This week we read the double portion of Tazria-Metzorah. Metzorah talks about the proper purification ritual for leprosy, both for the afflicted person, and their home. It also talks about the emission of bodily fluids. Hmmmm…..this doesn’t seem like a very pleasant lesson to be learning on what is supposed to be our day of rest and relaxation, does it? But if we concede that much of the Torah is metaphor, then it becomes easier for us to look at this parsha in modern-day terms. The leprosy (which rarely exists in society today, thankfully) represents some of the ugly divisions, bigotry, and hatred which have sadly become a prevalent part of our society in the last few years. It also serves as a metaphor for the feeling of bondage many of us may feel, as civil political discord, as of late, seems challenging, to say the least.
Metzorah tells us that when God inflicts a person with leprosy, before they are allowed back into their community (which is referred to as a camp), the priest has to offer a sacrifice with 2 living birds. One has to be killed, while the other is set free. When the person is healed, they must shave every single bodily hair and scrub their clothes and body clean. Then on the eighth day, the priest must make yet another sacrifice, this time waving the blood of 2 lambs all over the place as an offering of expiation at the tent of meeting.
Later in our Parsha, God instructs Aaron and the Priests about how to make clean the home of a leper. The Torah specifically states that God says, “When I inflict leprosy on a house”. I am often asked the question as to why God allows and often seems to create so much suffering. Just last week we read about God allowed Nadav and Avihu to be killed just for making the mistake of bringing forth a “strange fire”, which bears asking the question, “why”. Why would this happen? Why would God allow for the death of two people so young, just beginning their lives? Why today, are we still facing the public health crisis of gun violence cutting short the lives of our youth? I believe that gun violence is our modern day version of “Tazria-Metzorah”. According to a recent archive, mass shootings have escalated to an unprecedented number of 162, and we have had less than 110 days of 2023! With such frequency, more and more people are affected. A recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that gun violence more broadly has affected most families in the US in one way or another. Nearly 1 in 5 adults has had a family member killed by a gun, including in homicide and suicide, and about 1 in 6 has witnessed an injury from a gun.
It is up to us to turn it around, and to make some “modern day sacrifices” to make it better, and to beautify the sores. I for one am sick and tired of worrying for my children’s lives each time I send them to school. Sadly, this is the reality, with so many mass shootings in schools. According to a recent study by Harvard, the vast majority of Americans support universal background checks. In fact, according to a Public Policy Polling survey, 83 percent of gun owners support expanded background checks on sales of all firearms, including 72 percent of all NRA members. This is life and death, my friends. People have to go through training in order to drive a car, an airplane, and a train. Yet in the U.S., anyone is allowed to purchase a gun as if they were purchasing something as unimportant as chewing gum. Yet with 1 pull of the trigger, a gun can shatter the lives of so many. It is time for us to stop bickering about our president, or who might be running for president, and instead, hold the feet of the leaders we currently have to the fire, and work across the aisles together to alleviate this public health crisis once and for all. If everyone on both sides of the political aisle made just a few “modern day sacrifices”, we would stop this once and for all. It is time to work diligently together to heal the leprosy of gun violence in our society and eliminate any more “strange fires” from taking the lives of the innocent. We can do it. We just have to work to find the common ground with those we disagree with. I believe in us.