Tazria- A Sign of the Times

 

Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"

March 31^st 2011 -Volume I, Issue 25–25^th of Adar II 5771

Parshat Tazriah

A Sign of our Times

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could be given a sign that the decisions we were making were the right ones? Should I go into this business? Is this who I am supposed to marry? Is it the right thing to pick up my family and move to Israel now? Is this what’s best for my kids, my parents, my friends, my community? There are so many crossroads each of us face at different junctures of our lives. Points that we have to stop and figure out where or how to proceed. It would seem so marvelous to be able to just place a quick call to the Almighty who knows what is best for us and ask his advice on what we should do- and get the immediate response. Wouldn’t you just relish a world without restless nights, worrisome thoughts and all the questions of self-doubt that plague those choices we make. I’m pretty sure I would zzzzzzzzzz…..yawn…

Yet Hashem in His ultimate wisdom didn’t create the world as such. Sure the Torah tells us to ask our sages and advisors for guidance in times of need and doubt. Yet, as much as many who consult our leaders feel that sense of relief that comes with knowing that you have someone that has offered you their “sage” advice. It still takes a great degree of faith and work to quell those inner questions and doubts that are bound to arise, particularly when you are faced with challenges. It seems it would be easier if we just got that little not or SMS back from God that tells us what the right thing for us to do would be.

The truth though is that as simple and as easy as it would seem, any reader of the Torah knows  that it really never worked that way. There were periods-long periods- of time in our Jewish history when we had prophets that would tell us exactly what Hashem thought we should be doing. There were times as well when we had the Kohein Gadol who we could go to that have the famous breastplate- the Urim Vtumim that would as well give us Hashem’s Divine advice. Yet, the people still worried. Even more startling, they disregarded and even distorted Hashem’s implicit guidance. We saw miracles in Egypt and were still frightened. We heard Hashem say that he would provide for us and take us into the Land of Israel and yet we still wanted to head back to Egypt. The periods of the judges and the prophets are full of our ancestors making the wrong decisions, although time and time again we were warned of the consequences that would befall us and which we indeed experienced, almost word for word as predicted. And yet we continued on our own path. Even with the direct advice of God it didn’t seem to work for us. The worrisome nights and troublesome decisions still continued even with those messages. It seems that it is not the solution. So how can we know what to do? How can we finally get some sleep?

This week’s portion Tazriah sheds some light into perhaps one of the most glaring differences between our times and those of the biblical in this regard. The Torah portion this week tells us of the incredible interaction Hashem had with us in one of the strangest forms. It is the form of the plague or spiritual/physical malady of Tzora’at, which by its very detailed description seems to  be something that resembles leprosy. If a person sinned in a certain fashion then he would have blemishes and blotches of white and other colors that would burst forward on his skin. The Torah tells us as well that this Tzora’as, depending on the sin would sometimes not plague the person’s body but his clothing and/or house as well. After showing the spots to the Kohen and upon his examination and determination the Metzorah would then be sent out of the camp where he would be isolated and consider the sins that brought him to this state. He would then be returned to the camp after it had healed and he would bring offerings and imaginably become a changed person. A powerful life changing experience; a note and message from God.

There is no Tza’raas today. The Chafetz Chaim suggests it is perhaps because we no longer have the priesthood in the Temple from which to purify us from this malady. Hashem only would bring this upon us in order that we should return to him. Yet today without His temple there is no place to come home to. On a deeper level the great Rebbe of Ger the Sefas Emes suggests that Tzara’as is a reflection of the inner soul that was so interconnected to the body. When someone sinned the inner light of one’s soul would shine out to the body and show one where he needs to put his focus on improving. The isolation, introspection and the knowledge of that inner light that comes from within one’s divine spark could inspire him to return. Yet once again today perhaps our souls have become so disconnected and that spark is so hidden we can no longer feel that inspiration and answer its call.

When one reads these ideas it is hard not to be struck by how far we have fallen from those days. How amazing it must have been to be able to be so connected to our soul and to Hashem that our very bodies would show the signs of a spiritual decay. How powerful it would have felt to know that Hashem was signaling and reaching out to us to do the right things and get close to him once again. In truth, though we do that same thing today however on an even greater level.  We may not have that small blemish on our bodies to remind us that we should return. We instead have a gaping hole in our hearts, because we have no Temple. The Meztora would be obligated to go Badad- alone and we are referred to as a widow of Jerusalem that is living Badad, bereft and alone from her husband. We have brothers and sisters that are living far away from His home. There are so many of His children that don’t know their Father and even those of us that do are so far from where we once were or should be. Hashem may not afflict us with tzara’as, but as our sages say poverty is in place of Tzara’as today. Our worries, our struggles, our tragedies are all reflections of that deeply buried inner soul longing to return from its 2000 year period of isolation to be connected once again with its source. Our Tzoros-troubles, are the calling card to turn to Hashem and not just to ask for His guidance and help but to help us once again to return to us and help us return to Him.

It would be nice to have no more worries. It would be nicer to get a good night’s sleep without struggles and challenges. But wouldn’t it be even better to wake up to a great new morning? To live in a day when we our body and soul lived in harmony and our every moment was a song to Hashem? Just as the Metzorah was able to come back and return the ultimate message of the Parsha is that we can all do that. One can never fall too far that our Father is not calling to us to come back. He’s calling to us to in our dilemmas and challenges. He’s just waiting for us to ask Him to come home and reunite with Him once again.

Have a blessed and restful Shabbos ,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

MACHTASH RAMON- ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND BREATHTAKING LOCATIONS IN ISRAEL THE MACHTASH WHICH MEANS CRATER IN HEBREW IS WORLDS LARGEST CRATER OF ITS KIND AT ABOUT 40 KM LONG AND 10 KM WIDE (24 MILES BY 6 MILES). THE VIEW OF THE NEGEV THE FANTASTIC UNIQUE COLORFUL ROCKS AND FORMATIONS ARE A GEOLOGIST AND NATURE LOVERS DELIGHT. THERE ARE 8 OF THESE TYPES OF CRATERS THAT ARE FORMED BY A NATURAL DETERIORATION OF THE UNDERLYING WEAKER LAYERS OF ROCK YET ISRAEL A THE HOST OF MOST OF THEM MAKING THE WORD MAKTESH  THE ACCEPTED SCIENTIFIC WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS PHENOMENA.

**********************