Medicine and Metaphor
D’var Torah for Tazria and Metzora
By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman
The Torah portions for the next two weeks (Tazria, Leviticus 12:1-13:50 and Metzora, Leviticus 14:1-15:33) are arguably the most obsolete portions in the entire Torah. Dealing with health issues (literally and figuratively), these two portions position the priest not only as intermediator between the people and God, but also as healer of physical illness. The portions discuss various skin ailments—but they express archaic notions and use long-forgotten terminology. Viewed through modern eyes, Tazria and Metzora reflect not only ignorance, but also superstition and bigotry.
It would be easy to dismiss Tazria and Metzora as irrelevant. And yet, they not only represent a pivotal point in Rabbinic thinking, they also serve as the foundation stone for Judaism’s evolving views on health and caretaking—two of the highest and most sacred values in Jewish culture and belief.
The early Rabbis expound the physical symptoms metaphorically. They explain the word metzora (literally defining someone who is afflicted with leprosy) as a composite of the Hebrew words motzi and ra, used to refer to someone who engages in gossip or slander. While some explain the disease as divine punishment for engaging in these sins, others express a much broader view, in which the contagion is not only physical but also social.
The Torah uses the term metzora to describe symptoms that may appear not only in an individual’s body, but also in clothing and even homes. Slander is thus explained by the Rabbis as a societal disease, as contagious and dangerous as leprosy itself. At first, the symptoms are restricted to an individual, but soon they spread in ever-wider circles. The clothing represents one’s family; the walls of the house stand for all society. The ill effects of slander and gossip are never contained only to one individual; we all are impacted by the lies and smears, starting with the person who first spreads them but quickly spreading to everyone within earshot (and today, screenshot as well).
In this light, Tazria and Metzora aren’t only about physical health. They also contain strict warnings about our cultural and societal wellbeing.
But there is yet another aspect to these chapters, one often overlooked at first reading.
Coming from an age in which priests also served as witch doctors, the Torah gives a new, more enlightened role to the priest. From now on he is to observe and take care of those who are ill. Though the serious nature of the contagion may necessitate isolation (read: quarantine) of the sick, they are never abandoned. Every seven days they must be visited by the priest, whose duty it is to determine whether the sickness has advanced or receded.
No matter how we choose to understand Tazria and Metzora, they are among the most important in the entire Torah, at least partially explaining why medicine has always been seen as a “Jewish” profession. The search for knowledge and understanding did not stop with these portions. True, the signs and rituals they describe may be obsolete, but not so the philosophy behind them. The Torah makes it clear that healing and taking care of the sick, along with further research and observation, are nothing less than our most sacred duty and obligation.
© 2022 by Boaz D. Heilman
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