Parashat HaShavua: Tazria-Metzorah

Three Worlds

This week's parashah begins with the laws of birth and circumcision. Rabbi Bechaye, who lived in 11th century Spain and wrote the book Duties of the Heart, says that a person's life can be divided into three main worlds: the pregnancy, in which the embryo is not yet born, its life in the actual world as a human being, and its death, when the soul returns to Heaven. While these three worlds seem like an obvious way to divide one's life, these “worlds” are symbolic for B'nei Yisrael's life as a nation and how their relationship with God changes throughout the course of their life.

Looking at the first stage, when the embryo is developing, we see a striking resemblance to how B'nei Yisrael are connecting with God in the desert. While the embryo is developing, Chazal tell us (Nedarim 30b) that an angel is sent to teach the embryo every halakhah to the developing embryo. The embryo is also the Garden of Eden, and the embryo is promised that it will ultimately be admitted to the Garden of Eden if it leads a righteous. Looking at B'nei Yisrael in the desert, we see that this is exactly what God, through Moses is trying to do. Moses, especially in the Book of Leviticus, is giving B'nei Yisrael all of the commandments, promising them that, if they are righteous, they will continue to remain close to God — in other words, to enter the Garden of Eden, a land of paradise, just like Israel, which is a land “...flowing with milk and honey,” (Exodus 33:3), and a land in which “...you shall not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hill you may mine brass” (Deuteronomy 8:9). Although it is hard to compare the two, both the Garden of Eden and Israel are places where B'nei Yisrael are close to God.

Looking at Rabbi Bechaye's second world, we see another parallel in Jewish history. After Moses's death in the Book of Deuteronomy, the Book of Joshua picks up immediately after Moses was mourned, Rashi comments on the words “Moses my servant has died,” (Joshua 1:2) saying that after Moses's death, 3000 laws were lost and never recovered. Just like a baby that is now beginning to meet the world on its own terms, so too are B'nei Yisrael entering a new world and trying survive without a direct connection to God. The angel, who is in charge of teaching an embryo Halakhah, must then erase everything that the embryo has learned before it enters the real world. (We see a number of parallels between this angel and Moses, namely, both were charged with educating B'nei Yisrael.) They no longer have Moses as a spiritual leader with a direct connection to God to immediately answer their questions, rather, they must enter the land and be able to fight their own battles and learn by themselves, without a mentor — Moses or the angel Gabriel — to guide them.

The third world, Rabbi Bechaye writes, is when the human dies and returns to Heaven. While this too has a parallel in Judaism, it does not correspond to an event that has occurred in history. This world represents the coming of the Messiah. While the previous two worlds are relatively short, this world is eternal. It is also when everything will be revealed, when the 3,000 laws as well as countless other works on Jewish law and philosophy, and we will, once again, have a direct connection to God.