I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs Mondays at 7:00 pm PDT on the rabbi’s cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page.
This week we study Parashat Tazria (Leviticus 12:1-13:59) and Parashat Metzora (Leviticus 14:1-15:33).
* Most people today don’t give a flying fig about matters such as purity and impurity. And yet purity is what I want most in a spouse. I want someone who’s not been plucked and yet will be grateful to reap all the benefits I’ve gained through my varied experiences with many different races and religions.
* What is impurity? Rabbi Wein writes: “Impurity of heart and mind is what allows one to mock the righteous and ridicule the pious.”
I knew this talent agent (Shylar at Reb’s Pretty Girl International) in the industry who liked to watch Little House on the Prairie. That was his way of getting pure. In between booking girls for various scenes of degradation, he watched Michael Landon and co.
* Rabbi Wein writes: “We literally wallow in a sea of impurity of thought and evil behavior and we are bombarded constantly by messages and examples of gross impurity and maliciously evil behavior. And we are alone in combating these evils, since the impurity of society ridicules any public attempt at raising the level of purity of that society.”
Ain’t that the truth! I’ve seen so much filthy material on the internet. I even made some of it in my weaker moments. Maybe I’ll read some of the reviews on my past documentary efforts.
* Is it permitted to sing Gentile hymns in the bathroom? If they are about the God of Israel like Abide With Me? Do the goyim’s incorrect notions about the Almighty render it permitted to sing their songs in unholy places like clubs etc?
I think in my Gentile upbringing, it was discouraged to sing Gentile hymns in the bathroom.
* From a Torah perspective, is it good to spend as much time as possible alone (a la Rabbs) or as much time as possible with other Orthodox Jews (a la Luke)?
Rabbi Berel Wein writes: “The traditional translation of tzoraat as leprosy is undoubtedly misleading and inaccurate. The rabbis of the Talmud treated this disease as mainly a spiritual one, albeit reflected in actual physical symptoms. Slander, narrowness of vision, jealousy of others and bad character traits were assigned by the rabbis as being some of the potential causes of the onset of the disease.”
* Rabbi Wein writes: “The Parsha of Metzora deals with the plague of tzoraat – according to the Rabbis of the Talmud, a product of the sin of slander and abusive speech. “Life and death are in the hands of speech and the tongue.” In a society where everyone demands the right to know everything about everyone anytime, it is difficult to promote the ideas of privacy, correct speech and avoidance of gossip and unnecessary curiosity about others.”
* Rabbi Wein writes: “Legend has it that the famed ARI (Rabbi Isaac Luria of sixteenth century Safed) was able to tell a person what one’s sins and spiritual defects were simply by looking at the person’s face.”
I think there are rabbis like that today. My father, the college professor, could tell by looking at his students which of them were masturbating. They’d have a sallow countenance and shifty eyes. I inherited this detective ability. On Monday night’s show, Justin will say a few words in the chat room about “shomer bris.”
* You can try to improve yourself all you want, but whenever you’re confronted with powerful stimuli, your habitual responses to stimuli will take over and your social position will remain unchanged. All of my life I’ve been in the least popular segment of the popular crowd or the most popular segment of the losers. And I’ve been pursuing self-help since about age 11. I’ll meet someone I want to impress and my face will give me away. I won’t be able to sustain my lies or self-delusion when I’m confronted with a truly righteous man.
* Rabbi Wein writes: “In Biblical times the Lord, so to speak, forced us by physical symptoms to come to the kohein and confront our true spiritual state. This was a blessing, albeit in disguise, for it allowed for the necessary diagnosis that could eventually lead to spiritual repair, improvement and advancement. This is the supreme task of the kohein in helping others achieve their betterment. It was therefore a spiritual experience of advancement for the kohein as well. Helping others always helps to cleanse one’s soul and advance one’s spirit.”
* Rabbi Wein writes: “One of the many explanations given as to the connection between lashon hara and tzoraat is that lashon hara attempted to “kill” and defame a person in private and secret – a discreet stab in the back tactic – so the punishment was a public physical disfigurement able to be seen by all.”
According to Rabbi Yaakov Emden, it’s not lashon hara (gossip) if you say it publicly.
* Rabbi Wein: “Lashon hara – evil, gossipy speech – dehumanizes us all. It takes a holy vessel, speech and communicative ability, and defiles it and turns it into an instrument of harm and tragedy.”
* “The Pianist is a 2002 biographical war film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman.” Much of the time I was watching this film, I was making out with my shiksa girlfriend of the time. What is it about Holocaust films that makes so many Jews horny?
The Pianist is often called a great film and yet the protagonist doesn’t change. You watch this whole long wrenching film and there’s no development in the main character. It’s not like he became religious or left religion. He didn’t decide he could no longer believe in humanity or in God. He didn’t decide to give up classical music because it led to Auschwitz and to decide instead to play nothing but rock n roll as a celebration of life.
