Parashat Metzora

Parashat Metzora
By Rabbi Dr. Douglas Goldhamer, z’l

The Zohar teaches that there was a special light called the Or Ganuz that God created to be hidden away for the righteous. This light teaches awareness of wholeness, that we are all one with God. With awareness of this light, we also recognize that we should seek to maintain God’s Masculine and Feminine form within us. When we do, there is wholeness, unity and there is health. This light was present even before the physical world came into being, before the light of the first day became visible. This light makes all else possible, including not only our potential to become healthy, but also our potential to become truly righteous and good people.

Initially, Adam and Eve and Hashem and all the animals were one. And when they were one, physical and spiritual health prevailed. They manifested the Feminine and Masculine Nature of God within them, balanced in such a way that their focus was not of separate ego, but it was a focus of being part of the whole.

In this week’s Torah portion Metzora, it states, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “This shall be the law of the person afflicted with tzara’ath, on the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the kohen. The kohen shall go outside the camp, and the kohen shall look, and behold, the lesion of tzara’ath has healed in the afflicted person.” (Leviticus 14:1-3)

The lesson in this week’s Torah portion is not how to clear oneself of the ever annoying acne, nor is it about any other skin disease. I believe it is about the ways in which our attachment to ego obscures the divine light within us that God created on the first day. The more we realize our connection to God, the more the light will radiate and we will sense our skin to be a garment of light.

We must walk the earth shining with the light of God within us. This brings us closer to the original Adam as God had intended all of us to be. When the light of God shines within us, balanced equally between Feminine and Masculine, we, like the original Adam and Eve, not only commit our love for God, but we also abandon our commitment to separate Self.

When I make an effort to live with the complete Presence of God within me, by doing meditations on joining the Shechina with her Male Consort, I recognize I do not exist separately from anything or anyone else. And the more I do these meditations, the more I bring back the original Or Ganuz, hidden light of God. And, with joy, I allow this light to permeate me as it did the original Adam. Parsha Metzora is about becoming one with God again and not holding on to a sense of separate self. This text asks us to let go of our separateness and ego concerns that drive so much of our lives. Acne and skin disease is a metaphor for being separate from God. Our text teaches that we need to replac