{"id":45249,"date":"2018-12-05T12:31:28","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T10:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45249"},"modified":"2022-06-30T13:18:39","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T10:18:39","slug":"beautiful-ugliness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/beautiful-ugliness\/","title":{"rendered":"Beautiful Ugliness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Leviticus 15 ends a section about bodily impurities that began with the messiness of birth (Leviticus 12), continued with flesh-eating diseases (Leviticus 13-14) and now concludes with a discussion of regular and irregular genital discharges. These chapters seem to be anything other than attractive, yet a surprising Midrash (Leviticus Rabbah 19:14) urges readers to discover their God-given beauty. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Midrash first admits that even the rabbis of the Talmudic age dreaded having to give sermons on the Sabbaths when these \u201cugly\u201d chapters were read:<\/span><\/p>\n

Shim\u02bfon b. R. Yitz\u1e25aq explained the verse \u201cHis head is finest gold, his locks are curled and black as a raven (ke\u02bforev<\/em>)\u201d (Song of Songs 5:11) as referring to portions of the Torah. Even though they seem as if they are ugly (kheurot<\/em>), as if they are too black to speak of in public \u2013 for example the laws of discharge and skin diseases\u2026<\/p>\n

Yet by ever so slightly playing with the Hebrew word for the ugly non-kosher bird, raven \u2013 \u2018<\/em><\/span>orev<\/span><\/em> \u2013 so that reads as <\/span>\u2018arev<\/span><\/em> \u2013 pleasant, the Midrash argues that what humans perceive as ugly is actually pleasant to God:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Holy One blessed is He said: \u201cThey are pleasing (<\/span>\u02bfarevot<\/span><\/em>) to me.\u201d This is what is said: \u201cThen the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing (<\/span>\u02bfarvah<\/span><\/em>) to the Lord\u201d (Malachi 2.15).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Midrash demonstrates this from the chiastic arrangement of Leviticus 15 \u00a0– A] irregular male discharges, B] regular male discharges, B\u2019] regular female discharges, and A\u2019] irregular female discharges – which instead of condensing the rules of male and female irregular discharges into a more compact text, unhurriedly, almost lovingly, lingers over the messy details:<\/span><\/p>\n

You should know that this really is the case, since the biblical portion dealing with male and female gonorrheans were not said [by God] as one, rather this one by itself and that one by itself: \u201cWhen any man has a discharge issuing from his member\u201d (Leviticus 15:2); \u201cWhen a woman has had a [irregular] discharge of blood\u201d (Leviticus 15:25). <\/span><\/p>\n

The message of this Midrash is crucial for Torah study, and for life. Even those things which appear ugly and devoid of beauty, in fact pulsate with divine splendor. 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