Tazria

This is a d'var Torah I gave at Rabbis for Human Rights annual meeting yesterday. At the beginning of this week’s Torah portion we have a simple commandment: וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁמִינִי יִמּוֹל בְּשַֹר עָרְלָתו "On the eighth day you shall circumcise his flesh." The commandment to circumcise our sons is more than an aesthetic preference....
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"Cherem," excommunication, is apparently still alive and well in the Jewish world.In last week's Torah reading, Tazria-Metzora, a selection from Leviticus dealing with skin diseases and bodily fluids, we were told that certain people, innocent of any crime other than having a skin condition, were forced to live in isolation, "outside the camp."A report...
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Why? Why should 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech have had their lives cut so tragically short? Austin Cloyd was one of Cho Seung-Hui's youngest victims. The 18-year-old freshman loved to act, to sing, play volleyball, read, go shopping. She was always dressed just so. A friend remembers a trip to Old Navy...
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In the midst of a whole bunch of stuff about different kinds of ritual impurity, this week’s Torah reading has a commandment which stands out like a beacon from amongst all the descriptions of emissions and skin disease: “And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.” That’s all it...
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 This week’s Torah portion, Tazria, is largely concerned with the condition of “tza’ra’at,” a skin condition similar in appearance to leprosy. When someone contracted this condition, he went to the Kohen, the priest, for an inspection, and if the Kohen confirmed that the person was in fact afflicted with tza’ra’at, the person was forced...
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