Torah: Vayikra (Leviticus) 12:1 – 13:59; Haftarah: 2 Kings 4:42 — 5:19
YOU SHALL BE HOLY FOR I AM HOLY
This Parashah reveals that Torah encompasses teachings for all aspects of human life. These teachings aim to regulate even the most intimate relations of human existence. In the eyes of God nothing is secular and every one of our actions should have a purpose for holiness. Just as none of our actions can be withdrawn from the unity of our life, so, too, God’s ethics revealed in His Torah, cannot be excluded from any of our actions.
Among the teachings about purity, first place is given to the subject of food, as we have seen in the previous Parashah, because the daily diet intimately affects man's whole being. The outward consecration symbolically expresses an inner sanctity. There are those who see a hygienic purpose in these prohibitions, and hold the view that the forbidden foods are not prohibited arbitrarily, but are unwholesome and repulsive in themselves. Science recognizes that certain animals harbor parasites that are both disease-creating and disease-spreading, thus their flesh could be harmful to man.
The supreme motive, however, of the Dietary Laws remains Holiness, not as an abstract idea, but as a regulating principle in the everyday lives of men, women, and children. “For I am the LORD your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am Holy; and you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the teeming things that creep on the earth. For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am Holy" – Vayikra 11:44-45. The Dietary Laws accustom us to restrain both the growth of desire and the disposition to consider pleasure of eating and drinking as the end of man's existence. The great majority of Jews continue to abstain from these foods, not only from personal aversion, but because our Father in Heaven has desired that we should abstain from them. Respect for these laws teaches and helps us subordinate our desire before the will of our Father in Heaven.
After the dietary laws, Torah turns to the spiritual impurity of a new life. But why is one impure by giving birth? It is to show that the mere fact of life is not enough. Life must be a tool used in the service of God, otherwise it has no meaning. The new mother begins the cleansing process from a period of complete contamination culminating by the bringing of two offerings, an elevation and a sin offering, symbolizing the desire to achieve closeness to God and to become dedicated to Him.
Vayikra 12:1-8: “And the LORD spoke to Moshe, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, “If a woman conceives, and bears a male child; then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her menstruation, shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying for thirty three days; she shall touch no consecrated thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying sixty six days. And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest. Who shall offer it before the Lord, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”’”
According to this Torah, a woman after giving birth to a male child is contaminated for one week and for a period of thirty-three days afterwards she is in a state of purification. For a female child, the mother is contaminated for two weeks and her state of purification afterwards is for sixty-six days. Thus today it is customary for a woman not to attend the synagogue until the days of her purifications are over. Some rabbis see the law of circumcision as the reason for just seven days of contamination for a male child, which needs to be performed on the eighth day.
The issue of circumcision is a divisive subject among the Jewish and Gentile believers. Some advocate that the Jewish believer is no longer bound by the Mosaic system of worshiping God, thus there is no longer a requirement to circumcise a believer’s son. But the circumcision – Brit Milah - is not a commandment but a covenant between God and Israel. This covenant was first made with Avraham, before the official Torah was given through Moshe (Bereishit 17:10,11). This expression of the Avrahamic covenant is unique to the Jewish people. It was performed to the infant Yeshua not for Yeshua, in His humanity, to become Jewish but because He was Jewish - He came to His own. “And when eight days were completed for His brit milah, Yeshua was given as His name, which He was called by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification according to the Torah given to Moshe were completed, they brought Him up to Yerushalayim to present Him to the LORD (just as it has been written in the Torah, “Every first-born male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the LORD”) and to offer a korban according to the thing having been said in the Torah, “A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons” (Luke 2:21-24).
So if a believer is Jewish - and God blesses him with a son - circumcision is an act of expressing his Jewishness and not to become Jewish. Circumcision “doesn’t save the child, since circumcision doesn’t save anyone any more than infant baptism can save an infant. Salvation is always by personal faith in Yeshua. Rather, circumcision is an outward reminder to your child that God is faithful to His people and his need to give his heart to Messiah for ‘the circumcision that is not made with hands’” writes Sam Nadler in his book “Messianic Wisdom.” When a Jewish person becomes a believer in Messiah Yeshua, he cannot become un-Jewish. The Avrahamic covenant cannot be undone because it is unconditional. Thus circumcision is part of the believer’s desire to worship God in a Jewish way and respect the covenant that God made with him through Avraham.
