{"id":45147,"date":"2018-12-04T09:42:36","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T07:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45147"},"modified":"2022-06-28T17:56:42","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T14:56:42","slug":"the-bedside-manner-of-the-priest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-bedside-manner-of-the-priest\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bedside Manner Of The Priest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our lengthy chapter is a delight for a dermatologist, and doldrums for the rest of us: detailing the skin lesions with their different colors, hair growth, and depth of scaling. The hero of the chapter is the priest. He must leave the Temple, the place of beauty with its fine d\u00e9cor, foods, and God\u2019s presence, to inspect the skin of the metzora<\/em>. His challenging quest is to inspect the wound, and not the individual. Upon seeing the discolored skin, we are told \u201che shall pronounce it unclean. <\/span>The flesh<\/b> is unclean, it is tzara\u2019at<\/em>.\u201d(v. 15) Conversely when the skin is cleared the verse tells us \u201cthe priest shall pronounce the <\/span>discoloration pure, it is pure<\/b>. (verse 17)<\/span><\/p>\n

The priest must have the bedside manner of the greatest physician. He is not there to judge the person for any wrongdoing, whether speaking ill of another (like Miriam who is punished with tzara\u2019at<\/em>, when she criticized Moses) or many of the other sins that the Talmud mentions as resulting in tzara\u2019at<\/em>. A great physician is not just one who can cure the disease, but also a person who can provide healing to a person\u2019s soul, by not judging them for the decisions that resulted in the sickness. This idea is encapsulated in the Misheberach<\/em> prayer for the <\/span>sick<\/span>, when we ask for both<\/span> Refuat hanefesh urefuat haguf<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(healing of the soul and healing of the body).<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, even though the priest is not to act as judge and jury to the metzora<\/em>, it is a solitary experience. We are told later in the chapter that as long as a person is afflicted \u201calone he shall dwell, outside of the camp.\u201d Anyone who has faced illness is ultimately alone in his\/her illness – existentially outside the camp. A wise Russian taxi driver once said to me \u201cWhen you are healthy you have many problems, when you are sick, you only have one problem.\u201d The afflicted would be happy to face the usual daily problems that he knew prior to his illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

The job of all those \u201cstill in the camp\u201d is to try to follow the Torah\u2019s challenge to the priest, and help the sick realize that she is not defined by her illness. Whether it be a visit, a call, a get-well card, or even a short text message, like the priests of old we can venture into the void and help those facing illness to feel like a regular person, with a future that will bring them back home. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":106030,"id":106030,"title":"-62bb169836a9c--62bb169836a9dlev13-angel doctor.jpg","filename":"62bb169836a9c-62bb169836a9dlev13-angel-doctor.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62bb169836a9c-62bb169836a9dlev13-angel-doctor.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-bedside-manner-of-the-priest\/62bb169836a9c-62bb169836a9dlev13-angel-doctor-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"62bb169836a9c-62bb169836a9dlev13-angel-doctor-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":45147,"date":"2022-06-28 14:56:24","modified":"2022-07-10 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