Friday Shabbat Shalom

“Every person has their time, and every thing has its place.” Pirkei Avot 4:3. It isn’t just the soloist who has a time and place, but every member of the orchestral is vital to the whole. “Count the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, according to the number of their names” Num. 1:2.

If the laws of the Jubilee year refer to the emancipation of only Hebrew servants, why does the passage proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof? Is not this liberty, in fact, referring to only a small percentage of the population?

Parshat Emor teaches us about the festivals that make up the Jewish year. From the second night of Pesach, we begin counting upwards towards Shavuot where we celebrate the receiving of Torah at Mount Sinai. The ritual of counting days has become a spiritual practice where we imagine ourselves on a profound journey towards Sinai.

Throughout history, human beings have the tragic tendency to divide the world between "G!D" and "Azazel" or "the devil" (whatever that means to a particular person or culture). Then add to that oversimplification, the psychological need to apportion blame and fault to something / someone other than self / culture / country, and we end up with a deadly mix.

This week’s parsha, Parashat Tazria, is paired with Parashat Metzora, because both deal with the identification and treatment of someone who contracts a condition called “tsara’at.” The translation of this is leprosy, although it is spiritual rather than biological in nature…

The Shoah is a part of our history that often impels us to speak out loudly against antisemitism, hate, and genocide wherever it lives. And it is also a part of our history that sometimes inspires silence as we contemplate the horrors that humankind is capable of inflicting on itself and the tragedies members of our community have endured.

This Shabbat is Shabbat HaGadol, the Sabbath immediately preceding Pesach, our Festival celebrating Freedom and Redemption. We are preparing to gather with family, friends, and neighbors around our Seder tables. We are cleaning our homes and preparing our festival foods and celebrations. Many of us find this a season of hitbonenut / reflection as we review our lives since Pesach one year ago.

So much of Leviticus, and Bamidbar (Numbers) after it, is about approaching and drawing away. Moments when you offer something (Korban), moments when… you must withdraw. A sacred dance between Taharah, pure closeness, and Tumah, the state of extreme distance. Slowly, steadily, step-by-step, we all get chances to try and feel that we are also called to be close and grateful.