There is no harsher word in Biblical Hebrew then Karet. It means alternatively – cut off, excommunicated, and executed. Here in Leviticus it can be leveled at any time. You break the Sabbath – Karet. You eat bread on Passover – Karet. You curse God – Karet. And, while, here in Tazria-Metzorah, a double portion about skin disease and other ritual impurities, Karet is not mentioned, it hangs over almost every word. For the remedy for each ailment is temporary isolation and abandonment. We understand the message, “no one’s status is guaranteed.” In this society of priests, a health crisis, or a slight moral misstep, could lead to being cut off from one’s people.
The opposite of Karet, in my estimation, is a word we use often this time of year – Zikaron, memory. To be remembered is to be included. To be remembered means your life has worth. Last week, a cartoon on the Buffalo News painfully showed the words “Never Again” fading from view. It was referring to a recent study which showed that up to eleven percent of American millennials have no idea what the Holocaust is. I am reminded of the final line from a poem by Emmanuel Eydoux about being a Jew, where he writes that to be a Jew means “to remember when others have forgotten.” In a week when we celebrate Israel’s 70th birthday, our collective memory is key. This is what we believe gives live meaning. This is what we believe prevents Karet.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
Last Updated on 04/20/2018 by wpadm