Tsav 2020 and Covid 19

Tsav 2020

Leviticus 6:1 to 8:36

Tsav and the coronavirus

The Torah cannot explain the present virus. Perhaps though the Torah can help us to negotiate these difficult times. Therefore, I am returning to this blog, parasha by parasha, in an attempt to synthesize our spiritual teachings with the present horrific circumstance.

This week, the Jewish people study Tsav or Leviticus 6:1 to 8:36. The Jewish people name each parasha or section after the first outstanding or unique word.  Tsav-the word- means command. In this parasha,  Moses is commanded by God to keep the altar flames burning. To keep them burning, one of the kohenim  or priests must take the ashes outside of the tent.

 This is an important action. Ashes, when they build, can hide or even put out a small fire. Ashes bury sparks of fire. Tsav therefore begins with an order to take the ashes away from the light so the ashes won’t put out the light. It can be argued that this is a logical action, one of necessity if we are to follow God’s order to keep the altar flames burning. I want you to entertain the thought for a moment however that the Torah is poetry as well as law.

I repeat, the Torah is poetry as well as law.  What I mean is that perhaps this action concerning the ashes is figurative as well as literal.  If we do not keep taking the ashes out, we lose our light. If we keep focusing on the dark elements when dark elements are everywhere, we lose the potential for light. If we do not empty out that which suffocates light, light becomes suffocated. Without light, we cannot see. 

What does this have to do with Covid 19?

Today, the visuals and news of Covid 19 are shocking. People are suffering and dying.  We do not have time to get used to it. In a strange way, things seem the same. We wake up. We sleep. We eat. We love. But something deep and urgent has changed. Our behaviors have certainly changed.  We stay home as much as possible because staying at home is certainly the better alternative to making others sick or getting sick. Even if we are well, we stay home to protect the other. God is in the face of the other.  Even if we are well, we could be sick. We do not even know if we are sick or well. This lack of self-knowledge calls for deep consideration. 

 By staying home, whether we believe or not, we are protecting God in the face of the other. We also protect God in ourselves and in the other by emptying out the ashes, the first command of Tsav.  Many of us have to empty out those figurative ashes hourly. The negative news keeps coming in.  We feel like we are being buried in mountains of ash. There are more ashes than we are used to dealing with. The flames of the altar have never-in the living memory for most of us-been threatened by so many mountains of ash.  If we do not empty out the fear and panic, life becomes closer to death. This does not mean we should be in denial. We have to face the figurative ashes before we empty them.  We must remember the ashes of the past, know them in the present and prepare for them in the future.  Yes, we must keep the altar burning and empty the ashes. That is the first command of Tsav.

We must empty the shock, the pain, the fear, the disbelief, the victimhood, the selfishness that comes with victimhood, the denial, the refusal, the rebellion, and the desperation. We must empty out the doubt. Even as we see the New York Times maps with growing red circles and the hospital tents in  Central Park and the make-shift morgues, we must empty out the figurative ashes. If we empty out the ashes of desperation, we are left with the light. The light enables us to see clearly. The light enables us to help, whatever that help might be. The light enables us to act without denial but in the clear reality of the moment. I am not going to quote all the rabbis who speak of light.  I am just presently asking you to entertain the idea that teaching or Torah can indicate the figurative. The Torah is poetry as well as law. Though it is radical I offer that in the Torah, poetry is the law. What I mean is that not only is it a wise and good thing to empty out the figurative ashes in our present horrific situation. I mean that doing so-given the command in this parsha-is the law. Seeing the world poetically is law because it is only that poetry which can illuminate a path to God in the darkest of times.

That command to empty the ashes is the beginning of the parasha Tsav.

The end of Tsav records the isolation of the kohanim before they are anointed. They isolate themselves for purification. Perhaps we can try to borrow from the strength of Aaron as we isolate ourselves. We are not necessarily looking to find a greater purity as are the biblical kohanim. We are attempting to eradicate the tamay or the virus paralyzing our world. No one is holier or less holy for their illness. But we are more holy for our isolation. Those of us in isolation can be likened to the priestly class as we at least attempt to maintain the health of the world. We will have a difficult time remaining in isolation however-and remaining civil in some domestic situations-if we do not empty the figurative ashes of despair at an almost super-human rate. I do not think that God is angry at us. God’s wrath is not the lesson of Covid 19. I do not think-as we will see in the commentary of coming parashas- that the virus symbolizes gossip or sin. I think that this horrible virus is just happening. It is not a punishment. There is not any explanation. It might be a good idea though to adapt our actions to it, to see our isolation as priestly and to become experts at ash-emptying. Only the continual cleansing of our minds and hearts can lead us to a new societal and spiritual paradigm in which our international, inter-racial and inter-religious community is so synthesized that we can accomplish any form of healing.

 I like to think that if Abraham Joshua Heschel and Abraham Isaac Kook were alive today, they would understand my Torah. My interpretation is not just an appeal to be positive. It accents the physical and deep emotional work required to keep the sacrificial flames burning-to keep prayer alive- a hard work that requires ash-emptying and self-isolation. These are normal actions in a spiritual world.  What is not normal are the many dead, and it takes light to pray for their souls.  During these nightmarish times may you be practical. May you empty those ashes, take part in priestly isolation and focus your light-the light you see and know-on prayer. May you see that a future paradigm exists that will shift-and, therefore, has shifted and is shifting steadily-before our eyes. It is shifting towards community revelation.  May you empty those ashes minute by minute.