This week's reading from the Torah begins with the following words: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'This shall be the Torah of the metzora (leper) in the day of his cleansing; He shall be brought to the priest; And the priest shall go out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the disease of leprosy is healed in the leper..." [Leviticus 14:1-3]

As I mentioned last week, although it has a physical manifestation, to be sure, the Talmudic tradition insists that "nega tzara'at" -- the plague of leprosy mentioned in the Torah is primarily spiritual in nature. Hence the word used to describe the stricken person, 'metzora,' is phonetically connected to the expression 'motzi ra' -- one who spreads evil or slander - to cause a blemish upon the name of the subject of the slander. As a consequence of spreading lies that tear at the very fabric of life and the structure of society, one should be declared a pariah, and cut off from humanity. Hence this Torah mentioned "leprous state" contains a crucial message and a moral lesson.

We are celebrating today a special shabbat, called "Shabbat hagadol -- the Great Sabbat," which is the Shabbat before the Night of the Passover and the Festival of our departure from Egypt. One may find a relation between the events in Egypt and the subject in the Torah. Israel's slavery in Egypt was precipitated by a case of "motzi ra" -- slander. You may recall that the Israelites were faithful, productive sojourners in Egypt when the new Pharaoh conspired to enslave them by falsely accusing them of lack of faith: "Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it may come to pass, that, when there would be any war, they should join our enemies, and fight against us; and so get them out of the land." [Ex. 1:10] The Israelites suffered greatly as a result of this slander, and, in time, so did Pharaoh and his people. The end result of his break of faith, his hotza'at ra -- was a bad tenfold plague that makes leprosy seem like a case of the common cold.

Leprosy is just about wiped out in our days. Gone are the leper colonies, gone is the fear of the dreaded sores that fester and ooze before drying out and leaving a gap in the flesh, a distortion in bones, and disfiguring in the visage of the afflicted. Yet, the spiritual leprosy of old is alive and well -- and it enjoys a great resurgence in our two favorite societies: our dear homeland, the United States -- and our precious State of Israel. It seems that anyone who is a public servant is taken for a rogue, a potential threat to the welfare of the state and its citizens. Our president, Mr. Bill Clinton, has been investigated over allegations of misconduct going back to his grade school activities, it would seem. The prime minister of Israel, Benyamin Netanyahu, is in water even deeper than the president. Even before he was elected (with a larger majority of the electorate than Clinton) he was already being called everything from neophyte to charlatan.

This attack on the leaders of the two democratic states, the U.S. and Israel, makes it possible for its enemies and detractors to attack it from the outside and threaten its very existence. To be sure, we don't see, we don't consider possible, a danger to the U.S. -- the strongest, most successful nation state in all of history. How can anything or anyone threaten US? Yet, threatened we are! In the international arena of trade and commerce, other nations attack us by price fixing and cheap labor achieved through crimes against humanity -- by slave labor and child labor, by shoddy work and by out and out theft -- knock-off of American products without payment of patent or copy rights.

In the case of Israel, the attack on Benyamin Netanyahu from within the country sets the stage for our enemies to refuse to deal with the legitimate government of Israel on the pretext of a lack of confidence in a government led by a "radical," "ultranationalist," "fanatical," "chauvinistic," "opportunistic" and principle lacking chief. As if the heads of states of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia -- not to mention Iraq and Iran -- are paragons of virtue, men of undisputed clean record in their personal dealings and their public life record. Yasser Arafat, that old fox whose claws still drip with the blood of innocent chicks, killed in the peace-loving, peace-seeking hen house of Israel is allowed to point a finger and threaten the remnant of two thousand years of suffering from the leprosy of others. The world, it seems to me, is festering with leprosy! Surely this is a time for a change. Thank God, oh yes, thank God for the rainbow! For if God had not made a covenant with the sons of Noah never to bring another deluge upon this world -- I, for one, would start building an ark!

So, is my message today a message of doom?

