Purity v. Impurity

אִישׁ־צָר֥וּעַ ה֖וּא טָמֵ֣א ה֑וּא טַמֵּ֧א יְטַמְּאֶ֛נּוּ הַכֹּהֵ֖ן

Vayikra 13:44 states that "a man is leperous and he is impure (unclean); the priest will proclaim him unclean." The rest of parshat tazria also focuses on impurity and purity. A man is proclaimed impure if he has any lesions or sores, or any physically visible skin difference, and woman once she gives birth. The priest is the one making the ultimate decisions, determining who is pure and who does not fulfil the requirements. After seven days, the priest comes

out of the camp and brings the impure one back into the community, if they are pure (their skin has cleared up).

This past Sunday, I left for a journey. Distancing myself from my community, I became a traveler, exiting the narrow places, the mitzrim, of my daily life in Israel. Although not labeled tameh, impure, I still desired the distance in order to gain perspective and clear my own head. The narrow places in my life became visible in the narrow straits I navigated over the five days on my bicycle. Conquering each passage, my journey brought me back to myself, with the final turns of the wheels bringing recognition that the purification was mostly complete.

(For more information, check out www.riding4reform.org)

Living in Hebron, a Palestinian cannot walk through the streets of the old city. The Israeli, Jewish government and military have concluded that the. Palestinians are threats to Jewish existance and control their every movement. They have been deemed tamehim, impure, and not allowed to leave their houses at certain times. 500 days during the early 2000's were spent indoors, with only a few hours every few months granted as time to obtain flour and ride. Simply put, the Jews determined the impurity factor and now serve as the high priest, deciding who goes where, when, and for how long.

(For more information on the complexities of Hebron, click Here

All three of these ideas connect to the ideas of purity and impurity. The Torah gives us a foundation for understanding how to make the community as cohesive as possible. We receive the knowledge of how to maintain wholeness, shlemoot, in the face of different bodily conditions. Using the basis laid down in Tazria, the two examples I present demonstrate the various ways of reading what purity means. Each community, each person, has his or her own definition of purity. As the Torah does not designate specific laws of purity for the present day with regard to more deeply seated "flaws", we as Jews, but more importantly as humans, must determine how we differentiate between purity and impurity.

This coming week, may we understand how purity and impurity are present in our lives, and take the time to cleanse ourselves, or our communities, from their impurity. May we also remember that someone's idea of impurity may be our idea of an obscenity, so we must negotiate the circumstances with dignity and respect.

Shabbat shalom.

Tetzvah: purity and perfection

This week, in parshat tetzvah, we read about the priests and the very specific clothing and accoutrements which they are intended to have. Not only that, but we are informed as to how to make appropriate sacrifices and with what kind of animals. The specifications are exact and demand attention to detail.

Aaron's clothing;  a breastplate, an ephod, tunic, mitre and girdle. All this for the priest, where he must stay seven days in the holy chamber, and must only enter when he himself is pure. Each aspect of his outfit must be made delicately and specifically. More importantly, the elements brought for sacrifice must also be pure, without blemish. Everything entering the ארון הקודש, the holy ark, must be pure, including the animals of sacrifice. Shemot 29:1 reminds us to bring ואלים שנים תמימים, two rams without blemish and Shemot 30:9 informs לא-תעלו עליו קטרת זר, don't bring to the alter strange incense. Basically, anything that is not perfect cannot enter or be used in the holy ark.

Yet what about sons of Aaron who were not so perfect, who were born with blemishes, with speech impediments, with special needs? Were they to absolve their duties and simply live, be banished from what seems to have been their birthright?

On a daily basis, I see children full of love and joy, bursting with small tidbits to share, made mute by a disorder or birth defect; from any number of things. These children constantly warm my heart, showing me that it is possible to connect no matter how 'not there' a person may be. These hearts, they are the most pure, the most perfect. My kids only know how to love with a full heart. However, they are often unaware of their surrounding, of what impedes their daily activities. Whether or not they can articulate it, they seem to know they are different. They drool, put their hands in their mouths, are incontinent. Simply put, they can seem unfortunate.

So how do we corroborate the two images; the need for perfection on one hand and the God-given perfection I see on a daily basis? One perfect necessitates an image which society as a whole attempts to raise on a pedestal, the other being oftentimes denigrated to the fringes of society. The Torah, however, is specific: nothing or no one with blemishes. In order to commune with Elohim, we must be in an elevated state, one of physical perfection. Therefore, my children, my students, will never qualify.

Fortunately for the world, we don't do sacrifice anymore, meaning this descrepency no longer has such a strong pull on one's conscience. Instead, we must actively see how society as a whole treats individuals who are different. We must not send our sin offerings and impure people outside of the camp, as sometimes the purity being sought does not exist. Rather, we must welcome these sinners and impurities into our community and demonstrate to them that they too have a place, that they too are part of the greater whole. That is the beauty of this weeks parsha. We are able to recognize the demand for perfection and purity, but look past it towards acceptance and an understanding that purity comes in many forms, sometimes we just may not see it on a shallow, external level.