Acharei

I'm not prepared to write about this, let alone have coherent thoughts to myself.

There's a lot of good play material in here. Each verse of Leviticus 18 seems to be a conflict. Perhaps that is why it is a commandment. I mean, what good would it do to have a commandment that was, "Breathe in and out"? Not much, seeing as how it is an involuntary process.

But I can think of instances where some of these taboos have become acceptable. And near all of these are explicitly stated, no interpretation necessary.

So at what level do we read? And why to we keep returning to these passages?

I can't answer these questions for myself yet, so I truly don't think that I can answer them - or offer an opinion - for anyone else. I hope one day I will be able to.

Metzora

The first portion of Metzora is spent detailing the rituals for the diseased person at the time of cleansing, and the first part of this lists an extremely detailed procedure. Yet following these directives comes the line, "If, however, he is poor and his means are insufficient..."

Even biblically, not everyone can be judged equally nor held to the same standards. Allowances are made for each individual. This is something that I need to try to remember throughout life - to treat every person as their own self, without comparing them to others or trying to make them live up to each other.

And then again, I am trying to make my living in theatre. What is theatre, and what are auditions, but comparing people against each other? How can these two views be reconciled?

I resolve the dissonance thus: If two chefs were making me dinner, I could pick which I think tasted better. Thus are two actors giving me a product to judge (The fact that the product is their own self is subject matter for another day), and I am to give a professional opinion on that. I will judge their character, then, not in relation to each other, but against some standard that I have to create for myself. Unfair? Possibly. But do I judge myself on this same standard? I try to.


Everyone has different priorities and standards. This week, as I and friends bemoan the lack of people building on the lot, I need to remember that. I cannot expect everyone to suddenly pitch in effort for this one thing I see as important. Everyone is contributing in their own way, even if I can't see it just yet, and even if I think their priorities are trivial - it is theirs to decide. I can decide for me, and only me.

After all, if I am not for me... who will be?

Tazria

I have never had leprosy. What do the strictures of disease mean to me? If I find a physical affliction on my body, I am going to the doctor - not the priest. And yet that is who I am directed to go to.

Yet there is a link. Just recently I have avoided a project that I needed to accomplish, not urgently pressing at start, but then very much so. Worry about this project soon caused me to loose sleep, and lack of sleep increased stress and until, the day after I finished the project, I became violently ill. I spent the next 27 hours in a fever-dream, floating in and out of wakefulness, welcoming sleep as oblivion. When I finally awoke, I realized that by putting off my responsibility, I had caused myself to become sick. Perhaps, then, there is reason to talk. A medical doctor could have told me I needed more sleep, but what I truly needed was to examine myself to find out why I had avoided this responsibility in the beginning.

In the modern civilization of the twenty-first century, it is unlikely that one will break out with an infectious disease without others being aware and treatment occurring. Perhaps, then, it is time to take the lessons of Tazria less literally, and focus on the smaller physical aliments.

If I had isolated myself earlier, I like to think, I would have spent my time in isolation finishing my project instead of ill.

Maybe next time I'll pay more attention to that sudden acne - enough to cause an introspection for the cause, at least.