DON'T BE AN ESTRANGER

Parashat Metzora (Shabbat HaGadol)
Nisan 8 5782/ April 8-9, 2022
Torah: Leviticus 14:1 - 15:33
Haftarah (Shabbat HaGadol): Malakhi 3:4-24
 
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Community Second Seder! In Person! (And virtual). And Seder Meals To-Go! For more info, go to: 
https://bnaihayim.org/passover/ 
 
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PESACH IS COMING!
 
My 5782 Pesach Resources - Pandemic Edition #2 is available at: 
https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2022/03/pesach-resources-5782-pandemic-edition-2.html 
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This d'var torah is offered in honor of my wonderful wife and life partner, Lynn Kronzek, celebrating her birthday on Friday, April 8. Ad me'ah v'esrim, my dear! Mazal tov!

This d'var torah is offered in honor of my aunt, Helen Schugar, celebrating her 96th birthday on Friday, April 8. Ad me'ah v'esrim! Mazal tov! 

 
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Feigel bat Kreina and D'vorah bat Feigel.
 
Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, at: https://bnaihayim.org/  

Lunch and Learn meets Tuesdays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. We’re continuing to read and discuss the Midrashic collection Ein Ya’akov. On April 12, we'll be at page 1  (my pagination) of Chapter 6 of BT Berakhot (35a) - "...כיצד מברכין על הפירות" - "How shall the Benediction on fruit be said...” The reading may be found at: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QOGujnXBhbJalQbfp3vPpK7TeeZejXZo/view?usp=sharing 

Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at: 
https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 
 
https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 
 
Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", which you can read here: 
https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com   
 
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source. 
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DON'T BE AN ESTRANGER

“This is the law of the metzora (mistranslated as 'leper') at the time of his purification; he shall be brought to the priest. The priest shall go outside the camp…” Leviticus 14:2-3

Until his condition clears up, the “leper” remains outside the camp. The Torah says he shall be brought to the priest, then immediately says that the priest shall go out of the camp to the leper.

There is a lesson here for us. Those who are outside of our community, who are isolated or withdrawn, for whatever reason, don't automatically come back to us, even after the condition that caused them to withdraw has passed. How much the more so is this true of those who are not ready for “purification”. Consider the poor, the homeless, the disabled and the foreign-born - all of the strangers among us who are estranged from us. 

Each of us has the obligation to bring them to us, to integrate them into our community and welcome them. We are frequently told in the Torah that we must treat the stranger with love and respect because we were once strangers in Egypt (see Exodus 22:20) - we know, or we ought to know what it is like to be the Other. 

And if you say that it is the job of someone else, “the priest”, you don't get off the hook that easily. Every Jew has the holiness, the power and the obligations of the priest. God tells us that “you shall be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy people.”  (Exodus 19:6)

Next Friday night is the first Seder of Pesach. Please, invite someone who might otherwise have no place to go to your Seder. You have nothing to lose, and only holiness to gain.
 
Shabbat Shalom.
 
Rabbi Richard A. Flom - Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/
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"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 88a
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