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.