The name of a Torah portion is indicative of its contents and theme. The name of the first of this week's two readings, Tazria (literally "when she shall conceive") is therefore surprising at first glance, as the entire portion deals with the affliction of leprosy rather than conception and birth. In fact, the Biblical plague of leprosy was the most severe form of spiritual uncleanliness, leading our Sages to declare, "The leper is considered as if dead."
Tazria, however, is an allusion to the positive, inner purpose of all the afflictions and punishments that are prescribed in the Torah, as will be explained:
G-d is the epitome of goodness and loving-kindness. He doesn't punish anyone for the sake of being punitive. His sole intention is to refine and purify the person, to remove the spiritual blockages that were created by his sins, and to elevate him to a higher level. All of the Torah's punishments, even the most stringent, are for the ultimate good of the recipient.
This is also the inner intention of the Biblical plague of leprosy (tzaraat), as distinguished from the modern day illness known as Hansen's Disease. As Maimonides explains, the physical manifestations of tzaraat were miraculous in nature, and were visited on an individual for the sin of speaking negatively about another. "The first symptoms would appear on a person's house; if he repented, the house would be purified. If he persisted in his wickedness until the house was destroyed, the leather garments in his house would begin to change... If he persisted in his wickedness until they had to be burned, the clothing he wore would be afflicted." It was only if a person did not return to G-d after all these warnings that any symptoms of tzaraat would appear on his body.
Once this happened, the afflicted person had to temporarily leave the rest of society and dwell in isolation. (Can you relate?). The purpose of this period of separation and reflection was to transform the former sinner into a new entity, one that was purified and refined.
The name of the Torah portion, Tazria, thus reveals the true objective of all the Biblical plagues: the "birth" of a new being, a purer and holier Jew.
This is also the inner meaning of the Jewish people's exile. During the exile, we "sow" mitzvot and good deeds that they may "grow" and flourish when Moshiach comes. The reward we will receive in the Messianic era will not be dissociated from our present service; on the contrary, it will be the natural outgrowth of all the "seeds" we are planting now.
May we merit to see this immediately.
Except for a farmer, a gardener, and those who keep to a holistic diet, seeds seem to have very little importance in our lives. We try to genetically make lines of oranges that don't have them, we spit them out when we eat watermelons (if they still have them), and we avoid them like the plague if we have diverticulitis.
But if anyone asks me about where you see life's greatest mysteries, I talk to them about a seed. They are probably the most fascinating part of our world that exists, even more than the unexplored brain.
Think about it. This little tiny seed is basically a treasure-chest of DNA, prepared to (in the right circumstances) give birth to any of a variety of beings.
Look around you. Probably the chair you are in came from a seed, the clothes you are wearing, the walls or paneling of the house you live in, almost all the food you eat, and last but not least—you and another 6 billion people (including all of their brains), all came from a seed.
But what does this have to do with life's mysteries?
Well, let's start by looking at a computer chip. Considering that it has so much information, it stands on its own as quite an accomplishment, the result of hundreds of brilliant patents.
It can be as small as the tip of a needle, but contains within it the programming data for controlling very technical and complicated bits of knowledge. It took many years of science to design it to function properly, and it can perform many functions simultaneously in fulfilling its purpose of carrying the information needed for the proper functioning of your computer.
Now let's take an orange seed. It contains within it all the DNA info that exists about growing a tree, with all the complications: photosynthesis, establishing roots, transferring water and minerals to its body parts, sprouting in season—all this while creating oranges and seeds that will propagate future generations of oranges. However, even though the orange seed is much larger than a computer chip, it has one incredible quality that a computer chip does not have.
It is programmed to transform itself into the very object about which it contains information.
This would be comparable to creating a computer chip that is programmed to convert itself into an iPhone, or a golf ball, or another seed. Modern computer technology is just beginning to talk about the possibility of having chips that can become something besides the chip itself.
If that doesn't pique your interest, add to this the fact that an animal or human seed is much more complicated than an orange seed, and a small fraction of the size of the smallest computer chip, and it grows to be something much more complicated than an orange tree. It has the ability to impregnate an egg, and merge its data immediately with it to be able to create a completely new type of living being (with unique features unlike any other). Put together all of this, and so much more information that we know about seeds, and we begin to realize that we are dealing with a biological creation that is truly beyond amazing in its scope, and complicated far beyond its small size.
The seed is one part of our universe that gives us a small glimpse into the infinite intelligence behind the creation and the functioning of our world.
So next time you spit out a watermelon seed, do it with respect for what that seed is.
After all, you came from one.