You know it is not! There is hope for the future! This is what it means to be a Jew. When the night is darkest, we look for the crack of dawn. When it seemed that all is lost, in the pit of death of the holocaust our brethren sang together, "Ani ma'amin be'emuna shlema be'vi'at hamashiakh. Ve'af al pi sheyitmah'ma -- im kol zot ani ma'amin! I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah. And though he may delay, nonetheless I believe." Well, things are definitely not as bad as they were at the time of the holocaust! We do have our precious state, and we have a freely elected government that continues to conduct the affairs of our nation to the best of their ability. We have a safe haven in the United States, where we have a history of a couple of centuries of living as free and equal citizens -- free to worship as we please, integrated in the life of the general population.

We are about to celebrate Pesakh, the time of our freedom. I remember so vividly the Pesakh of 1948 -- a mere fortnight before the declaration of Israel's independence. We were seated together, men and women and children, some one hundred of us, in a large room in Talpiyot, a suburb in south Jerusalem cut off from the city, in a siege within a siege. We had had a number of skirmishes with Arab marauders, and we knew that soon the British would depart from Jerusalem, and the real battle would erupt. We also knew that the Arabs outnumbered us by more than ten to one, and they were better armed. Still, we were far from desperate. In fact, our spirits were soaring as we sang, "vehi she'amda" -- it is this which stood for our fathers and for us -- for not only once, but in every generation there are those who wished to destroy us; and the Holy One, Blessed be He, ever saves us from their hand. We recalled the words of the 121 Psalm, "A Song of Maalot. I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who watches you will not slumber. Behold, he who watches Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade upon your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; he shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and for evermore." This is the time of our deliverance, the time when the Lord, in His own Personhood and Might came down to strike the first born of all Egypt, to redeem Israel and take it "me'avdut lekherut" -- from slavery to freedom! This is no time for despair and defeat. This is a time of celebration and rededication. This is the time to recall yet another passage from our Scriptures: "So let all your enemies perish, O Lord; but let those who love him be as the sun when he goes forth in his might." [Judges 5:31] Amen!

5758

This week's portion in the Torah is in the book of Va'Yikra 12 to 16 -- a double portion combining Tazria and Metsora. The text for the week begins with the words, "Isha ki tazri'a -- when a woman gives birth," -- but the overriding concern of this portion is with leprosy (Chapters 13-14).
Scholars debate whether this is actually the disease which today is called leprosy, but for simplicity we will call it "leprosy" and the afflicted a "leper". Leprosy required separation from the rest of the community. A healed leper needed an atoning sacrifice and immersion before being able to fully rejoin the community.

Early this week I was approached by a member of the congregation who  informed me that his son has joined a "messianic congregation."  "What am I supposed to do, Rabbi?"  This man asked me?  I love this son of mine with all my heart -- but I am also an old fashioned Jew who does not believe that you can accept Jews who have left our fold as members of the clan.  "How can I make an exception in the case of my son?"  He asked.  I thought about how I am going to answer this congregant, and finally I said to him, "let me write a letter to your son."

Dear brother,

You do not know me.  Not because if the fact that we have never met, but because of your recent action in becoming what you call a 'messianic Jew' -- had you known me, I'd like to think that you would not have made that choice.

You see, you have been led astry, made to believe that you are not giving up anything, but only accepting a little more, expanding your horizons, becoming more complete.  You have been shown texts and told that they are a part of your heritage -- but they are not.  You have been made a square peg in a round hole, and you try to tell your family and the rest of Judaism that it is 'the only way to be a 'real' or 'complete' or 'fulfilled.'  How dare they?  We are the self same Jews who came out of Egypt, to become His people and carry His message.  We were complete from the time of Egypt, and from the time of Sinai.  We have been told by Moshe Rabenu, "You stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,
Your little ones, your wives, and your stranger who is in your camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water;  That you should enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and into his oath, which the Lord your God makes with you this day;   That he may establish you today for a people to himself, and that he may be to you a God, as he has said to you, and as he has
sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.  And not with you alone will I make this covenant and this oath;  But with him who stands here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him who is not here with us this day; " [Deu. 29:9-14]

