blogs/rabbi-huberman

Each year, I dread this week's Torah portion.

After all, who wants to talk about rashes, skin diseases, bodily purification and leprosy? Rather, we prefer the Torah to stimulate us with ancient stories and bits of wisdom to apply to our daily lives.

But this year, probably more than any in our lifetime, this week's double Torah portion — titled Tazria-Metzora — comes alive, as our tradition wanders into the uncomfortable world of sickness, disease and quarantine.

During this unprecedented time, we can't help but marvel at how the Torah appeared concerned with public health, long before the field of medicine became a sophisticated practice.

It may be messy, but it's reality.

During this current period of testing, quarantine and social distancing, the Torah's connection with the coronavirus is direct and frontal.

We are told, this week, that if a person shows symptoms of a skin disease called tzara'at, the affected person should go to the Kohen — the priest — for a diagnosis.

Aside from presiding over Israel's religious rituals, in those days, the priest served as the local public health expert, and if he perceived that someone was affected by illness, that person was instructed to separate themselves from the community.

And if the disease was confirmed, the Torah provided a remedy: "He shall dwell apart...outside the camp." (Leviticus 13:46)

Is that such a far reach from today's practice of diagnosis, testing and self-isolation?

Then, the standard time of isolation was seven days, but it was also usual for an additional seven-day healing period to be applied — setting the actual time for quarantine at 14 days.

There was deep communal concern that the disease not be spread person to person. In this way, both the individual and the community were protected.

When someone was declared tamei or impure, those items he or she touched - garments, vessels among other objects — were also declared tamei. No one was permitted to touch what the infected person had touched.

The affected person was also instructed to warn others by uttering the words tamei, tamei — "I'm impure, impure." (Leviticus 13:45)

Why twice?

The Talmud explains that the first tamei was to inform others to pray for that person's healing, and the other was to ensure that the spiritual or physical impurity did not spread through the community.

Is this so different from what medical experts are advising us today — to be mindful of what we touch and that which has potentially been touched by others?

The parallels are striking.

Cantor Abbe Lyons published a poem this week affirming this connection between ancient scripture and the current pandemic. She wrote:

Suddenly
Vast swaths of Leviticus come into new focus
Being checked by the priest if you're symptomatic
Getting a recheck in seven days
Being self-quarantined outside the camp
Away from the public spaces
Social distancing

So perhaps this week, as we continue to weather the anxiety, uncertainty and apprehension over the coronavirus, we are provided with an opportunity to marvel at the Torah's timeless instructions as it concerns itself with public health.

It inspires us, perhaps, to double down on hand washing and social distancing, while taking extra care to be mindful of what we touch and what has been touched by others.

The person who was quarantined in ancient times was isolated at the edge of the community. Their symptoms made them, and the items they touched, off limits.

The same applies today.

Perhaps as we reflect upon this week's Torah portion, we can imagine what it was like to feel alone, isolated and shunned.

Indeed, while most of us are remaining connected through Internet platforms such as Zoom, Facebook, Instagram and Facetime, there are many, in particular seniors, who are not.

Perhaps, as we transition this timeless Torah portion from past to present, this may be the time to call or email those who may be feeling isolated or alone.

The Torah inspires us this week, as it has for millennia, that in the words, of the Shema, we are all connected with God and each other as "one."

For the actions and precautions each of us takes affects so many others.

The Torah was mindful of this thousands of years ago, as it sought to diagnose and heal the individual while protecting the community.

Even through difficult and even messy times, the Torah has never shied away from reality.

Testing, social distancing, quarantining, treatment and ultimate healing. These are not concepts locked in antiquity.

Indeed, these are words to live by today.

Shabbat Shalom, v'kol tuv.

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

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