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...אָדָ֗ם כִּֽי־יִהְיֶ֤ה בְעוֹר־בְּשָׂרוֹ֙

When a person shall have in the skin of their body… (Vayikra 13:2) 

Hevre/Friends, 

The Hassidic Master, Reb Yehudah Arye Leib of Ger, otherwise known as the Sefat Emet, in his commentary on this week’s double parsha of Tazria-Metzora which focuses on skin afflictions, notes the rich symbolism of the Hebrew homonym“Or” which means both skin (עוֹר) and light (אור). What’s their connection? 

Skin, our outermost shell that covers and protects our bodies, is porous and vulnerable, as our reading makes clear. Our permeable body armor that we wear in the world allows us to absorb everything around us even as it allows us to breathe out what’s deep inside of us. Only an exterior that is porous can enable us to take in the world’s beauty, her joy, her despair and her hope. Only an exterior that is porous can enable us to share with the world our compassion, our love and our respect. This fluidity, manifested by our skin, makes it possible for us to be responsive and sensitive to one another and to build societies filled with kindness and generosity. 

Life is made meaningful when we have skin in the game – when we are invested in the people, communities and ideas that inspire and motivate us. To have skin in the game is to take the risk of failure for the possibility of success. To live surrounded by solid, impermeable walls, to live without risk, without making ourselves vulnerable to loss or to defeat, is not to live at all. 

But what about the need for self-protection from the forces out there that can inflict pain and suffering? Don’t we also talk of growing some thick skin to protect ourselves from getting hurt? 

Before donning our tallitot to pray we recite verses from Tehillim which include the words: “עֹֽטֶה־אוֹר כַּשַּׂלְמָה/ ֹֽYou are wrapped in light as a garment.” Wrapping ourselves in the tallit we, like the Divine, become wrapped in“Or” --in light -- in the
illuminating, radiating, and enlightening presence of holiness and wonder. And when we envelop ourselves in the tallit whose fringes represent our sacred values and responsibilities, we assume a spiritual skin, an“Or” of insight, devotion and integrity which we pray will strengthen us to face the inevitable challenges and complexities of life, the hardships and pain that are the risks of living fully open and exposed to the world, as we do with our other“Or,” with our physical, porous skin. 

The deep truth of our Torah reading is that strength is derived not from durability, but from fragility. Our path towards this week’s truth took us through Yom Hazikaron which we intensified by watching the joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony, and through Yom Ha’Atzmaut which celebrated 73 years of Israel’s miraculous rebirth and, we pray, renewed our commitment to the independence, dignity, safety and wellbeing of all who call Israel home. Both these sacred days reminded us, as does our Torah reading, that our pain and our promise don’t make us powerful; ideally, they make us sensitive and responsive to the troubles and triumphs of life in all its forms. And therein lies our greatness. 

May we feel in our skin (“Or”) the reality of our shared humanity, and may that awareness bring light (“Or”) to the work of healing our world that awaits. 

Shabbat Shalom,
Dini