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Orchard of Delights
the essence of Yom Kippur. The Zohar notes that the Hebrew name
for Yom Kippur (Yom Hakippurim) – quite literally the Day of
Atonement – can also be read as “the day like Purim.” This suggests
that not only are Yom Kippur and Purim alike, but that Purim is
on an even higher spiritual level than Yom Kippur (Tikkunei Zohar
57b). This initially seems strange. How can the holiest day of the
year – the “Shabbat of Shabbats” (Leviticus 16:31) – be compared
to a seemingly frivolous holiday like Purim?
The answer to this question reveals one of Judaism’s fundamental
principles. Yom Kippur would seem to be the zenith of spirituality
as we refrain from eating, drinking, bathing, sexual relations, the
comfort of leather shoes, and anointing with oils, and in so doing
set the stage for an experience that transcends the mere physical.
Indeed, Yom Kippur lifts some people to heights of consciousness
unattainable the rest of the year. However, surprisingly, this is not
the state the Torah wishes us to be in all the time. While on Yom
Kippur, we dress in white like angels and pray nearly the entire day,
this is not what the Torah envisions for us: the Torah wants us to live
as human beings in the physical world.
While the Yom Kippur experience is crucial to our religious lives,
the Torah and the Sages, as a rule, spurned all forms of asceticism
and encouraged a well-rounded life incorporating all humanity’s
drives and desires. This is Purim’s message: introduce holiness into
the mundane world and holistically unite the physical and the
spiritual. In light of this understanding, the Sages taught that even
after Mashiach comes and all the holidays are nullified, we will still
celebrate Purim (Midrash Shemuel 9:2), for Purim represents the
ideal state of unifying the holy and the profane.
On the one hand, Nadav and Avihu’s passion and pure love for
God are priceless. Their intuitive performance of a climactic part of
the Yom Kippur service bordered on self-sacrifice and their intent
transcends our comprehension. Where would we be without their
example of enthusiasm and fervor to unite with God? On the other
hand, their actions remain the exception rather than the rule. Nadav
and Avihu’ spiritual energy is essential for serving God, but by
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Tazria
psychological, and spiritual causes, but also from the dramatic and
transformative healing process the afflicted individual underwent.
The healing process leading to this genuine paradigm shift in relating
to the world occupies much of these two portions.
Despite all the tremendous advances in medicine over the last
century, until very recently Western medicine was extremely
reluctant to attribute illness or disease to non-physiological factors.
The patient’s mental state was presumed irrelevant to the occurrence
and prevalence of disease. But this attitude has begun to change as
more and more evidence attests to emotional, psychological, and
spiritual factors that lead to stress and unhealthy lifestyles, which
subsequently cause disease.
Western medicine now recognizes that these non-physiological
factors are major risk factors for the onset of a whole host of medical
conditions, including obesity, ulcers, migraine headaches, insomnia,
back pain, constipation and other digestive problems, as well as high
blood pressure and certain heart conditions. Many other serious
medical conditions and diseases are now thought to stem, to some
degree, from non-physiological factors as well. Cigarette smoking,
poor eating habits, alcohol consumption, and lack of exercise, now
recognized as major causes of ill health and disease, are, in turn,
largely caused by stressful, pressure-driven lifestyles.
The mind/body connection is receiving more and more attention
and credence while alternative healing methods, which treat the
entire person (and not just the disease), are not only gaining in
popularity but are also making major inroads into the practice and
discourse of conventional medicine. Not only are the causes of certain
medical conditions being attributed to the human psyche, but the
treatment and alleviation of these conditions are also often believed
to depend on the patient’s attitude and his or her willingness to
change ingrained behavioral patterns.
These contemporary discoveries regarding the intrinsic connection
between the spiritual and physical were already alluded to thousands
of years ago in the Torah’s depiction of tzara’at. One beautiful
allusion to this connection is found in the following verse: “If the
hair in the affliction has changed to white, and the affliction’s
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