* In the second season of Boardwalk Empire, *spoiler alert* this mother and son get drunk and go home and fornicate. And the whole time they’re locked in the clinch, the son on top, the mother tells the son, “This isn’t wrong.” The Book of Leviticus, however, would strongly disagree. A girl I used to date, she knew a brother-and-sister at yeshiva who used to bang each other. The whole yeshiva knew. I wonder what that would do to your shidduch prospects?
* Who should we blame for the declining birth rate of Jews? I say the primary blame is for Jews who don’t observe Judaism. Those who do, generally speaking, marry early and have lots of kids. Those who want lots of spare time to study poetry and Alexander Technique, these guys tend to not marry.
* Rabbi Wein writes: “Compounding the problem is the high number of abortions undertaken by Jewish women every year, the numbers of these abortions being measured reportedly in the tens of thousands.” Too often, Jewish women use their vaginas as toys while Palestinian women use theirs as cannons. (Chaim Amalek)
One Jewish girlfriend of mine wouldn’t tell me whether or not she’d had an abortion. Another said if I got her pregnant, she’d just get rid of it. (I confess that made me happy because I could plook her all I wanted and not worry about fathering a kid. I was still young in my Jewish journey then, more Reform than Orthodox.) Another said that while she’d never had an abortion, every woman she knew had had one. “It’s just something that every woman goes through.”
One woman I knew threw a party after her abortion. Cold.
Rabbi Wein writes: “We may be heartened by the fact that in the religious Jewish community there is currently a high birthrate, 7.6 in the Charedi society and 4.2 in the Dati society. Eventually, this will cause a vast change in the life, politics and behavior of our country.”
* Rabbi Wein writes: “The Lord told us in advance that we would not be a people of great numbers – “for you are the smallest of all nations.” Nevertheless, we have an obligation to promote increased Jewish population and numbers. Family, children, generations, these are the values that Jews are judged by. It is our way of guaranteeing that the message of Sinai will continue to be heard in a world that so desperately needs to hear it.”
* Rabbi Wein writes: “Having children, how many, when, etc. is really a very personal decision. People from the outside have no right to interfere in other people’s personal decisions regarding so intimate a subject.”
* Rabbi Wein writes: “The laws of plagues, purity and impurity are purely chukim – laws that defy our limited rational capabilities to understand. But this is perhaps the very message that the Torah wishes us to learn and internalize. Much of life is not rational and does not fit into our accustomed schedules and plans. And even the most hardened secularist and/or rationalist must admit that much of life is inexplicable.” You’ll find this particularly true if you ever try to have a relationship with a woman, as I have tried and failed to pull off on countless occasions.
Rabbi Wein writes: “Weird things happen to all of us. There are forces in the world, dreams, inspirations, as well as strangers that suddenly appear that are present in our lives and are real to us though we have no idea how or why they influence us.”
“It is the unseen and intangible that truly carries us through life and its vicissitudes. And that is why the Torah devotes so much space and teachings to such a seemingly esoteric subject.”
* Robin Gibb came out of his coma and spoke to his family thusly, “Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk I’m a woman’s man no time to talk Music loud and women warm I’ve been kicked around, since I was born
And now it’s all right, it’s okay And you may look the other way We can try to understand The New York times’ effect on man”
* Rabbi Wein writes: “All halacha, or for that matter all systems of law in the world, is based on the concept of reasonable presumptions. In Jewish law this is called the concept of chazaka – the presumption that what was, still is. Thus halacha presumes that a husband to still alive even if he has somehow disappeared from sight. It presumes that things found in a certain place were at that place before and were not dragged there. It presumes that if there are no known faults in a person’s pedigree then that person’s pedigree is deemed to be faultless. There are many other examples of how chazaka works as an operating principle in Jewish law. In fact, the Talmud exclaims: “gedolah chazaka” – chazaka is a great and overriding principle of law. The basis for this halachic reliance on chazaka is found in this week’s Torah reading.”
“Presumptions in life are valid. People are judged on their past behavior, on family history, on pedigree and on past experiences. It is foolish to ignore presumptions that are based on legitimate grounds. One cannot ignore the realities that stare one in the face even if those realities do not conform to one’s ideology or wishful view of life. This applies in all areas of personal and national life. One cannot presume that one’s child will turn out all right if he or she is not given the basis of a strong Torah education. There is a chazaka that speaks against such wishful thinking.”
“One cannot wish one’s enemies away and become convinced that the tiger is no longer carnivorous. But the main lesson of chazaka is to be aware that human nature does not easily change and that what was is most likely what will be now as well. The lessons of Jewish history, of what works and what fails, form a strong presumption – gedolah chazaka. All of the “newness” of ideas in today’s Jewish society has, in reality, existed before and failed to contribute to Jewish continuity and national strength and security. The past is a hard taskmaster and a coercive instructor with regard to current choices…”
