Seeds of Change (5771/2011)

Parshat Tazria begins with the words isha ki tazria v’yaldah – when a woman sprouts a seed and gives birth. Parshat Tazria gives the rules of ancient Israelite maternity leave. So it makes sense to begin with the words, “when a woman gives birth.” But why does the Torah add in the metaphor of tazria – sprouting a seed?

Perhaps the Torah includes the metaphor of “seed” in order to stimulate the reader’s mind to make connections with other places in the Torah where the word appears. In Bereisheet-Genesis Chapter One, variations on the word zera, seed appear TEN times.

A seed contains a blueprint of a plant, something like its parent plant – but not exactly like its parent plant. Seeds scatter to new places, they grow in different environments, they become new plants, sowing new seeds…and the world evolves and changes. According to Torah, that’s how God intended the world to be: a place full of new opportunities, new connections, and new surprises.

Parshat Tazria, especially read together with its partner parashah Metzora, is about re-connections. When a woman gives birth, she and her baby are gradually integrated into the community. When a person heals from a disease that estranges them from ordinary social contact, the person is welcomed with a ritual affirming new life.

Perhaps by using the word “seed,” Torah reminds us that new phases in our lives will be something like our earlier phases – but not exactly. Even difficult transitions lead to new environments, new seeds, evolution and change.

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The Life-Force (5767/2007)

Through the concepts of ritual purity (taharah) and impurity (tumah), Parashat Tazria and Parashat Metzora present the basic values of priestly theology.  Tumah describes a diminished life force and taharah a restored life force.

Israelite priests thought of body and soul as one living unit – a nefesh.  Damage to either the body or the soul diminishes the life force of this living unit.  An individual is a living unit but so, in a sense, is a group of people.  According to the priests, damage to the life force of a single person (tumah) diminishes the life force of the entire nation.

According to Torah, some regular natural events — such as menstruation, childbirth, or attending the dying at the moment of death — can drain the life force, causing tumah.  These are transitional events that can carry risk or the fear of death.  Irregular surprising events — such as disfiguring skin diseases or sins by public leaders – also drain the life force.  These events unsettle the collectivity by breaking down trust in relationships.

The mission of the priests was to help restore the life force, or taharah, through symbolic ritual.  By looking after the emotional well-being of each individual, and thus of the nation as a whole, the priests invoked God’s presence.