Isolation as Disease
“No one liberates themselves by their own efforts alone; men and women liberate themselves in communion… Dialogue with the people is neither a concession nor a gift, much less a tactic to be used to dominate. