Weekly Torah Portion: Tazri'a (Leviticus 12:1 - 13:59)

I was supposed to go to a special Hebron tour this Friday morning, but had to cancel, since I developed a cold. Earlier this week I started feeling off, with a congested throat and chills of cold all over my body. I hoped it would be better by today, but it is actually getting worse, so I decided to cancel and stay home. So the good news is that now I have time to sit here and write.

This week I saw the nation of Israel in its greatness. There were two occasions that made me feel this way.

Alex Sasaki Z"L

One, Alex Sasaki, a young new Oleh (new Jewish immigrant) who served in the IDF as a lone soldier (a soldier whose family lives abroad) died last week. His bereaved parents came from the USA to Israel for the funeral of their son, who was buried on Mt. Herzl. They stayed at the Crown Plaza hotel and sat "Shiv'ah" there (Shiv'ah means the customary seven days of mourning, in which the bereaved family of a deceased person sits and mourns, and friends and neighbors come to comfort them). They do not know anyone here, but during the seven days of the Shiv'ah, their room was filled with people. People of all walks of life came to visit them, to hear from them about Alex, to be there for them, to comfort them. It was SO moving to see. Someone placed an empty notebook there, and people were writing messages of consolation to the family, in English, in Hebrew. I saw there religious people, from all the variety that exists - from the ultra-orthodox to the "religious-lite" as we say, and then secular people, traditional people, everyone, of every age. They all came to be with the family, without knowing them, without having known their son. I must admit I was so impressed with the parents. In the face of this tragedy, they didn't stop smiling, talking with people, expressing their feelings, being strong and positive. Alex's father said that he has faith, and that he knows that Alex's life had meaning in Israel, and that he was supposed to be here, despite the bitter end. I was so encouraged to hear him talk like this. I sat there for an hour or so, but really wanted to stay much longer, but people kept streaming in and I had to go and teach. It was very moving to be there. I don't know of any other place on earth in which something like this could happen this way . I think the parents feel now that they have a big warm family in Israel - the people of Israel.
The second moving thing was that Zecharia Baumel - a name I remember since I was a little child as a synonym for someone who went to battle and never returned - was finally brought to his final place of rest and merited to have a Jewish burial in Israel, in Jerusalem, on Mt. Herzl. I couldn't believe it when I heard that - they found Zecharia Baumel's body and it is being brought back to Israel! I was so impressed and proud of the whole nation - of our leaders for actually managing to do this, and of the rest of us - that we haven't forgotten Zecharia, even though it's been 37 years since he was gone, and that we didn't give up hope. Zecharia's father, Yonah, did everything in his power to find his son and waited for him for 27 years, but passed away some ten years ago without meriting to see his son's body being brought to burial in Israel. Zecharia's other family members were there at the funeral, as well as our Prime Minister and other top officials in Israel. What a nation!

Yonah Z"L and Miriam Baumel, holding the picture of their missing son, Zecharia.

This Shabbat is special - it is both a Shabbat and a Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the new month of Nissan), and since it's Nissan, everybody is starting to get ready for Passover: cleaning the houses more meticulously than usual, getting rid of unneeded clothes and items in the house, finishing all the pasta and other foods that are Chametz (unleavened bread) and therefore are not Kosher for eating (or even keeping at home) during Passover.

The Torah Portion of this week is that of Tazria (Leviticus 12:1 - 13:59). It talks about laws of purity for women after birth (laws that don't apply today because the Temple is not in place), and about the laws of Tzara'at, a mysterious skin disease (that can also affect house walls and clothes), and that is diagnosed not by a doctor, but by a Kohen, a Jewish priest from the descendants of Aaron (Moses' brother). The fact that it is diagnosed by a Kohen shows us that it has a spiritual origin, not a medical one. The connection between mind and body is stressed here with this form of mysterious disease. It is translated as Leprosy in English, but it is not the Leprosy we know from recent centuries, it is another form of disease that we are not familiar with today. The cure for this disease is for the affected person to sit in isolation outside the camp, not to come in contact with people for seven days, and after a week - the disease is cured.

Every week, after reading from the Torah (five books of Moses) we also read a portion from the Prophets and Scriptures. This week we read from II Kings 4:42 - 5:19 - the story about Na'aman, the Syrian (Aramean general who had this Tzara'at disease). A little Israeli girl, who was a captive at his home, said that he should go to the Land of Israel and meet the prophet, the man of G-d there, so that he would be cured of his disease. The general listened to her advice and went. He did as the prophet told him, and was cured. He then exclaimed: "Behold now, I know there is no G-d in all the earth, but in Israel." Of course, we know that G-d is everywhere - not just here - and He is the G-d of all people and of all nations, but this exclamation means, I think, that there is a special connection to G-d here, and within this people, and this connection nourishes and strengthens the connection of the whole world to G-d. 

The portion doesn't explicitly specify what causes this disease, but elsewhere in the Torah it is mentioned in relation to Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron, when she spoke not-nicely about Moses and his wife, and was punished for it with this disease, and in order to be cured from it she was asked to sit outside the camp in isolation (Book of Numbers, chapter 12). From this, our sages infer that the cause for this disease is bad use of language, or simply: evil tongue. The evil tongue includes a few categories of immoral use of speech, but they all come down to saying bad things about other people behind their backs: disgracing others, putting them down, mentioning their flaws, exposing things that violate their privacy (and privacy is sacred!), telling lies about them and also telling bad things that are true about them. Some think that if we say bad things about someone, but those bad things are true, then it's OK for us to tell these things. But this kind of gossip is forbidden and can cause a lot of harm to three parties: to the speaker, to the one spoken about and to the listener. It diminishes the level of love in society and the social glue that keeps people together and causes disdain towards the person spoken about and a feeling of superiority for the speaker and the listener. There won't be love there the next time they see this person. This is the reason why the cure for the Tzara'at disease is to sit in isolation outside the camp: it's like saying - if you want to weaken the social glue between people in your community, if you want to make someone else be treated with disdain, you should taste your own medicine (literally) and be isolated (and put to shame) yourself. It is no big honor to sit outside the camp alone for a week because of this spiritual-physical disease. 

Only in specific cases is one allowed (and even encouraged) to say bad things that are true about another person (for example: if you know that Dana is going to marry or get into business with Danny, who is a dishonest person, you must warn her, but make sure your motives are to help her, not to bite Danny). 

Words can heal and words can kill. Speech is what distinguishes us humans from other animals, and it is such a lofty gift we humans got, that we just must use it responsibly and with discretion. With speech we can change someone's world, or even change the world (and there have been quite a few examples for this in human history). A tender word for someone in distress can sometimes save their lives, and a bitter word said to someone or about someone behind their back can ruin their lives.

Words have power, and every word we say leaves an impression in this world. We can truly heal the world with positive speech (and also positive inner speech, directed towards ourselves!). And it costs us nothing. It is a free gift we got, and we can give good words to others and lift them up without any cost to us at all. 

So this Shabbat (and this month, and just generally), let us find ways to use our speech in a constructive way towards ourselves and towards others and truthfully make this world a better place.

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov! 

Revital