L-Chayim Tovim / To a Good Life
Thursday, April 15th, 2010The following text by Reb Zalman is from this week’s Torah portion, Shabbos Tazria-Metzorah. (Click here for Hebrew/English version). [Notes by Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor]:
In the case of one afflicted with tzara’ath / leprosy or with the affliction of the houses, there is a sending away of a living creature, (cf, Leviticus: 14:7).
And so it is also with the goat sent to Azazel, (ibid 16:8).
[NOTE: They are both purification rituals, the one for the leper, the other for the holy temple on Yom Kippur, and with each, there are two animals, one sent away alive, the other a sin offering for atonement.]
And in this case, it seems that the point of it is a Shamanic device, i.e. that it functions like the chukim
[NOTE: Chukim are those mitzvot / commandments beyond understanding. Shamanic devices reach into spiritual worlds.]
which, in general, seem to have no rational reason according to conventional wisdom or as seen through the eyes of multitudes.