Mem Moment | The Duality of Care
Parashat Tazria-Metzora
Several months ago, I embarked on the harrowing journey to find a new primary care provider. With some incredible luck I found a doctor accepting new patients and got myself an appointment. About two months ago I had my Telehealth intake appointment. What I was expecting to be a purely clerical meeting—in the administrative sense—turned into a clerical meeting—in the pastoral, spiritual sense. In getting to know each other I shared that I am in Rabbinical school and thus my doctor and I quickly surmised that we are both religious Jews with deep loves of Torah learning. During our conversation, she shared with me that as a doctor she views her job as one of sitting with and caring for people who are grappling with existential fear of mortality no matter how small their ailment.
In Parashat Tazria-Metzora, we receive very specific instructions regarding the steps Levite Priests must take to care for ill members of the community. The Priests note their physical ailments and then take steps to make sacrifices to heal their spiritual state. (In the modern-day, prayer replaces sacrifice so we could infer that these sacrifices might be like prayers of healing we say today.) Of course, they are called Priests in the text but in our modern framework they are functioning as doctors. This interaction with my new PCP unearthed for me the ways in which care demands that one tends to both the physical and the spiritual needs of a person. Parashat Tazria-Metzora (a double parashah) likewise gives us a double take away to remind us that as caregivers in the world we are tasked with seeing the duality of care.
When have you experienced a powerful or meaningful moment of care?
How can you keep both physical and spiritual care in mind when you care for others?
How about when you care for yourself?