Parashat Tazria D’Var Torah

Shabbat Omer 18/19, 5773       April 12/13, 2013

12:1 Vayedaber HASHEM el-Moshe lemor

G-D spoke to Moses saying,

2 Daber el-benei Yisra'el lemor ishah ki tazria veyaldah zachar vetame'ah shiv'at yamim kimei nidat devotah titma

"Speak to the Children of Israel, saying, when a woman conceives and gives birth to a male child she will be ritually unclean for seven days; as the days of her menstrual flow, she will be unclean.

3 Uvayom hashmini yimol besar orlato

On the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

4 Ushloshim yom ushloshet yamim teshev bidmei tahorah bechol-kodesh lo-tiga ve'el-hamikdash lo tavo ad-mel'ot yemei tahorah

For thirty-three days she will remain [in the status] that the blood [she sees] is ritually pure.  She shall not touch anything holy and she shall not come into the Sanctuary, until the days of her purity are completed.

5 Ve'im-nekevah teled vetam'ah shvu'ayim kenidatah veshishim yom vesheshet yamim teshev al-demei tahorah

If she gives birth to a female she will be unclean for two weeks as during her menstruation.  For sixty-six days she will remain [in the status] that the blood [she sees] is ritually pure.

6 Uvimlot yemei tahorah leven o levat tavi keves ben-shnato le'olah uven-yonah o-tor lechatat el-petach ohel-mo'ed el-hakohen

When the days of her purification are completed, be it for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb, in its first year, as a burnt-offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin-offering, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, to the Kohen.

The above can be seen as (Niddah) Menstrual cycle, (Taharat HaMishpacha)Family Purity, and (Mikvah)the ritual cleansing of the impure!  In addition to the physical manner mentioned and The Jewish Law, let’s look at ‘Purity and Cleansing’ from a different perspective; Cleansing of One’s Soul, and Revitalization of Judaism

Example One:

 Opening the Gates: How Proactive Conversion Can Revitalize the Jewish Community, a book by Gary Tobin.   Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco and director of the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Program in Jewish Policy Research at the University of Judaism. He has published extensively in the areas of antisemitism, synagogue affiliation, Jewish organizational planning, and philanthropy and foundations in the Jewish community. Tobin is the recipient of the 1997 Koret Foundation Prize for his research in the American Jewish community.   In this work, Tobin challenges his fellow American Jews to avoid the process of entropy that could take a devastating toll in the Jewish community. "This should be our primary task," Tobin passionately argues. He confronts his community with the eye-opening reality that "in order to rebuild and REVITALIZE Judaism in this country we must rethink our religion as something both born Jews and converts must actively choose and stop blaming intermarriage for Judaism's decline." He implores the Jewish community to shift its focus from preventing intermarriage to embracing an open, positive, accessible, and joyful process of encouraging non-Jews to become Jews. As Tobin bluntly puts it, "We must abandon the paradigm that our children and grandchildren may become Gentiles and promote the thought that America is filled with millions of potential Jews."  

Opening the Gates examines the role conversion should play in the Jewish future. It looks at the way the Jewish community currently handles issues of intermarriage and conversion and recommends strategies to incorporate conversion into a larger vision of building the next Jewish civilization. Tobin suggests what Judaism might look like if it were to promote itself as a positive choice for both Jews and non-Jews in the marketplace of religious affiliation-and tells us what the community needs to do to mold this future. Tobin's controversial plan is sure to spark productive dialogue throughout the Jewish community.

Is his opinion and book that of Controversy?  Yes to some, and refreshing to others.   It’s how we paint OUR own Jewish Picture that determines our own precepts and our own beliefs.  Do the Bubbe and Zayde feel a loss about their grandchild, the child of their son, who married a gentile? Or is their approach different, and that of Tobin’s?  Do they have a ritual and proverbial cleansing of self, and don’t live with guilt, and rather hold their grandchild’s hand and encourage and  SHOW proactive Jewish Behaviors, education such as Religious school and Hebrew lessons, and  leadership through such groups as BBYO?   Instead of losing one, let’s work on gaining one!

Example Two:

Steven Windmueller in a recent essay titled "Sustaining 21st Century American Judaism: Examining New Options.

In his essay, Windmueller, who is the Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk Emeritus Professor of Jewish Communal Service at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (and a Jewish Journal blogger), begins by setting out the premise:

"Based on current research related to the status of religious movements, it is important to begin to design strategies for synagogue organizations and their affiliates to move toward 'sacred innovation,' the idea of re-imagining congregational life. These initiatives come up against the new realities of the decline in American religiosity."

Windmueller identifies "a number of operational roadblocks facing our established national religious movements and their affiliates," such as "decision-making malaise, defining the competitive edge, focusing on leadership capacity and identifying alternative revenue streams."

To address these roadblocks and confront "today's complex realities," he adds that movements and their congregational affiliates will need to pay specific attention to things like establishing institutional identity, managing partnerships and collaborative arrangements, and operating from "the outside in."

The words, “The outside in” mean a lot.  The traditional religious sector is still very present, although the NON-traditional, newer outreach is definitely coming of age and has most definitely arrived!   If the Congregation does not come to the Synagogue, the Synagogue MUST come to Congregation, to the masses.

The decline in Congregational Membership is at an all-time high, and the Unaffiliated Jewish sector is on the rise.  Does that mean these Jewish persons, who are Unaffiliated, don’t want to have a Jewish Influence?  May be not within WALLS???!!???  Or maybe walk a different path; maybe a Shabbat in the Park,?  Or a Community Seder? , or setting up a Havurah Group within your community?  

 We as Jews must look inside our very own souls, our own hearts, at our Jewish Identity, and have a look at some of our thoughts, a cleansing of sorts, and a virtual renewal and revitalization.  

We, as a very small sector have a very important choice.  A very important choice indeed; a choice to adapt ‘some-what’ and carry on, and choose to survive and educate those who might not have been raised like we were, be they Jewish or Not, or choose to walk a Jewish path that differs a little from what our comfort zone dictates, or what our precepts are and the manner we believe.  

It is our job daily to offer a hand to ALL Jews, as fellow Jews, REACH to those that are born into, those that are by choice, and those that we are able to help develop.  Clean, Purify, Educate and Revitalize; SAVE ONE OR……………..

-Amen-