The one about purity

THE BIG IDEA

According to the Torah Omens this is the time in the cycle to think about our individual and communal body.

What does a healthy, spiritually productive approach to a gendered body look like? 

How does a healthy spiritually awakened collective act?

Take time to examine your personal and socialized attitudes to the body’s reproductive secretions like female menstruation and male emissions. How does it feel to view your human body as a metaphysical vessel that must be managed in a certain way to fulfill a predestined sacred purpose? 

—- or is that question a little too much for the modern mind to hold?

For an extra bonus, consider the approach to the body’s mysterious physical afflictions and diseases as having a spiritual root like the way gossiping was thought to cause the physical affliction of Tzarat (often translated as Leprosy) Does the spiritual connection to all aspects of a physical life bring with it an element of comfort or burden?

Use the power of the new moon of Iyar, to go deeply into your thoughts. A moon cycle that encourages daily inner growth work and healing, and provides energetic support to examine our ruminations. Take time to notice your less conscious perspective on the body that holds your light, and consider deeply your personal body’s responsibility as part of a sacred human collective.

DEEPER DIVE

This week’s narrative focus consists of two successive readings Tazria and Metzora, both of which deal with the purification process required of individuals that have in some way become ‘impure’. While the central focus is on the treatment of the spiritual disease called ‘Tzarat’ an affliction that can appear on the body, clothing or walls of a home, the essence of the meditation focuses on the purification of the physical body in order to maintain a spiritual collective state.

For those interested in a great overview of Tzarat (often translated as Leprosy) - I suggest these two videos. One for Tazria and the other for Metzora.

In addition to Tzarat, the narrative of the week spends time dealing with the state of impurity caused by menstrual blood and male emissions. On a personal note, I forever thought the purity laws for women were archaic, outdated, and entirely oppressive - and while I am still mystified by the extreme approach to a natural life cycle, I have come to appreciate, at the very least, that the treatment of men is no less extreme, although perhaps less publicized. For example, men’s (nocturnal) emissions puts them in a state of impurity until they cleanse themselves (and their sheets) ritualistically. And while the women’s cycle enters them into states of purity and impurity with the regularity of the moon, men (who actually follow the practice) might be needing to purify themselves far more often — if they were to actually take the path seriously.

A second layer of reassurance came with my understanding that while a woman who gives birth is in a state of impurity for double the amount of time for a girl child - (happy to discuss this at length via email) I was pleased to notice that — the actual value of the child in terms of offering required is exactly the same for a male or female child.

And so, when I approach these laws from a less resentful place within myself, I can see that however I feel about these laws personally, they are not more oppressive or shameful for one gender over another, simply different. I also can begin to appreciate how historical patriarchy has negatively effected my thinking, and kept me from seeing that Torah demands are simply demanding for all.

INNER WORK GUIDE:

Dear women: How do you view the bloods of menstruation? Does it ever awaken a spiritual dimension? How do you honor that awareness? 

Dear men: How do you view your body’s emissions? Does your body’s involuntary desires and function humble you? How do you cultivate conscious awareness?

Dear all --  How do you speak or think about the body’s function of the opposite gender?  Is one gross and an other natural? Is menstruation an affliction? How about nocturnal emissions? 

Try to approach these natural body functions trusting each of them to have a divine reproductive purpose.  

Happy Contemplations! and Shabat Shalom.

xx Hava