Rabbinic commentators see leprosy as symbolic of sin.  In Numbers 12 God gave Miriam leprosy for slandering Moses. After Moses interceded she was still "...shut out from camp seven days," (Numbers 12:14).  The Rabbis ask, "Why is the leper, unlike other defiled persons, required to dwell alone?"   And
they reply,  "Because by his slander... he parted husband or wife, or a man and his friend, [thus] he too must suffer separation."  The Sages teach us further that the affliction of leprosy is punishment for bloodshed, false oaths, pride, robbery, and selfishness.  There is a huge difference between the sincere Christian and the follower of Jesus who pretends to be a Jew.  We Jews demand the right to define ourselves.

We have a very clear idea of where we come from -- our history, who we are -- our identity, and where we are going -- our destiny and our purpose. Historically speaking, we are the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; we are the people who stood at Sinai, whose king David made Jerusalem his capital, whose prophets taught the basic values of Western civilization. In terms of our identity, we are the people of the Hebrew Scriptures, followed by the Mishna, the Gmara, the Midrash and  Halakha;  our covenant has not lapsed and we are not in need of "esh zara" -- a foreign teaching that will somehow augment, supplant or supercede our teachings (Torah).

We have been taught in the Torah, "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;  A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day;  And a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known."  [Deu. 11:26-28]   Christianity has gone through a period of some sixteen hundred years of attempting to convert the Jews with a carrot and or a stick.  The church cursed the Jews and had them expelled;  in the name of the prince of peace they put them to the sword, burned them at the stake and massacred them
from the time of the first Crusade to the days after the Holocaust.  Some churches have seen fit to repent and ask the Jews forgiveness.  We are willing to forgive, though we must never forget.  Some churches choose to continue their mission to the Jews -- and we are on guard to their effort.
The only ones we do not countenance at all are the wolves in sheep's clothing!   Because they come to our most vulnerable Jews, the disenchanted and the uninitiated, the poor and the ignorant.  They offer a quick fix -- grab the cross and find salvation.  Accept 'Yeshu'a' -- the Christian God figure,
and you will find 'yeshu'a' - redemption!  Never mind that the solution they offer in not part of the Jewish paradigm.  Never mind that what they offer is in total paradox with the teachings of our Torah.  Never mind!  Once you are 'fulfilled' you no longer owe any answer to reason.  You are 'saved' -- so
be at ease.

Except...  Except that your grandfather was marched to the gas chambers by people who were similarly 'saved;'  except that they messengers of salvation put your people to the rake in the Spanish inquisition;  except that the fathers of the 'church' -- which you call a messianic synagogue, told their
followers that the Jews are "Slayers of the Lord, murderers of prophets, adversaries of God, haters of God, men who show contempt for the law, foes of grace, enemies of their father’s faith, advocates of the devil, brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men whose minds are in darkness, leaven of the
Pharisees, assembly of demons, sinners, wicked men, stoners, and haters of righteousness." [Gregory of Nyssa, (331?-396?)]  Is this the faith you want to "fulfill" your Jewish heritage?  Or do you think that those who came to you and opened your eyes to their 'truth' are different?  Think for a minute -- those who join you are lost to Judaism forever.  What will the end of their effort bring about?   It will bring about the disappearance of the Jewish people!  Now, if this is the final result, how is it different from "the final solution of the Jewish problem?"  Just because you will still breathe the
breath of life.  How different do you have to be before you are no longer the person your parents brought up?  If they sit Shiva and mourn for you -- is their child less dead than the child who was killed by the Jew-haters?  The portion of the week begins with the matter of birth.  When a woman
gives birth, if she is Jewish, the child is Jewish.  The woman lives by the teaching of Moshe, and the child has to do likewise.  When he (or she) does not, the become infected with leprosy of the spirit.  They need to be removed from the habitation of the people -- to prevent the desecration of the camp, to prevent infection and perversion.   If one is sick and is then healed, he will be accepted again into the fold.   We shall pray for your recovery, and may God bring you healing through Torah and Mitzvot.
Wishing you a quick recovery, I remain an authentic complete and unaugmented Jew.

