What Is the Point of a Rabbi, Anyway? (Parshat Metzorah)
The inside, the outside, and the spiritual blemishes of connection
Week 27: Leviticus 14:1 - 15:33
Haftarah Portion: II Kings 7:3 - 7:20
Summary: The Torah portion outlines the purification process for a person who has been healed of tzara'at (a skin affliction). It details the specific rituals involving the priest, sacrifices, and the use of cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson wool. The portion continues with laws about house contamination and bodily discharges. In the Haftarah, the story focuses on four lepers who, despite their illness, play a key role in the salvation of Samaria during a famine. The story demonstrates the theme of faith leading to deliverance and unexpected salvation.
Thematic Connection: Purification and Deliverance
By Rabbi Patrick Beaulier
There is the outer world of this amazing universe with all of its positive and negative aspects. Its good and evil, holy and unholy, and pure and impure elements all exist in this space. Additionally, there is our inner world that contains all the same elements as the outer world, including our hopes and dreams, fears, and the things that bring us joy. Angels and demons inhabit a kind of internal geographic landscape within which we dwell just as we dwell in the outer world.
Keep this in mind for a while. Because now, we’re talking diseases of the skin and the walls of the home.
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