spirituality » Torah por tion

"UY  WORTH OF GIFT CARDS AND GET A  #OMPLIMENTARY GIFT CARD FOR YOURSELF

Kids
Eat Free
Monday

 /FF
7INE
7EDNESDAY

2ESTAURANT

Ageless Wisdom
From The Torah

)TALIAN #UISINE

248.476.0044

"UY ONE LUNCH OR DINNER ENTR£E
AND GET THE SECOND OFF

 OFF

/F EQUAL OR LESSER VALUE

TOTAL FOOD BILL

Not good with any other coupons.

Not good with any other coupon.

Not good on holidays. One coupon per couple. Up to $30

Not good on holidays. One coupon per couple. Up to $30

Expires 5/5/16

Expires 5/5/16

Off

&ARMINGTON (ILLS s #ORNER OF 'RAND 2IVER  (AGGERTY 2OAD
!UBURN (ILLS s   /2 MILES SOUTH OF THE 0ALACE OF !UBURN (ILLS

2091810

See our full pesach carry out menu
with order details and pick up
info on our website at
WWW.CHEFCARI.COM

Parshat Metzora, Shabbat HaGadol:
Leviticus 14:1-15:33; Malachi 3:4-3:24.

RSVP for our 3rd Annual

Rustic Italian Buffet

P

Wednesday April 27th
6:30pm and 7:30pm Seating

New features this year include:
Private Seating Tables
Extended Buffet Options
Wine and Table Service
Cash Bar Available

Adults: $35.00
Kids under age 12: $20.00

(tax and gratuity not
included in buffet price)

Congregation B’nai Moshe
6800 Drake Rd.
248-770-6521

2087730

5.00
OFF

$

PASSOVER

With any carry-out or dine-in order of $29.95 or more with this coupon
Limited time offer. Expires May 1, 2016

WE SPECIALIZE
IN FRIED MATZO

248-932-0800

6646 Telegraph
at Maple
Bloomfield Plaza

PASSOVER

www.stevesdeli.com

t(SFBU1BTTPWFS
 -FNPO$IJDLFO 
 5VSLFZ FUD
t(SFBU(FGJMUF'JTI
 .BU[P#BMMT
t(SFBU'SJFE.BU[P
t(SFBU$IBSPTFU
 ,VHFMT

JN

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2089560
★

72 April 14 • 2016

arshat Metzora brings — up
close and personal — the most
primitive aspects of Torah’s

ence was all wrong, but its righteous
compassion was right on. Enough said.
Second, and more far reaching and
reality.
more subtle, is the Torah’s eye
It details, and I mean details,
to the future. In the begin-
ancient understandings of
ning of the portion, reference
eruptive skin afflictions, moldy
is made to issues surround-
houses, the defiling nature of
ing one’s tent. Later in the
semen and menses, and the
portion, the Torah points to
various sacrifices and rituals
our future life in the Land of
used to effect remedy from
Israel and explains how these
these unclean encounters.
rules will need alteration in
(Pity the bar or bat mitzvah
Rabbi Robert an era of stone houses.
student gifted with this por-
The science is the same,
Levy
tion.)
but now it is applied to new
Nothing else in Torah can
circumstances. The issue
demonstrate the gulf between us and
of how we apply Torah in changing
our ancestors. I’ll take a cortisone
circumstances is not simply a modern
cream from my dermatologist for my
problem. It is embedded in the Torah
bad skin rather than bringing a blood
and has often risen in the writings of
sacrifice to the priest. Yet, Metzora
rabbinic scholars over the centuries.
is also the portion that points to our
Maimonides wrestles with this
Torah’s forward outlook, elevating its
question as does Moses Mendelssohn.
teachings beyond ancient taboos, no
Several of the Chasidic masters worked
longer relevant, toward today’s and
to understand how the Torah could be
tomorrow’s understandings.
understood as times and experience
First, we have an issue that is uni-
changed the realities of the Jewish
versal across history: the affordability
people.
of life’s essentials. The Torah’s remedy
The ageless need for the living Torah
for a skin eruption may not be the
to speak to the life of the Jewish people
same as we would apply, but the slid-
remains the essential truth of our long
ing scale applied to the fees is beyond
journey. Each time we find ourselves
what we have yet to achieve in 21st-
in new circumstances, it is tempting to
century America.
discard the past as if it were a garment
In the Torah, the basic cure is
once useful but now tattered. Torah
expensive, as is, quite frankly, going
never frays. Torah moves with us into
to a physician in 2016. And in the
each new time and event.
United States, the costs can be severely
As the midrash teaches, the world
burdensome for those without health
itself was created through the guidance
insurance. The potentially revocable
of Torah. Any change in our experi-
Affordable Care Act was a step in the
ence can be understood within its
right direction toward affordability, yet depths.
we still have a distance to go.
Robert Levy is the rabbi at Temple Beth Emeth in
The Torah has a sliding scale of
effective cure based on income. Its sci- Ann Arbor .

*