{"id":53050,"date":"2019-04-04T10:15:35","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T07:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=53050"},"modified":"2022-06-28T17:17:45","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T14:17:45","slug":"tazria-therapeutic-seeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/tazria-therapeutic-seeing\/","title":{"rendered":"Tazria: Therapeutic Seeing"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[582,455,368,377],"acf":{"old_id":"53050","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36663,"related_cahpter":"1038","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Taking note of the afflicted, warts and all...","content":"

\u201cIt is only with the heart that one can see rightly,\u00a0what is essential is invisible to the eye.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2013 Antoine de Saint-Exupery in The Little Prince<\/em><\/p>\n

Lepers need to be seen and examined by the cohen<\/em>, the priest?\u00a0 Why?\u00a0The root \u201cresh-aleph-heh<\/em>\u201d to see, appears 35 times between Leviticus 13:3-57 and is signaling something of importance in its persistent repetition.<\/p>\n

But who is this leper, and what led that individual to have this condition? \u201cTzara\u2019at\u201d in the Bible is thought to be Hansen\u2019s disease (leprosy), though not all the symptoms of \u201ctzara\u2019at\u201d conform to that diagnosis. So perhaps the bodily symptoms are a physical manifestation of something else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rabbis suggested that one who has leprosy, a \u201cmetzora,\u201d is a \u201cmotzei shem ra<\/em>\u201d one who \u201cbrings out an evil name\u201d (Talmud, Arachin 15b). According to that approach, we need to think about why people say bad things about others.\u00a0Sometimes, it is in an effort to call attention to themselves by bringing others down, if they don\u2019t see a more positive means to gain the interest of the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So the things that are done to cure the disease must be things that will act as an antidote to the negative desires that led to the disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The constant repetition of the verb \u201cto see\u201d may be suggesting to us that being examined by the priest is really an opportunity for the leper to allow another human to view them, and enter into a therapeutic relationship.\u00a0
\nTherapist\u00a0Lori Gottlieb describes the experience of therapy in a discussion of her book<\/a>: \u201cWhat they discover in therapy is that the truth of who they are \u2014 warts and all \u2014 is what\u00a0draws\u00a0<\/em>people to them. That\u2019s the glue, because in that truth lies connection.\u00a0I see you. You see me.<\/em>\u00a0That\u2019s a delicious feeling.\u201d Though she wasn\u2019t thinking of this portion, I imagine, the image resonates: the priest, like a therapist, sees, understands and aids the diseased, warts and all, through examination of the physical symptoms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of the cure is for the priest to examine the metzora<\/em> and part is to enable the afflicted to learn to reconnect with others in a healthier manner than gossiping about them.\u00a0When the person with tzara\u2019at has his clothes torn, head uncovered and lips covered they should call out \u201cunclean unclean\u201d (13:45) to warn others of their approach.\u00a0The Talmud suggests in Niddah 66b that in fact this declaration is \u201cto let the public multitudes know of his suffering so they implore in prayer mercy on his behalf.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once the person is seen, that individual is able to ask others for what he or she needs in order to become reintegrated into the community.<\/p>\n

When the needs of the metzora<\/em> become visible externally, that person can let others see them and be assisted, knowing that even when they act inappropriately, others will care and help them to change. The essential may be invisible to the eye, but with the metzora<\/em>, the essential, the cry for help becomes visible, and once seen, finally changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":84724,"id":84724,"title":"ps63-eye seeing God","filename":"ps63-eye-seeing-God.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-mystical-moment\/ps63-eye-seeing-god\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps63-eye-seeing-god","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84723,"date":"2020-12-09 11:20:36","modified":"2022-11-27 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