This week’s Parasha

Text Box: This week’s Parashot has to do with cleanliness and preventing the spread of infection. Disease loves close proximity to healthy tissue that has access for attack. Tissue that is unprotected or has a lowered resistance. There was a lack of cleanliness and disease was spread rather easily at the time these Parashot were written. We find today that the main means of transmitting disease is through body fluid exchange. I used to work in the business department of a hospital many years ago. While in this position I got to hear the regulations for the medical staff and saw the precautions taken to prevent them from getting the illnesses of the patients who came in for care. The hospital gave seminars for all staff on the importance of hygiene for good health. To keep you hands away from your face was a way of keeping the germs that would get on your hands from getting into nasal membranes, your mouth area, or the tears of your eyes. Once the germs got to the areas that were moist, the odds of your getting the illness increased dramatically. (I suspect that those who are trained in medicine are laughing at my simplistic remembrance of all that was shared.) With this in mind it is easy to see why there is the need to keep people suspected of disease isolated. We still quarantine those with major illnesses of which we don’t have now means of control. Sometimes the means of control is the quarantine. I find it ironic that today people who have a cold will say things like, “Keep your distance, or don’t touch me unless you want what I’ve got.” and at the same time we see the rules of cleanliness in this Parasha as extreme. We still know the best way to avoid illness is to keep our distance from it. Lets take this out of the medical realm for a moment. What do we have that produces illness in our minds and spirits? What do we see as symptoms of those who live an impure lifestyle? Could those symptoms be something that triggers us to maintain a distance to prevent ourselves from being infected. I don’t condone putting bigger and bigger walls of protection around us, the people of G-d, from the sin in the world until we are so isolated that we are no longer light to those who are in darkness. This is not what the L-rd would want from us. We are called to be a light to the world and if a light is under a bushel…. So what are we to do? I think a mistake that is often made, is to cut off the person with the symptoms of a spiritual illness and immediately place them among the other “miscreants.” To do such an action and separate all ties would guarantee a life of spiritual illness to these poor people. Let’s look again at the portion to see what we might glean from it. The person who had the mark was separated but not cast off to another community. They were kept within the community while watched that they not infect others. They were inspected by the priest after the required number of days. To me this means that they were near enough to be taken care of by others. They were put in a situation whereby they would not be re-infecting themselves. They were supported. They were ministered to. After the required amount of time they were re-inspected and if the condition was the same the treatment and support continued. Only if they got worse while being cared for were they then removed from camp. Think about that. If a person is in spiritual illness they are removed from the cause, have their needs taken care of while they are kept from infecting others while those providing for the daily needs give support to them by those who have a “healthy spiritual immune system” and are practicing a proper “spiritual health regimen. Only if they get worse while being given this support are they cast off to the outside of the camp. I think it is time to re-evaluate how we, as people of the L-rd, treat those we deem spiritually unhealthy, and try to support and allow the healing touch of G-d before we cast people outside of camp. Selah

Standing Strong

A Messianic Jewish Congregation with an outreach to Believers in Israel

Apr 21—Conceives & Infected one

Lev 12:1-13:59           Lev 14:1– 15:33

2 Kgs 4:42-5:19         2 Kgs 7:3-20  

Luke 2:21-35               Luke5:12-26

Rev 12:1-6                   Jam 5:13-20