This document discusses the Torah portions of Tazria and Metzora which deal with various physical afflictions including leprosy. While these conditions have physical aspects, the Torah prescribes spiritual responses and separation from holy places like the Temple. Leprosy required the most extreme separation. Rabbinic tradition associates leprosy with gossip, so the leper must undergo a ritual to return to society and the Temple in steps. A key part of the ritual involves two birds, which the Talmud explains symbolize the excessive chatter that caused the leprosy. Unlike the popular view of a "freebird" as constantly wandering, the Torah sees true freedom as the ability to change and return home to God

1. Echoes of Eden
Rabbi Ari Kahn
Parashiot Tazria and Metzora
FreeBird
The twin Torah portions of Tazria and Metzora contend with many physiological
phenomena – some commonplace and natural, others rare and sinister: Everything
from childbirth and common bodily excretions to skin lesions, leprosy and strange
afflictions of garments and homes. Although these are all physical, if not
physiological conditions, the Torah prescribes a spiritual response: These
phenomena are treated not (or not only) from the obvious physical-medical
perspective, but from what may be called a “Temple perspective” as well, in which
different physical conditions generate various degrees of distance or separation
from the holy epicenter of the Israelite camp.
Of all the phenomena enumerated in these chapters, leprosy engenders the most
extreme reaction: The leper is completely separated, not only from society but
from the Temple as well. Some rabbinic commentaries explain this quarantine as a
safeguard against physical contagion, while most commentaries see it as a means1
of preventing spiritual contagion: Rabbinic tradition connects the leprous2
condition with inappropriate speech or gossip, hence the need for quarantine/
excommunication. In either case, the Torah maps out the road to back, a ritual
that allows the leper to return, step by step, to society in general, and to the
Temple in particular. Closer examination of the details of this ritual offers
tremendous insight into the Jewish concept of rehabilitation.
An essential element of the ritual is the offering of two birds (Vayikra 14:4). The
Talmud explains that the bird and its incessant tweeting is symbolic of the sin of
See
comments
of
Hizkuni
Vayikra
13:461
Rambam,
Mishneh
Torah
Tum'at
Tzara`at
-­‐
Chapter
16
Halacha
10
2
“Tzara'at
is
a
collective
term
including
many
afIlictions
that
do
not
resemble
each
other.
For
the
whitening
of
a
person's
skin
is
called
tzara'at,
as
is
the
falling
out
of
some
of
the
hair
of
his
head
or
beard,
and
the
change
of
the
color
of
clothes
or
houses.
This
change
that
affects
clothes
and
houses
which
the
Torah
described
with
the
general
term
of
tzara'at
is
not
a
natural
occurrence.
Instead
it
is
a
sign
and
a
wonder
prevalent
among
the
Jewish
people
to
warn
them
against
lashon
hora,
"undesirable
speech."…”
1

2. excessive chatter, gossip and idle talk that brought about the leprosy and its
resultant punishment of isolation:
R. Samuel b. Nadav, the son-in-law of R. Hanina, asked of R. Hanina
(according to others, he asked of R. Joshua b. Levi): In what way is the leper
different (than other sinners) that the Torah said: ‘He shall dwell alone;
outside of the camp shall his dwelling be?’ He (through his gossip)
separated a husband from his wife, a man from his neighbor, therefore said
the Torah: ‘He shall dwell alone.’ R. Joshua b. Levi said: In what way is the
leper different (from others who require penitence) that the Torah said: [He
shall bring] two live clean birds so that he may become pure again’? The
Holy One, blessed be He, said: He did the work of a babbler, therefore let
him offer a babbler as a sacrifice. (Arachin 16b)
The rabbis in the Mishna taught that a specific type of bird was offered in these
cases: dror. The word dror means “freedom;” the birds that the leper brings are3
“freebirds.” In Psalms, the dror is identified as the bird that makes its home near
the Temple.
How lovely are your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed
it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the
living God. Even the bird has found a house, the dror a nest for herself, where
she may lay her young, at Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my
God. Happy are those who dwell in Your house, ever praising you. Selah.
(Psalm 84:2-6)
Here, the freebird is a creature that experiences and is aware of its angst, and longs
for rehabilitation, a bird that wishes to return home – to the Temple.
This is a far cry from the “freebird” of popular culture, made famous in the rock
ballad by Lynyrd Skynyrd. In this view, the free bird is caught in a never-ending
cycle of wandering and rootlessness, isolation and seclusion. Above all else, this
“freedom” is achieved through the inability or unwillingness to change:
Lord knows, I can't change
Lord help me, I can't change
Mishna
Nega’im
14:1.3
Echoes of Eden

3. Lord I can't change
Won't you fly high free bird - yeah4
The Torah’s view of freedom is precisely the opposite: Real freedom means the
ability to change. Real freedom means the ability to go home – back to the source
of life, to a place very close to God. The leper, a habitual gossiper guilty of
excessive speech who is forced to leave his home, to exist in isolation, separated
from society and from the holiness of the Temple, is capable of change – change
that sets him free and allows him to reconnect with family and community, with
man and God. Only then does he become truly free, and, like the freebird of the
Psalms, he can go home – physically and spiritually.
http://arikahn.blogspot.co.il/2015/04/audio-and-essays-parashiot-tazria-and.html
Songwriters:
Ronnie
Van
Zant
and
Allen
Collins.
Freebird
lyrics
©
Universal
Music
Publishing
Group.
4
Echoes of Eden