Torah Bites for Your Table: Parshat Tazria-Metzora

Shalom Friends

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful week. This week's double-parasha of Tazria-Metzora provides one of the well-known commandments of Jewish tradition, namely the covenant of circumcision. The Torah tells us that "On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised," establishing the biblical roots of circumcision as a Jewish obligation (Leviticus 13:2).

The challenge of finding continued relevance in this commandment is significant, yet it is important to think about the mitzvah's purpose as ideally conceived by the Torah and the rabbis. On this question, the The Sefer Ha-Hinukh (The Book of Education) writes the following:

"The Lord, blessed be He, wished that the people whom He had chosen to be called by His name have a fixed sign on their bodies, setting them apart from the other peoples by the form of their bodies, just as they are set apart by the form of their souls... and the difference was set in the reproductive organ since it is the cause of the existence of the species, aside from perfecting the form of the body... And the chosen people – the Lord, blessed be He, wished to perfect their attributes and desired that the act of perfecting be done by human beings. Therefore humans were not created perfect from birth, to hint to them that just as the perfection of the form of their bodies is dependent on them, so too the perfection of their souls is in their hands, in making their actions proper" (Sefer Ha-Hinukh, Parshat Lekh Lekha).

In this text, we are reminded that circumcision is intended to be a synthesis of holiness of body and holiness of soul. The mark that a Jewish boy receives is not simply meant to be a physical blemish, but a reminder about how we act with our bodies indicates the seriousness with which we take God's charge to be holy of body and soul. Of course, this is no easy task, but it is a task most certainly worth attempting to achieve. Shabbat Shalom!

-Josh

1. Parents: What do you think are the ways in which you can allow a holy soul to become a holy body? How does this relate to the way we eat, sleep, exercise and take care of ourselves?
   
2. Children: What is holy about your body? How should you try and treat it?
   
3. Seekers: What does it mean to be "holy of body"? What are some of the ways in which you are making this a reality?