If we look at the ritual for the purification of the leper, we can notice an interesting parallel. This ritual requires the taking of two birds, one of which is killed and the blood used to sprinkle on the leper. The other bird is then dipped in the blood and freed in the open field. This sounds similar to another famous ritual, that of Yom Kippur. There we have two goats, one of which is killed and the blood sprinkled in the Holy of Holies. The other, is set free in the wilderness, or in Temple times thrown from a cliff in the wilderness. The parallel is made more exact by the comment of the Hizkuni that the freed bird, which was stained red from the blood, was killed by its fellow birds because of its weird appearance. Indeed Nachmanidies specifically connects the ritual of the birds with that of the goats on Yom Kippur. What, then, is the common theme behind these two rituals? The two identical goats on Yom Kippur can be said to symbolise essential unity of people. Yet one goes into the Holy of Holies, why the other is cast into the wilderness. This teaches us that all of us are capable of both good and evil and it is often circumstance rather than total free choice that determines our fate. Thus we should neither regard ourselves as particularly righteous or wicked, but all with human frailties that need to be both worked on and forgiven. The leper, by engaging in slander, has drawn attention to his neighbour’s failings. He has set himself above his fellow, regarding himself as better. The ritual of the two birds teaches him the same lesson we are taught on Yom Kippur. His good fortune or supposed moral superiority may be more due to circumstances than choice. He, indeed, may have exactly the same shortcomings as the person he criticised. The fact that we take the live bird and dip it in the blood of the other bird, may symbolise precisely this point. Both rituals teach us not to regard ourselves as better than others and to realises that, given the right circumstances, we could be in the other’s predicament. The process of getting rid of hametz we are currently engaged in, gives us an opportunity to apply this in our own lives. The puffed up leaven of hametz is a symbol of pride. In the weeks before Pesach we work to rid ourselves not only of physical hametz, but of spiritual arrogance. In order to properly celebrate Pesach we must humble ourselves before the One who humbled the pride of the Egyptians, and thus taught us that all men are equal. 

ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS

 

Sidra Statistics

Parshat Metzorah

·               has 90 verses;

·               is the  5th  in Leviticus,  28th  in the Torah

·               5th  longest in Leviticus,  41st  longest  in the Torah  

·                has 11 pos mitzvot.

 

PAST PARSHAH PUZZLE

Receding hairline not a problem.

 

Baldness does not signify leprosy.

PARSHAH PUZZLE

Know no evil; see no evil.

 

WEEKLY HALAKHA

 

This year one should search for Hametz at the beginning of the 13th of Nisan (Thursday night).