Parashat Tazria-Metzora

A few years ago, while driving through Luxembourg, I by chance passed the city’s main synagogue. I pulled over to visit. As is often the custom, a verse from the Bible was etched in the stone above the entrance, but this time, it was a verse that I had never seen before: “גָּדוֹל יִהְיֶה כְּבוֹד הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה הָאַחֲרוֹן מִן הָרִאשׁוֹן אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת וּבַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה אֶתֵּן שָׁלוֹם נְאֻם יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת.” “The glory of this last House shall be greater than the first one, said the Lord of Hosts. And in this place, I will grant peace, says the Lord of Hosts” (Haggai 2:9).  Without having looked up the history of the Jewish community in Luxembourg, the choice of this verse made it pretty clear — the Jewish community and its main synagogue were destroyed by the Nazis and the remaining Jews who rebuilt the community wanted it understood that from destruction will emerge something even greater than what they had before. What struck me most at the time (and still haunts me a bit) is that this verse exists as a result of this not being the first time in history that our people have been forced to rebuild at the back end of a period of destruction. But even more, the verse is a verse of hope with a promise for a brighter future.

The 10-day period from Rosh HaShanah through Yom Kippur is known as Asseret Yimei Teshuvah – the 10 Days of Repentance. Reflecting the centrality of that time period in Judaism, Israelis call the current week in which we now find ourselves Asseret Yimei Tekumah – the 10 Days of Rebirth. It started with Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) earlier this week, and it continues with Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day for fallen Israeli soldiers) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) which will take place this coming week. This week is an emotional roller-coaster for many in our community. It’s hard to make it through Yom HaShoah realizing just how brutal our world can be. Over the past few weeks, I can’t help but think about the Holocaust survivors at my shul who can remember the last time that their shuls were closed to the community. Moving forward to Yom HaZikaron, it’s hard to find a family in Israel who has not lost a member either in war or in a terrorist attack. And then we turn on a dime from such deep mourning to outright rejoicing as we celebrate the creation of the State of Israel in the Jewish Homeland.

This week, we read a special haftarah in honor of the coincidence of Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh. In it, we find a particular verse that captures the incredible nature of our people’s resilience in the face of recurring disaster: מִי-שָׁמַע כָּזֹאת מִי רָאָה כָּאֵלֶּה הֲיוּחַל אֶרֶץ בְּיוֹם אֶחָד אִם-יִוָּלֵד גּוֹי פַּעַם אֶחָת כִּי-חָלָה גַּם-יָלְדָה צִיּוֹן אֶת-בָּנֶיהָ “Who heard [anything] like this? Who saw [anything] like these? Is a land born in one day? Is a nation born at once, that Zion both experienced birth pangs and bore her children?” (Isaiah 66:8). This sense of amazement at our ability to overcome adversity seems no less fitting 2,500 years after it was written. This week we are mourning, commemorating, and celebrating — all in the shadow of our own struggles with the current pandemic. I was initially tempted to read Isaiah’s words “who heard anything like this? Who saw anything like these?” to refer to the negative aspects of isolation and social distancing. But in truth, that would have distorted the message of the prophet. Those words reflect the heroic actions going on every day in the face of all of the fear surrounding us. It’s the work of the medical community, the first responders, the food industry workers who continue to go to work every day that is remarkable. Let us be inspired by Isaiah to recognize all of the miraculous works that are happening around us. Let us pray that the Haggai’s message will be manifested in our community becoming even greater as our current difficult period hopefully passes soon.

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov.