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 Our
parasha this time is titled Tzaria. It is found in Lev. 12:1-13:59.
It begins by stating the laws for a woman after she has born a child.
Right away you'll notice there is a time span difference for having
a male child, versus a female child in becoming ritually clean again.
After a male child is born, the woman is unclean for seven days. Then
she takes a mikvah, but remains in a set apart condition for another
thirty three days. During that thirty three days, she is still forbidden
to touch any holy item. If she has a female child, the time is doubled
to fourteen days for the first step and sixty six for the second time
period of time. We have heard different explanations as to why there
is a time difference between a male and female birth regarding becoming
ritually clean again. One teacher says, during birth and going through
the birth canal, the female child emits a drop of blood herself, therefore
the time is seven days for the mother and seven days for the baby.
We've also read that YHVH wanted the mother to be out of her first
unclean state by the eight day when her male child would be due to
be circumcised. The Scriptures doesn't really go into detail on this
subject. It could be both of the above reasons. We do know why YHVH
picked the eight day to have the baby circumcised. They didn't know
medically back then, but the vitamin K in the baby's body is at its
highest on that day, which helps the blood to clot after a wound.
After the days of uncleanliness were completed, she brought a lamb
in its first year and a turtle dove for an offering. Now days, it
is customary among orthodox Jews, that as soon as the new mother feels
well enough to leave home, she goes to a synagogue.
During
the time when her uncleanliness would have been completed, her husband
is called up to read the Torah, as a symbolic representation of the
offerings that would have been brought in during that time. Then the
Torah goes on to talk about Tzaraas. This is a skin affliction. The
closest thing we can associate it with today is leprosy, but that
isn't correct either. But it was not a physical disease, it was a
spiritual disease that manifested in the physical realm. Some Sages
say the primary cause of tzaraas was slander, gossip, etc. Band-aid
anyoneJ? The first indication of tzaraas was a white patch on the
skin that was at least the size of a large bean. (I wonder if that
was a pinto bean or a small navy bean or a kidney beanJ) There were
two major categories of tzaras (s'eis and baheres) and two basic shades
of white, with two subcategories. One major category is the color
of natural wool, which is the s'eis. The other is the color of snow
and it is called baheres. Each of these colors has a slightly darker
subcategory. The subcategory of the s'eis is the color of an egg membrane.
The other, the baheres, is the color of chalk. Basically all laws
apply equally to both major categories. If someone believed they might
have a skin affliction, they would go to one of the Priests. If he
could not tell by the first look at it that it was tzaras, he would
isolate the person for seven days.
Then
he would look at the place in question again. Some ancient teachers
believe the Priest drew a ring around the place at the first inspection
so he could easily tell if the affliction had spread any larger seven
days later. If it had become dimmer and had not spread any larger,
the person was ok. There were other skin conditions that were not
tzaras, called a mispachas. There are different regulations regarding
the patch of skin and what was necessary to take place in order for
it to be deemed tzaraas. One was the appearance of two dark hairs
inside the white patch. In some cases, there were two time periods
of seven days each to be set apart from everyone for a final result,
other times only one seven day period. Also, Tzaraas of the head or
face was different from the rest of the body. The essence of this
affliction causes a loss of hair in the middle of the scalp or beard
(If the baldness occurs at the front or back of the head, this is
different). The bald spot must be completely surrounded by hair. The
tzaraas when it is on the head or beard area, is called nesek.
The
nesek can have two proofs of contamination; the emergence of short
yellow hairs or just the spreading of the affliction in general. We
are talking about an area here where the hair was still in place,
not just a normal bald spot from aging on the man's head. Notice it
could grow a black hair in the nesek or a brown, etc. and still be
ok, just not yellow colored hair. The Torah goes on to tell us how
the laws relate to the behavior of the metzora. The customary behavior
was the person pulled his collar or his scarf over his mouth and pulled
his cloak over his head. He was forbidden to greet or talk to people
and he was to call out contaminated, contaminated, or unclean, if
anyone even came near him. Since he was to be put outside the camp,
his contact with people was almost non existent anyway. We also see
how the garments of a person could even become contaminated. We know
this has to be pointing us to a picture for today and how we can become
unclean by being next to unclean things.
Thus,
the garment was worn next to the body and became contaminated by the
body, as do such things make us contaminated today, like being in
contact with a dead body or touching a dead animal. Stay away from
that roadkill boyJ! It states in some translations that the tzaraas
can get either in the warp or the woof of the linen or wool garment.
When I read that, I said, "A warp or a woof, what in creation is that?"
The only warp that came to my mind right away was the speed the Starship
Enterprise can travel at, it's called warp speed for those non trekies
out thereJ. Then there is woof, that's what the dog next door does
that drives us nutsJ! So, I checked it out and found out that warp
consists of the threads that run across the length of the fabric.
The woof consists of the threads that are crisscrossed at right angles
through the warp. Who would've known, wait until Captain Kirk hears
this! Tzaraas can also be found on leather as well as cloth. If the
garment turned out not to be contaminated after all the steps performed
on it, then you know it had went through two washings (mikvahs) before
it was declared clean. If the end result was contamination, the Priest
burned it. Either way, if you had tzaraas in your warp or your woof,
you were in wots of troubleJ! Shalom
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