by  Ariel Ben Avraham – Safed, Northern Galilee, Israel Art by Phillip Ratner “This shall be the law of the metzora on the day of his purification: He shall be brought to the Priest.” (Leviticus 14:2). Our Sages explain that the metzora is a person afflicted by tzaraat, usually translated as leprosy but they describe it a skin condition that appeared as a result of gossip and slander.

They conclude that tzaraat was a Divine signal to make the slanderer aware of the gravity of negative talk as a result of haughtiness or arrogance that separates us from the unity that Israel must maintain. Although in present times we are not afflicted by skin problems due to evil speech, we must be aware of our separation from others when ego’s agenda is prevalent in the way we relate to them. The (High) Priest, as the highest awareness of our connection to G-d’s Love, is who brings back the gossiper from is ego trip to the unifying power of Love’s ways and attributes. Love is our common Essence that keeps us united as we care for each other, protect each other, and lead each other toward our mission to reveal the Divine Presence in the material world as well as in the entire Creation.

We must go beyond the shallowness of the lower aspects of consciousness and make them subservient of the higher purpose that Love, as our true Essence and identity, requires from us amid the limitations, obstacles and challenges we face in the material reality. We are limited to exist within the boundaries imposed by the laws of nature, the challenges posed by natural disasters, and the obstacles that they may become when our survival and well being are in peril. In this predicament things get worse when we don’t act as the care takers of each other. Selfishness destroys the ultimate individual and collective well being that Love compels us to achieve.

We face natural disasters not as individuals but as the collective unity that we must be. We also must be united to overcome the social and economical turmoil caused by tyranny and despotism as two among other destructive expressions of the lower aspects of human consciousness. Repression, discrimination, bigotry, corruption, oppression, and their synonyms derive from arrogance and haughtiness as ego’s illusions to feel superior and become a petty god who wants to control not just other people’s lives and destiny but also the laws of nature. The parshah continues with the cleansing and atonement of the slanderer, and later juxtaposes the male seminal discharge with the menstrual period of women as both impure states that need to be ritually cleansed. 

The common denominator of both seminal discharge and feminine blood discharge is the death of the seeds of potential life. In this sense human life is exalted as the highest expression of Creation, hence it must be valued and respected to the point that losing our potential to generate life (seminal discharge and menstrual discharge) makes us unclean. There is an implicit lesson to learn from the laws regarding these situations and it is not only about being life but also being bearers of life. We learn from this that we can remain clean and pure before our Creator when we choose the blessings of life over the curses of death, as He commands us. Life is the encompassing principle and vessel of Love’s ways and attributes to be manifested in the world, while death is the expression of negative traits derived from ego’s materialistic fantasies and illusions.

We become impure and unclean when we deal with any kind of thoughts, ideologies or beliefs that engender negative results that ultimately lead to death as the negation of Love’s ways and attributes. Israel is chosen to champion Love as the revealed Divine Presence in the world, and the portion ends with a reminder of this as part of our Covenant with the Creator: “You shall separate the children of Israel from their contamination, and they shall not die as a result of their contamination if they contaminate My Tabernacle that is among them.” (15:31).

The Tabernacle represents the permanent awareness of the Divine Presence in our lives as long as we keep ourselves separated from the unclean and impure expressions derived from the death represented by all that can’t coexist with Love’s ways and attributes. In this portion the Torah reminds us again that arrogance is the root of the negative illusions that ego makes us believe and revere as the idols that pretend to deny the Love of the Creator as the One and only Essence and sustenance of all Creation including us.

Ariel Ben Avraham

Safed, Northern Galilee, Israel

Born in Cartagena, Colombia in 1958. After studying Cultural Anthropology in Bogota, moved to Chicago in 1984, where I worked as a writer, reporter and producer for WSNS/Telemundo for 18 years. Produced video documentaries related to art, music, history and culture, such as “Latin American Trails: Guatemala”, distributed by Facets.org. For more than thirty years studied spiritual traditions from all over the world, and the mysticism of major religions, understanding the mystic experience as the personal means to connect with Divinity. Since 2004 study and write about Jewish mysticism and spirituality, mainly derived from the Chassidic tradition, and the practical philosophy of the teachings of Jewish mystic Sages from the last 2000 years. The book “God as Love” is the compilation of my last three years studying and learning Jewish mysticism, and the messages of the book are part of the content, exercises and processes of a series of seminars, lectures and retreats that I facilitate in several locations in Israel.