Amen

Metzora 2000 -- Shabbat Hagadol

This is the last Shabbat before the celebration of the Feast of our Freedom, the time of the exodus from Egypt. We read from the Torah a text which begins with the following words: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'This shall be the Torah of the metzora (leper) in the day of his cleansing; He shall be brought to the priest; And the priest shall go out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the disease of leprosy is healed in the leper..." [Leviticus 14:1-3]

The word leper, metzora, can be made into two words, ‘mitzar’ and ‘ra’ - which means from an evil enemy. Thus our sages related this reading to the preparation to leaving Egypt, a land of an evil enemy, in whose country we lived and to whose society we contributed much - and where we were hated and persecuted for no good reason, thus making it a land of an evil enemy. In fact, even the name of that land in Hebrew, Mitzra’yim, is said to come from our relation to their people, as it can be read ‘mitzarim’ - making in "enemy [land]."

Still, the original text certainly deals with the plague of leprosy, a pernicious disease that eats the flesh of the patient and disfigures the body that God created, and the sages again interpreted the Hebrew, saying that the stricken person, 'metzora,' is phonetically connected to the expression 'motzi ra' -- one who spreads evil or slander - to cause a blemish upon the name of the subject of the slander. As a consequence of spreading lies that tear at the very fabric of life and the structure of society, one should be declared a pariah, and cut off from humanity. Hence this Torah mentioned "leprous state" contains a crucial message and a moral lesson.

And then we need to consider that we are celebrating today a special Shabbat, called "Shabbat Hagadol -- the Great Sabbat," which is the Shabbat before the Night of the Passover and the Festival of our departure from Egypt. One may find a relation between the events in Egypt and the subject in the Torah. Israel's slavery in Egypt was precipitated by a case of "motzi ra" -- slander.

The punishment for this transgression is isolation. The celebration of the Passover, that first time, in Egypt, and every year consequently, was to be a "gathering" event, when Jews came together to celebrate the freedom to be a united people, to serve God and do His bidding, which is to praise Him through ameliorating the world that He created. We engage in role playing, part of the time speaking of slavery, the demeaning, shaming and abusing treatment we received at the hands of the king of Egypt, whose very reasoning was twisted and perverted by his ‘mental leprosy.’ "Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it may come to pass, that, when there would be any war, they should join our enemies, and fight against us; and so get them out of the land." [Ex. 1:10] The Israelites, Pharaoh reasoned, are so necessary for Egypt, that they must be mistreated to remain in the land. This leprous reasoning did not keep Israel in Egypt, and, in fact, ended by destroying Egypt as God struck the land and its inhabitants with ten plagues and sealed His encounter with Pharaoh by drowning his chariots and men of war in the sea.

Last year this Shabbat was a bitter-sweet time for me. On Friday I stood before the gaping open mouth of mother earth, into whose eternal care we had just placed the remains of my dear mother. I sang the El Male Rakhamim, Professing my belief in a God full of mercy and loving kindness, who delivered my long suffering mother from further pain. I said the Kaddish, recognizing God’s sovereignty and praying for him to heal me from my grief and from the threat of social leprosy at the hands of those who wished to isolate and devastate me. Less than a week later I sat at a seder table and thanked God for the privilege of being free. Free means at risk, but it also means full of possibilities. My sweet wife, Leah, always tells me that "life is an adventure," and indeed it is! For healing powers, and for the gift of freedom to worship Him and enjoy this adventure called life, I shall ever continue to praise and Thank the Holy One, blessed be He.

Amen

Metsora 63 -- Shabbat Hagadol

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me'az ve'ad akhshav. Shalom Uvrakha!