PARASHAT TAZRIA-METZORAH
A WONDERFUL D'VAR TORAH
A WONDERFUL D'VAR TORAH
(excerpts)
Health — and connection with God
I learned that weekend, in an unmistakeable and embodied way, that being sick can keep me at a distance from my community and from God. I couldn’t imagine my own prayers reaching God that week, much less carrying the prayers of the kahal (community) aloft. I felt so mired in the discomforts of my body that I couldn’t reach out with any kind of kavvanah. All I could do was shape the words, and hope that — as in the Hasidic folktale about the shepherd boy playing his flute — the sounds would be enough. In terms of avodah she-ba-lev, the service of the heart, my offering of self felt blemished. Because feeling unwell had diminished me, I didn’t feel fully present. I was distracted. I couldn’t find God.
What do we ask those who are ill to pay in order to receive the services which will purify and heal them today? Do we sufficiently support programs which enable low-income people and families to get the care they need — or do we prefer to keep those who remind us of fear and impurity on the margins where we won’t be discomfited?
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