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from infection to reintegration into the community, as corresponding
to Jewish history. The Jews’ submissive and humbling exile among metzOra ע ָרֹצ ְמ
the nations corresponds to their being afflicted with the disease on
account of their actions. Banishment from the camp corresponds to
the draconian laws ensuring the Jews’ physical, social, and economic
separation from their non-Jewish neighbors in the Diaspora.
Just as the woman who gives birth to a male child in the portion £The Flight to Freedom The Flight to Freedom The Flight to Freedom
££
of Tazria symbolizes a subtle “awakening from above” that induces
an “awakening from below,” which brings the redemption, the verse
about tzara’at – “The cohen shall go to the outside of the camp and the After Tazria introduces tzara’at and establishes how to identify
cohen shall look and behold, the tzara’at affliction has been healed and treat it, the portion of Metzora begins by explaining the final
from the metzora” – refers symbolically to God going forth to see the procedure for healing the ailment once it is in remission. The ritual
Jews scattered around the world when the time for redemption has described in the Torah is an extremely powerful ceremony replete
come; He will behold that the time for healing and redemption has with symbolism and emotional and psychological meaning and
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arrived and He will subtly awaken the Jews. impact:
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Continuing in this vein, the Ohr HaChaim explains that the two And God spoke to Moses, saying: “This shall be the law of
birds (one who lives and ones who dies) represent the two Mashiach’s the metzora [the one afflicted with tzara’at] on the day of his
spoken about in the Jewish tradition: Mashiach ben David (Mashiach purification: he shall be brought to the cohen. The cohen shall go to
descended from David) and Mashiach ben Yosef (Mashiach descended the outside of the camp and the cohen shall look and behold – the
from Joseph). According to tradition, Mashiach ben Yosef will tzara’at affliction has been healed from the metzora. The cohen shall
pave the way for Mashiach ben David by fighting the final battles command; and for the person being purified there shall be taken two
and, according to many, he will die in the process. Mashiach ben live, clean birds, cedar wood, crimson thread, and hyssop. And the
David will finally redeem the nation of Israel and the entire world, cohen shall command and the one bird will be slaughtered into an
releasing humanity (like a bird going free) from the bonds of war, earthenware vessel over springwater. As for the live bird – he shall
hatred, jealousy, and greed. The final redemption thus represents the take it with the cedar wood and the crimson thread and the hyssop,
ultimate state of “sweetening.” and he shall dip them and the live bird into the blood of the bird that
was slaughtered over the springwater. Then he shall sprinkle seven
The Ohr HaChaim’s approach, along with the other symbolic
and allegorical interpretations of tzara’at we have presented, places times upon the person being purified from the tzara’at and he shall
the Torah’s seemingly mundane, ritualistic laws in a much broader purify him, and he shall set the live bird free upon the open field.
and deeper universal perspective. As we have witnessed throughout The person being purified shall immerse his clothing, shave off all his
this book, the Torah – especially when viewed through the lenses hair, and immerse himself in the water and become pure and then he
of PaRDeS – contains many different levels of interpretation: may enter the camp; but he shall dwell outside of his tent for seven
from the practical to the mystical, from the ancient to the modern, days. On the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair – his head,
and spreading out in concentric circles, from the individual to the his beard, his eyebrows, and all his hair shall he shave off; he shall
communal, to the national, to the global, and even to the higher immerse his clothing and immerse his flesh in water, and become
supernal worlds. pure.” (Leviticus 14:1-9)

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