But we have seen that circumcision was a point of discontent among the first century believers as well (Acts 15), some advocating the circumcision of the Gentiles coming to faith. But after a further analysis the apostles agreed that the Gentiles do not have to go through this ritual because the Gentiles are grafted into the kehilat Yisrael – the community of Israel - by faith and not by circumcision. This part of the Avrahamic covenant does not apply to them because it is only between God and the physical Yisrael. In the case of Timothy, rav Shaul circumcised him because his mother was Jewish - he was halakhicly (rabbinically recognized) Jewish. Shaul felt that in Timothy’s case not being circumcised was an impediment for his ministry — for one, he could not have entered the Temple in Yerushalayim.
But the apostle Shaul also said that circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. It is not a requirement for salvation. In fact today in America many boys are circumcised as a matter of hygiene. Circumcision is also performed in the Muslim faith, thus not a sign of faith in Yeshua.
In the Jewish tradition circumcision should be done on the eighth day as prescribed in Genesis 17:9-12, even if the eighth day falls on Shabbat or on a Holy Day such as Yom Kippur. The professional circumciser is called a Mohel but it could also be the father, the mother, or even a gentile if he is qualified and if there is no other Mohel available. On the morning of the eighth day the father brings the son to the Mohel. Then the baby is given to a person called Sandek, or Godfather. A minian must be present and a rabbi. The Sandek sits in a special chair called Kissay shel Eliyahu - The Chair of Elijah. That is because Elijah is called Malach HaBrit, the Angel of the Covenant (Malachi 3:1) - he was the one complaining about the Jews forsaking the circumcision, the Covenant of God. The Mohel recites a blessing and moisten the child’s lips with wine, and then performs the operation which takes less than a minute. It is also customary to name the child at this time as we have seen in the case of Yeshua. After he dresses the cut, the Mohel gives the child to the mother and the celebration begins – Mazal Tov.
In case the child dies before the eighth day, a rabbinic law states that the child must be circumcised and named before burial. This is because the circumcision is a covenant between God and Israel and it must be shown that the child was Jewish. Another unusual rabbinic ruling is that if the mother does not want the circumcision to be done, it must not be done.
The Parashah continues the theme of un-cleanliness with an unusual body affliction, “tzaraat” in Hebrew. The popular translation of tzaraat has been leprosy, and it was commonly accepted that prevention from the disease's spread was to quarantine the afflicted. But there are different symptoms of tzaraat outlined in this Parashah, which may be different from those of leprosy as we know it today. The reason for the confinement is to prevent contagion, but interestingly enough when the malady covers the victim's entire body he is declared clean, but if his skin displays raw flesh, he becomes contaminated, it is unclean and it is declared to be leprosy.
Vayikra 13:12,13: “And if the tzaraat breaks out in the skin, and the tzaraat covers all the skin of him who has the affliction from his head to his foot, wherever the priest looks. Then the priest shall consider; and, behold, if the tzaraat has covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce clean him who has the affliction; it is all turned white; he is clean. But if raw flesh appears in him, he shall be unclean.”
For this reason some of the Sages teach that tzaraat could also be the physical manifestation of a spiritual disease, a punishment designed to show the sinner that he must mend his ways. They teach that the word “metzora” (the one afflicted by the tzaraat, i.e. the leper) is a contraction of “motzyira” meaning "one who spreads slander." Therefore tzaraat is a punishment for the sin of slander, false oaths, pride and selfishness; it is a Divine retribution for the offender's failure to feel the needs and share the hurt of others. God rebukes this antisocial behavior by isolating him from society, so that he can experience the pain he has imposed on others and heal himself through repentance.
Vayikra 13:44-46: “He is a person with tzaraat, he is unclean; the kohen shall declare him contaminated; his affliction is upon his head. And the person with tzaraat in whom the affliction is, his clothes shall be torn, and his head bare, and he shall put a cover up to his upper lip, and he shall cry, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ All the days when the affliction shall be upon him he shall be unclean; he is unclean; he shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his habitation be.”
Whatever the cause of the affliction must have been there was no treatment but rejection and isolation; it was not a pleasant site to behold, but more on this in the next Parashah.
Shabbat joy, peace, and blessings! Shabbat Shalom!
