Holot

Metzora. A continuation of the previous parsha, yet this time detailing the process of coming back into the community: how the priest welcomes you back in once you are pure and what a person must do himself to be allowed back into the community.

Holot, the detention center opened four months ago on the Egyptian border, is a place specifically reserved for North African refugees. Some say that they are living in better conditions than before their deportations to the detention center, some say it is simply a degradation. I just know that it is sad. No one should be living in conditions where they have to submit to role call three times a day and don't have the right to work (for the most part).

Where do this week's parsha and Holot come together? Honestly, we see that a group of people have already left their own home (like the Jewish people), and wandered to Israel. Israeli society is claiming that these people are impure, that they need to leave the general society and go into seclusion for a time. The problem now becomes, when is their seclusion over? When will they be welcomed back to the community? Or does their time not come, because they are refugees and not Jews.

Whatever the reason, we must be aware that there are always people in our midst whom we treat as outsiders, who are considered 'impure' by either our standards or those of the community. Let us pray that this week we see a way to help those around us and give them our support.