style" description we have gotten used to in Leviticus changes to a narrative style as we are told:

Now Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before the Eternal alien fire, which had not been enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from the Eternal and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of the Eternal (Leviticus 10:1-2).

Following this incident, Aaron, whose sons had just perished, is totally silent, and Moses insists that the ceremony be completed as planned.

This difficult, painful, and confusing passage has captured the attention of commentators from the earliest times until today. There are literally scores of interpretations offered in an effort to make sense of this ethically problematic story.1

In the third part of this parashah, the subject abruptly changes as Moses and Aaron hear a detailed cataloging of the laws of kashrut – the dietary laws – directly from God. They are told that from among "land animals" they may eat any animal "that has true hoofs, with clefts through the hoofs, and that chews the cud" (11:2-3). This is followed by a listing of animals that may cause confusion (for example, the camel, the hare, and the swine) because they either have cloven hooves or chew their cud, but not both. They are labeled "impure."

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Tzav

Leviticus 6:1−8:36  

 

What Can We Learn from Taking Out the Garbage?

D'VAR TORAH BY: ROBERT TORNBERG for ReformJudasim.org

In reading Parashat Tzav just one week after reading Parashat Vayikra, one cannot help but notice how, on the surface, these two portions are nearly identical. Both of them go into great detail about the five major kinds of sacrifices offered in the Tabernacle in the wilderness (and later in the Temple). There are, however, some obvious differences:

In Vayikra, in the very first line, God instructs Moses to "Speak to the Israelite people" (Leviticus 1:1) and explain the laws of the sacrifices, while in Tzav Moses is told to "Command Aaron and his sons . . . " (6:1). In both cases very similar explanations of the various sacrifices follow.
In Tzav, the entire end of the parashah (8:1-36) contains a detailed description of the consecration of the Tabernacle and the priests. No such description is included in Vayikra.
There are some more subtle differences as well. For instance, the order in which the various sacrifices in the two portions are described is different. And, in discussing the burnt offering (the olah) in Tzav there is a focus on a perpetual fire that must be kept burning on the altar (6:6). Both of these factors provide ample opportunity for interesting questions and a variety of responses, which will not be our focus here.

There is another subtle difference, however, that is very easy to overlook when we struggle through detailed descriptions of material as remote from our lives as these sacrifices. In discussing the olah the text tells us:

The priest shall dress in linen raiment, with linen breeches next to his body; and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar. He shall then take off his vestments and put on other vestments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a pure place. (6:3-4)
In short, we have a reasonably specific description of how to take out the garbage! Why would this be included in the sacred text? Is it simply yet another detail for the priests to worry about? Is it just a "throw away" couple of lines that teach us nothing important? Is there something to it beyond what is on the surface?

Through the centuries various commentators have been bothered by the inclusion of this section as well. Some focus on the importance of making the sanctuary especially beautiful and ensuring that nothing – certainly not a pile of burnt ashes – mars the awesomeness of the Tabernacle. Others argue that this section teaches us that even the priests – people of great holiness – must take care of daily chores as mundane as taking the trash to the dump.

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Vayikra

Leviticus 1:1−5:26 

D'var Torah By: Robert Tornberg, RJE, for Reform Judaism Magazine

Looking through the Smoke: A Transparent Message

Reading much of the Book of Leviticus (Vayikra, the third Book of the Torah), and its first parashah – also called Vayikra – can feel like searching for meaning through smoke as thick as that produced by the very sacrifices the book and our parashah describe. It is dense, repetitious, and seemingly relates little to our lives.

In this portion we learn about the various laws pertaining to the five types of sacrifices offered by Jewish worshippers for over a thousand years. These sacrifices took place in the portable sanctuary – the Tabernacle or "Tent of Meeting" in the wilderness – and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. They included:

• The olah, "burnt offering" (Leviticus 1:1-17): This voluntary korban ("sacrifice," coming from the root "to bring close") was the most common offering, bringing the donor closer to God. Always an animal, it was slaughtered and fully burned, that is, sent up to God. Hence the name olah, which means "goes up."
• The minchah, "meal offering" (Leviticus 2:1-16): Generally also a voluntary offering, the minchah consisted of flour and oil (unleavened), cooked or uncooked. A portion was to be burned on the altar together with the spice, frankincense. The rest was eaten by the priests. This offering was often given by those too poor to afford an animal for the olah (see Vayikra Rabbah 3:1)
• The zevach sh'lamim, "offering of well-being," sometimes called a "peace offering" (Leviticus 3:1-17): This offering of thanks or gratitude was not completely burned. A prescribed portion was burned on the altar, part was given to the "priests," kohanim, and the rest was eaten as a festive meal shared by the donor and guests.
• The chatat, "purgation or sin offering" (Leviticus 4:1-35; 5:1-13): This offering was given to atone for an unintentional sin (related to the word, chet – sin, denoting "missing the mark"). The sin involved could be individual or communal, and the offering was most often an animal (although a meal offering was acceptable). The sacrifice involved splashing the blood on the altar, then allowing the priests to eat the meat of the animal.
• The asham, "reparation or guilt offering" (Leviticus 5:14-26): The asham was handled in the same way as the chatat except that it was required that this sacrifice be a ram. It was most usually offered by someone who had stolen property. The offender had to restore what was taken plus twenty percent, and then bring the asham to be forgiven by God.

Continue reading.