תזריע – J.H.L. (old me, many yrs. ago). נגעי בית (see מדרש רבה) because כנענים put כסף וזהב into walls, they fell. Money – attention can ruin homes. נגעי אדם – Whole Haftorah (use imagination – here why huts). Na'aman a big must – שר צבא, איש גדול, נשיא פנים. But there's a "But" – והאיש הי' גבור חיל – מצורע! Captures נערה קטנה time א"י – ostensibly as maid for wife, but real reason obvious. Immoral. A symptom of his צרעת. She gives him the advice – for such leprosy – go to נביא.

J.H.L. (told me, many years ago) (A) נגעי בית – (see מדרש רבה) because כנענים just כסף וזהב into walls, they fill. Money – attention can ruin homes. (B) נגעי האדם – Whole Haftorah (more imagination – have many hues) a. Na'aman – a big shot – שר צבא, איש גדול, נשיא פנים. b. But there's a "BUT" – והאיש הי׳ גבור חיל – מצורע! c. Captures נערה קטנה from א״י – ostensibly as used for wife, but real reason obvious. Immoral. A symptom of his צרעת. She gives him the advice –

I- based in Haftorah – story נעמן. His character symbolizes a great contradition. Without it he is האיש גדול לפני אדוניו…והאיש ה’ גבור חיל מצורע - צרעת as a symbol of sin. Military might, but crisper – Dulles, Eng. France – condemn Israel in Kibya, not Arabs in Scorpion Pass. II. Seemed kind of tragic contradiction – Perspective, but Leper - נשיא שנצטרע מהו. Once teacher Relig., then Philosopher know scientists.

The figure of the Jewish mother has always been rather sacrosanct in traditional Jewish life and lore. Even in ages of transition, during and after the Emancipation, when all that was sacred was held up to criticism and analysis, the Jewish mother somehow remained above the din of battle and emerged unscathed. In recent years, however, the classical type which comes to mind when we speak of the Jewish mother, has become more and more replaced by a new and competing sort of mother. Furthermore, there has been a trend in English literature, both in this country and in England, subjecting the Jewish mother to withering criticism and attempting to debunk her value and influence.We shall leave this contemporary reaction against the Jewish mother to our next sermon. This morning we shall make some remarks about a universal aspect of motherhood, namely, motherhood as creativity.There can be little question that childbearing is the most immediately, directly, and obviously creative act known to mankind, even if it is not deliberate, but unconscious and perhaps even involuntary. By the act of giving birth, a woman performs the creative act of perpetuating the species, of adding another link in the chain of generations.But is this act purely biological, or does it have any religious value? Is it an ordinary, natural process, devoid of special spiritual significance, or does it, even as a natural act, participate in a higher order of meaning?Our question is intensified by what appears to be a decidedly negative answer. In reading of the phenomenon of childbirth, at the very beginning of this morning’s Sidra, we learn that it occasions a period of tum’ah or uncleanliness, for a period of seven days for the birth of a boy and fourteen for a girl. Does this not indicate that the religious significance, if any, of childbirth is negative, that perhaps the Torah rejects its animality, its primitiveness, its thorough and exclusive naturalness, as opposed to any transcendent signific…

The Haftorah offers us a fascinating view of life in ancient Israel of over 2800 years ago. It takes us back to an era when there flourished in Israel a King and a Prophet. It is a time when the Kingdom of Israel was in essence a satellite of Aram or Syria, and the Israelites’ King was a vassal of the King of Syria. The Prophet was Elisha, disciple of Elijah. The Haftorah’s narrative may be summarized as follows: Naaman, the General of Syria, was a leper. A captured Israelite girl, who was taken as a handmaid for Naaman’s wife, told Naaman that he could find relief by consulting the Prophet. The King of Syria thereupon sent his General to the King of Israel asking that the latter provide for his cure from his leprosy. The King of Israel panicked, for he had no idea on how to cure lepers, and suspected that the Syrian King was using this as a pretext for destroying him. When Elisha heard about that, he sent word to the King that he, the Prophet, will effect the cure: וידע כי יש נביא בישראל, “and let him know that there is a Prophet in Israel.” Elisha then sent a messenger to Naaman telling him to dip into the Jordan seven times and he will be cured. Naaman was offended, because the Prophet did not personally greet him at the door, and because the prescription he offered seemed so ridiculous. I thought, the General said, that the Prophet would wave his hand and cure me magically. Furthermore, I have much better rivers in Syria than this little rivulet called the Jordan! Nevertheless, his advisors prevailed upon him to follow the Prophet’s advice, which he did, whereupon he was healed. The Haftorah then reaches its climax in the words of Naaman: הנה נא ידעתי כי אין אלקים בכל הארץ כי אם בישראל, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world save in Israel.” It is the act of Kiddush Hashem, the glorification or sanctification of God’s Name.Now, this is more than just a flashback to a fascinating piece of ancient history. As we say in our blessings over the Haftorah, …

Child-birth: its real meaning SCW Shabbaton – Tazria/Parah Your theme: beginnings & ends – you ending SCW, beginning grad school, work, marriage This week: פרשת פרה – אדם כי ימות באוהל; now – אשה כי תזריע ends – explanation: 1) soullessness... הנימוק של רשר"ה – טומאת מת והרחקה לכהנים – המצרים (2) Proof: hal: Zeide – אם כי המת מטמא כאבי אבות – הוא בעצמו טהור beginnings: אשה כי תזריע וילדה זכר (שבעת ימים כימי נדת דותה תטמא; וביום השמיני ימול בשר ערלתו; ושלשים יום ושלשת ימים תשב בדמי טהרה – בכל קדש לא תגע ואל המקדש לא תבוא עד מלאת ימי טהרה; ואם נקבה תלד – שבועיים כנדתה וששים יום וששת ימים תשב על דמי טהרה Why טומאה? and why female twice male? Freud & אוה"ח, ר׳ שבתאי דונאלו, קוצק, מהרש"א – my answer: Birth = paradigm creativity: שותפין יש באדם – אביו ואמו והקב"ה (מדרש תנחומא) Definitions צלם אלקים – reason / freedom / power / creativity So Torah teaches: every creative human act, no matter how honorable – negative / destructive consequences or טומאה Example להבדיל – ר׳ יעקב בעל הטורים, Wagner Act of creation transforms character, reorients כוחות הנפש, chaos, upsets inner equilibrium – throws up destructive forces No יצירה without טומאה, no gain without pain / agony / frustration For plant to grow – seed rots; carver splinters; sculptor removes dross Kabbalah: true of all creation, divine creation as well – עץ קדושה – מסאבותא; Ari: שבירת הכלים History: American Revolution – bloodshed; French Revolution – Robespierre Every silver lining has a cloud חוה: קניתי איש את ה׳ – בעצב תלדי בנים – so in human creativity and symbolized by טומאת יולדת Every aspect of life – businessman, artist, writer, speaker, scholar, תלמיד חכם Whole idea of Torah u-Madda fits into scheme: creativity but can be dangerous – opening up young mind = exciting, but unsure what will fill the space – there is טומאה that lurks in process; yet to forgo Torah u-Madda = worse Now one question remains: why baby girl = twice טומאה of boy? Answer: since creativity → impurity, the greater the creativity,…