April 19th: Metzorah
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Years ago, I chanced to read the Betty Crocker Cookbook that my mother received as a new bride. Written in the 1940’s, the book featured both recipes and advice about home-making. Make sure that your home is clean and orderly, with fresh flowers on the nicely set table. This way your husband will feel welcome when he comes home in the evening. Perhaps young brides in that era found such advice helpful, but, when I read it in the 1970s—in the heyday of Women’s Liberation, many would have described the prescriptions for being a good housewife as antiquated and oppressive. The late humor columnist Erma Bombeck even described such counsel as nightmarish. And, yet, in the 1990’s, many au current people were investigating and investing in very similar home-making practices. Though derived from exotic places and graced with mystical names, things like Feng Shui and Zen Flower Arranging seemed pretty similar: techniques to make one’s home pleasant, comfortable, and inviting.
Though phrased in vastly different ambiences, both approaches speak to a spiritual dimension to our physical lives. Can the energy of a house be healthy or unhealthy? Can there be a karmic element to our clothing—or good or negative vibrations in certain social settings?
The Torah portions at this time of year—last week Tazria and this week Metzora—can be read as superstition intruding on physical matters. Skin diseases are not in the realm of religion—nor is mildew in a wall or some kind of growth in fabric. These are physical matters which need physical tending. Why then would the Torah call in the Kohanim/Priests? “When you enter the land of Canaan that I gave you as a possession, and I inflict an eruptive plague upon a house in the land you possess, the owner of the house shall come and tell the Priest.” (Leviticus 14.34) Is this pre-scientific thinking that sees supernatural causes for life’s problems and thus prescribes supernatural solutions for them? Or are we reading this text with too narrow a focus?
First, it is important to notice that the remedies for such “affections” are both physical and spiritual. Skin is evaluated according to medical criteria, and walls and fabric are addressed physically. For example, “The house shall be scraped inside all around...and the stones replaced.” (v.41-42) Only after the physical situation has been dealt with are the religious rituals performed. Second, we need to remember that our compartmentalization of knowledge and expertise is not the only model. In many societies, leaders possess knowledge in a number of different fields. So, the possibility of a Kohen being trained in ritual matters and medical matters and textile matters and construction is not outlandish. And third, even the ancients allowed for experts to be brought in: the Midrashic collection Sifra includes a comment about Kohanim being assisted by lay people who may be more acquainted with the affected skin or materials.
There is also the possibility that our counter-superstition thinking may have fallen prey to a kind of narrow-minded bias. The more we learn, the more our eyes are opened to forces and processes not yet explainable by science. This is particularly true of our health where any number of holistic factors seem to affect both body and mind. Think for a minute about all the things that were part of life and the world despite the fact that Science had not yet discovered, i.e., learned how to describe and measure scientifically. People were breathing oxygen long before Priestly discovered it. The Higgs Boson was doing whatever it did long before the recently departed Dr. Higgs identified it. And think about how things that used to be considered non-scientific—subjects like Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, Marketing, Management, and Industrial Engineering—have been and are still being converted/transformed into Social Sciences. The goal of Social Scientists is basically to reconfigure/redefine what used to be considered wisdom or insight or intuition into science—forms of analysis that are quantifiable and replicable.
My point is that we should not be too quick to discard the spiritual dimension as superstitious. Our lives and surroundings seem to be affected by any number of factors—some of which can be described scientifically, others of which cannot. Praying and positive attitudes seem to improve health prospects. Some people have charisma—putting out “vibes” that are more positive and inviting. Some people have “green thumbs” and do much better with plants than others (like me). And there are matters of the social fabric. Dishonesty or gossip or exploitation seem to have all kinds of effects—as do honesty and trust and good citizenship. So, when our Tradition speaks of the spiritual dimension of skin disease or building decay, we may not need a scientific explanation to pick up on the Torah’s cue that immorality brings about damage.
It seems to me that there are two lessons to consider. First, inasmuch as God created creation—everything and the processes that lead to every thing’s existence and function, then God should have insights as to how existence should be operated. Whether the advice involves regular prayer or dietary customs or health regulations or moral and ethical guidance, since God created it all, it makes sense that God would have advice for how best to function in life. So, if God says that “leprosy” of the skin, cloth, or walls is comprised of both physical and spiritual dimensions, perhaps we should look at both dimensions—at both modalities in which existence can malfunction.
Second, it is worthwhile to meditate on Infinity and what it means when God is described as Infinite. Whatever notion or image we may have of God, it is inevitably less that the totality of the what God really is. Though our ancient tradition speaks of God in anthropomorphic terms, such images are obviously limited human attempts to state the ineffable, to put an understandable “face” on Something far beyond our ability to know or conceive. This means that such phrases as “inasmuch as God created creation,” should be understood as much more than a big man putting together a project. The creative process—from the Big Bang and through billions of years—includes much we know and much we do not know, much we can measure and understand, and much we can only sense or anticipate. As the process continues to unfold, who knows what new phenomena are yet to be perceived or understood—or created. The point is that knowledge and insights about the spiritual dimension can be reflections of creation just as much as the scientific knowledge we have been so fortunate to discover. And they can be valuable and helpful as we negotiate a life we do not fully understand.
Our Tradition bids us approach life and our sacred texts with both humility and curiosity. Everything is not as it seems. There are hidden dimensions and unexplained factors. Sometimes, physical situations are just that, but sometimes, there are other factors involved, and a wise person considers all the possibilities.