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the hearts of the individual singer or of the entire nation of Israel at and internal, body and soul, physical and spiritual, vessel and light,
various redemptions and salvations. However, in referring to these brings a person to a deep understanding of life and to the ultimate
events, the word “song” adopts the feminine form as ultimately the encounter of human beings and God.
temporary state of redemption led to the birth of other exiles. In the
future when a “new song” will be sung, it will not be followed by any
further exiles or collective suffering (Shemot Rabbah 23:11). (See The
Mystical Power of Music, pp. 32-37, and “A Song for the Shabbat
Day,” in this volume, for more on the ten archetypal songs.) £Tzara’at on the House: £Tzara’at on the House: Tzara’at on the House:
£
A Hidden BlessingA Hidden Blessing
The prophet Hosea (2:18), in describing the state of consciousness A Hidden Blessing
that will be attained during the Messianic era, exclaims that Israel will
no longer relate to God as “Master” or “Lord” but as “Husband.” This
change in how the nation of Israel relates to God is hinted to by the “God spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘When you arrive in the Land
verse we are discussing. In this verse, the very relationship between of Canaan that I give you as a possession, and I will place a tzara’at
God and Israel is allegorically expressed as that of a husband and affliction upon a house in the land of your possession.’” (Leviticus
a wife. The wife, who is aroused to first give seed and subsequently 14:33-34) Read literally, this verse gives no indication that God was
gives birth to a male child, has in truth been aroused by her husband. bringing the plague of tzara’at to warn the house owner that he was
In other words God has awakened Israel so that Israel will bring the erring spiritually. Indeed, Rashi quotes the Midrash which explains
redemption. While one might miss this subtle point and assume that that having one’s house struck with tzara’at could be beneficial.
the wife’s arousal is only a case of “arousal from below,” here, as in
The Midrash explains that when the Canaanite nations learned of
many other cases, a hidden “arousal from above” actually precedes Israel’s plan to conquer their lands, they took advantage of the forty-
an “arousal from below.”
year interlude between the exodus and the Jews’ arrival to hide their
The performance of the covenant of circumcision on the eighth gold in the walls of their houses. Under ordinary circumstances the
day alludes to the fact that this covenant is eternal and beyond the Jews would never have found the gold. Only the plague of tzara’at
normal boundaries of nature. Just as the number eight symbolizes and the subsequent ritually required removal of the infected stones
transcendence of the natural order, whose cycles are symbolized by led to the gold’s discovery.
seven, the Messianic era also transcends contemporary reality. The This Midrash reflects how so much of life unfolds. Those very
“new song” that will be sung will be truly transcendent, manifesting
a level of reality beyond any we know of today. events or occurrences that we first interpret as being “bad” for us
often turn out to be the best thing that could have happened to us.
There is much gold hidden in the walls of challenge and adversity.
Disease itself, as we learned above, when related to properly can
be transformed into an opportunity for healing, atonement, and
teshuvah.

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