Words have a way of carrying subconscious messages.
Some words signal “Listen up, this may be good!”
Others urge “just lower your eyes and keep moving; eye-glazing material ahead!”.
For some, the Torah’s description of laws related to ritual purity and impurity (Tahara and Tumah in Hebrew) ranks way up there in the second category. Even the motivated listener may struggle to find personal relevance in the exposition of these details.
So let’s try to dig deeper, to can see how they apply to our contemporary lives, here and today.
Have your mind or heart ever been closed to an idea, irrespective of content?
How do you relate to Scotch, Cigars, assorted forms of Art and Music? Is there any area of life where you can’t begin to appreciate what other people are seeing?
Bringing this a bit closer, is it possible that you’re closed to guidance and constructive criticism from certain quarters? Is it possible that you’re so focused on who a person is that you can’t really hear what he’s saying?
Are you open to being happy? Do you have reason to be happy in life, yet find it difficult to feel that happiness? Is it possible that you aren’t open - mentally and emotionally aligned - for happiness? Is it possible that happiness is staring you in the face, and your eyes are closed?
How about G-d and spirituality? My experience tells me that faith in G-d won’t penetrate a person’s psyche until the person is open to it. Even if we’re pointed in the right direction, we need to open our eyes.
The Hebrew word used for ‘impurity’ is related to the word for ‘clogged’, ‘plugged’ or ‘obstructed’.
The word for ‘purity’ is Scripturally-used to mean ‘clear’ and ‘open’, like a cloudless sky.
So Torah is telling us how to become better, holier people. Step one is to check our obstructions: Self-centeredness and self-indulgence are – conceptually speaking – at the top of the impurity/clogging pyramid; they shut us off to spiritual sensitivity and empathy. The Torah laws that address this purity/impurity are all giving guidance on how to avoid ‘spiritual plugging’.
We get up every day, looking to be in a pure state.
Eyes wide open; ready to see, ready to hear, ready to live.
ב"ה