Readings for Saturday, April 20, 2024
Shabbat
HaGadol
The Shabbat preceding Pesach is called Shabbat Ha-Gadol or the Great Sabbath. There are several possible reasons why this particular Shabbat is so named. First is its proximity to Pesach. Second, according to Shemot, this would have been the time during which the Israelites were selecting the lambs that would be part of the first Pesach observance. Third, in the special Haftarah (Malachi 3:3-24) that is read on Shabbat Ha-Gadol reference is made to that “great day” when the prophet Elijah will re-appear. According to tradition, Elijah is the prophet who will announce the coming of the Messiah. We find this theme repeated at the Seder with the Cup of Elijah and the singing of Eliyahu Hanavi (Elijah the Prophet) when we open the door in anticipation of his appearance. There is no special Torah reading for Shabbat Ha-Gadol. In earlier times, it was customary for the Rabbis to devote their sermons on Shabbat Ha-Gadol to the rules of Pesach to ensure proper observance of this major festival.
Metzora
(Leper)
14:1 - 15:33 Vayikra (Leviticus)
Metzora
is the fifth sedrah in Vayikra (Leviticus).
It takes its name from the second verse in chapter 14, “This shall be
the law of the leper (‘Metzora’) on the day of his purification.” In chapter 14, the first part of the sedrah
describes the steps in the ritual purification of the Metzora. They include removal from the camp, shaving
and ritual offerings. The balance of
chapter fourteen address “tzara’at” which is the most baffling form of
affliction mentioned in this or the previous sedrah. It is some kind of blight or mold or mildew
that attacks houses. It is only found in
Canaan and God states that this affliction comes from him. Coping with the affliction of the house
follows the same pattern as coping with afflictions of the body. The matter is reported to the Kohein, who
periodically will check the house. If
the affliction does not disappear, the building is torn down. If the affliction abates, then the Kohein
conducts a ritual purification. The rest
of the sedrah, all of Chapter 15, deals with various forms of discharges and
the rules of purification related to them.
Rules related to discharges from men are covered in verses 1 through
18. Rules related to women are found in
verses 9-32. The Shulchon Oruch,
the Code of Jewish Law, deals with these matters in much greater detail. The two portions are easy to combine because
the subject matter is inter-related.
They both deal with personal impurity and the rituals for dealing with
the defilement. These rituals ceased to
be operative with the destruction of the Second Temple. However, the Oral Law took the concepts
described here and made them part of Halachah.
Even those who reject the rabbinic law based on these readings look to
them for deeper spiritual meanings.
Themes
Commandments
173. The procedure for the ritual
rehabilitation of one who has recovered from tzara’at (14:2-4).
174
- 175. The requirement that a metzora should shave all his facial and bodily
hair and immerse himself in a ritual bath on the seventh day after the
performance of the procedure described in the preceding commandment (14:9).
176. The specification of the offering
brought by a metzora after he is healed (14:10-11).
177. The procedure for how a priest is to
treat a house contaminated with tzara’at (14:35-42).
178. The ritual uncleanness of a man who
has chronic discharges from his penis (15:2).
179. The offering to be brought by a man
after being healed of chronic discharges (15:13-15).
180. The specification of ritual
uncleanness for one who has seminal emission (15:15, 18).
181. The specification that a
menstruating woman is ritually unclean (15:19).
182. The stipulation that a woman who has
an irregular discharge of blood is ritually unclean (15:25).
183. The delineation of the offering
brought by a woman where irregular discharge ends (15:28-30).
From
Biblical Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
Metzora
Originally
this sedrah was called “Zot Tihyeh” or “This shall be” which are the first
words in the second verse of the sedrah.
For those of you who are interested in how the name came to be changed
to the less flattering name of Metzora, I recommend the chapter in Torah
Studies that has the same name.
Haftarah for
Shabbat Ha-Gadol
3:4-24 - 3:23 Malachi
The Man: We really do not know much about this prophet
at all. Malachi is probably not his
name. Rather it is Hebrew for “my
messenger.” It may be a pseudonym
stemming from the third Hebrew word in the first sentence of the third chapter
where we find the words of God, “Behold, I send My messenger (Malachi) and he
shall clear the way before Me.” Along
with Haggai and Zechariah, Malachi is one of the three post-exilic
prophets. In fact Malachi is the last of
all of the prophets. He is thought to
have lived sometime between 500 B.C.E and 450 B.C.E. By this time the Second Temple had been
completed but the Jewish homeland was merely a province of the Persian Empire
called Judea. Malachi preached at a time
when spirituality and morality were at a low ebb. The reality of the reconstruction of the
Malachi represents a return to the beginning of the prophetic messages. Some of the early, non-literary prophets were concerned about the ritual of sacrifice. They saw the sacrifices as a key ingredient in man’s communication with God. The Literary Prophets - Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, for example - shifted the emphasis to social justice and prayer. With the opening verses of Malachi, we see a return to the message of the importance of the sacrificial system and properly performed rituals such as tithing. Could it be that in the last words of Prophecy we are being reminded that ritual and social justice are not mutually exclusive, but rather mutually inclusive; that to effect a healing of the universe we must nurture Judaism that relies on both aspects of the divine commandments?
The Message: The reading is short, dense and difficult to summarize briefly in writing, It is a mixture of reminders of past glory “Surely the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of yore and in the years of old” admonitions for the present, “Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses” and a vision of the future, “Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord. He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.”
Theme-link: This time the connection is not with the
sedrah but with the calendar. The
prophetic reading for the Sabbath ends with a description of Elijah as the
herald of the coming of the final redemption.
This is consistent with the message of the Seder with the opening of the
door for Elijah. Pesach is the holiday
of the first redemption, but it came to be seen as the herald of the final
redemption in the end of days. Note the
highlighted section above and compare the passage of the Lord through the
Shabbat
Hagadol Pogrom: In the spring of 1190,
the Jews of England were subject to a series of attacks by murderous
anti-Semitic mobs. The worst attack took
place at York on Shabbat Hagadol where a mob filled with the fervor of
preparing for the Third Crusade attacked the Jews. They sought shelter in Clifford’s Tower. But the crusading Christians were not to be
deterred. The next day, the Jews were
given the choice of converting or being murdered. Their leader, Rabbi Yom Tov of Joigny,
advised the Jews to commit suicide rather than submit. The Rabbi was a man of his word as he took
his own life after killing his family.
Most of the Jews followed Yom Tov’s example. The Christians murdered the Jews who did
surrender and then burned the tower that was filled with the body of the Jews
who had died for Kiddush Hashem.
Copyright;
April, 2024; Mitchell A. Levin
4/11/19
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