Parashat HaShavua - Tazria

Though we often like to speak of a cycle or rhythm of life - in the singular - in fact our lives encompass more than one cycle and more than one rhythm. This week three of those rhythms come to life when we read from three different places in the Torah - using three sifrei Torah -  to mark three different rhythms of Jewish life. One is for the weekly Shabbat reading, which is Parashat Tazria. The second reading is for Rosh Chodesh, followed by Parashat HaChodesh, the reading of Exodus chapter 12 as a harbinger of Pesach.

There are several different ways to view this mix of life’s rhythms. Perhaps the most concrete is that we are being asked this Shabbat to simultaneously be aware of life’s weekly, monthly and annual rhythms. There are deeper meanings here as well, of course. When we look back at the origins of Shabbat, we recall that it is our sacred opportunity to remember the world’s creation for six days, followed by God’s rest on the seventh. Then in marking Rosh Chodesh, we shift our focus to revelation, both literally in the revealing of the new moon, and also figuratively in the sense that we are commanded - through God’s revelation of the law to us - to declare the new month when we see the new moon. And, finally, there is Parashat HaChodesh, marking our redemption from Egypt.

Creation, revelation and redemption. To borrow from the thinking of Franz Rosenzweig, this Shabbat in shul we are being asked to contemplate this world that we were born into; our own particular place in this world as manifested by how we live; and, ultimately, what we can do - how we can fulfill a purpose - that serves the greater good of all humanity.

This aspirational model of integrating different rhythms of life that tomorrow morning’s Torah reading represents also unfortunately brings to mind the ways that the world still needs tikkun, the ways in which the world is still very much out of sync. This past week, Israel suffered a wave of terror attacks, and we join Israel and the world in mourning the tragic loss of life and praying for the recovery of those injured.

There is a concept in Jewish law, when deciding the order of rituals such as this week’s Torah readings, of “tadir veshe’eino tadir, tadir kodem - “תדיר שאינו תדיר, תדיר קודם,” meaning, that which is more regular or frequent comes before that which is less regular or frequent. May we reach that day soon when our needs for tikkun and times out of sync are far less frequent than our moments of feeling integrated and whole.

Shabbat shalom and Chodesh tov!

Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head (Ivrit/Tanach/Toshba)
Rabbinic Advisor