Tazria, תַזְרִיעַ  "She Bears Seed"  Leviticus 12:1-13:59 + Metzora, מְּצֹרָע  "Leprous" (from something like leprosy but by Divine decree instead and non-contagious) Leviticus 14:1-15:33

Tazria and Metzorah - The Tefillin of the Heart

The Tefillin of the Heart - poetic notes on Tazria/Metzorah 5783

Why do the heathen rage and the peoples imagine a vain thing?

The word of Hashem cannot be interrupted

The tumah* of death breeds a fear in the heart

The tumah of death putrefies the dreams of the nations

There was a mitzvah of love,

a mitzvah prepared and hidden like a jewel

It was a treasure kept in a secret place

for the daughters of Israel

It was a gift wrapped in a garment of judgment

It was concealed in a place of sacrifice in a strange land

on the night when Adam’s kingship was ended in Egypt

It was a jewel of life, a mitzvah of eternal love,

a secret kept in the highest heaven

Hashem whispered about this jewel to Abraham

Abraham remembered and taught his children

On account of what Hashem whispered,

Abraham remembered the truth about Adam

Unlike Abraham, the nations forget and deny

that the body of this world was once adorned

with a beauty in Adam of great promise

But Adam forgot himself

and turned his face toward the scent of sin

Therefore Adam’s kingship died with Egypt’s firstborn

That fiery jewel, that secret mitzvah of the Jewish soul,

now lights all the Sabbath candles 

Who will raise the bones of this world from the dead?

The light of faith is Israel’s light

the light of Israel’s belonging to Hashem the Redeemer

This is the Sabbath fire; this is that concealed jewel,

the mitzvah that was wrapped like a gift

in the wrappings of judgment,

to be opened for the end of days on Mount Sinai

The savage nations stomp the earth and slap the sky

They kick at the earth, 

for it is the pathway of Hashem's Anointed

And they claw at the stars,

for they are the cords of judgment that bind them

The nations slyly smile and deny 

that Adam and Eve wrested their hand

out of the hand of Hashem and took ahold of the hand 

of the teacher of rebellious wisdom

Who will raise the bones of this world from the dead?

The key of eternal life is

that jewel wrapped in mystery, but glimmering through

when, by the arm of Hashem, Adam’s kingship was cut off

when the promise of Israel was born

from the womb of the jewel covenant,

when the sprout of redemption was taken out of Egypt

For the word of Hashem cannot be interrupted

The Malchut of the hidden jewel has been given birth

The mother has emerged from the immersion of her mikveh

Who will raise the leprous bones of this world from the dead?

The light of faith is Israel’s light,

the light of the true belonging,

Israel’s belonging to Hashem the Redeemer

This is the Sabbath fire;

This is that concealed jewel-fire of a new creation

This is the mitzvah that was wrapped like a gift

in the wrappings of love and judgment,

to be opened for the revelation

of the end of days on Mount Sinai

Who will raise these dead bones of Adam 

from the dark tumah of the exile of the grave?

Hashem held a newborn in his arms on Mount Sinai

Israel lites her candles on the eternal  Sabbath

A new creation of hope has dawned in the evening,

a hope so bright

it turns the spirit of the night into the spirit of the day

Wherever the Jewish daughters were,

whatever exile, whatever captivity, whatever generation,

with the fiery jewel in their hand, time didn’t matter

Whenever their candle flickered,

their heart was wrapped with bindings,

like an arm wrapped with tefillin,

The scent of their candles

is the scent of Garden of Eden,

the scent of the Garden before

and the scent of the Garden to come,

They sat their families down

and heard the prophets speak,

“The year of my redeemed is come!”

Flicker little candle…

Flicker for the learning of the long and beautiful night…

Flicker outside of the camp of camps

and learn Israel’s Torah lessons in the distant galut

The Jewish children learn

They bring their dedication offerings,

their Mishkan offerings to Mashiach’s Temple

When will the light of the moon be like the sun?

When will the light of the sun be like that of seven days?

When will the Sabbath candles of Israel’s daughters

become the light of the world?

Before they’d sinned,

the man and woman had done everything with God

Their every thought of mind or heart

they thought together with the mind and will of God

Without God, each of them was alone

There was nothing to do but survive

Trying to survive it was so tempting to be self-centred

Now, even in this corpse of a world,

the woman had given birth to a living child

But immediately she was found in her blood alone

All of this mystery about Mashiach…

Why should there be so much mystery

about Mashiach here upon the earth?

Adam was unable to understand anything

until the Jewish boy

was circumcised on the day of repentance,

until the habit of the world was broken in Egypt

On the day they sinned

their spirit began to slowly flow out of their bodies

When the man and woman looked into one another's eyes

God saw that they were still one,

one in their lonely tears where everything dies,

one in their mourning for the lost world of their beginning

in the hidden eternal skies

Where was the foundation of Creation?

No sooner did Jerusalem ask than her freedom came!

Then they were free!

Then they all were free

to wear their jewel mitzvah like a well fitted garment

What was in need of correction and exile?

What was in need of redemption?

It was found here in this shadow of a tumah tragedy

And it was made into the promise of hope,

hope that Abraham found in a covenant,

from which he did not turn his eyes away

Abraham believed Hashem

The promise of Adam's resurrection was within Abraham

Adam's repentance would be unveiled in him

He taught his children and they kept the way of Hashem,

leaving Egypt and Babylon behind,

in order to know Hashem in his justice and judgment,

in order that he might be revealed to them

and to all the nations

in the glory of his just and righteous mercy!

Jacob and Rachel and Leah 

were made one outside the camp of camps

Jacob walked out of the land of tumah

Every step he took was a step of taharah*

And Benjamin was born in the land of Beth El

To be clean or not to be clean, that is the question

The impure and diseased and contagious soul 

will it become pure

and stand clean before the Holy God…?

To be pure, to be without a single stain of dishonesty

This is the need of the soul

Today, if you hear His voice!

He has removed the foreskin of Isaac's heart

Mount Moriah caused Israel to grow,

to bud and blossom like a rose,

to become a covenant of many fragrant roses,

to fill the world with the scent of a holy Jerusalem

“For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace

and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,

until the brightness of her salvation

goes forth as a burning light”

Her's is the incarnate tefillin of the heart

Her's is the calendar of redemption  

Footnotes:

*tumah  - uncleanness before G-d.

*taharah - cleanness beore G-d.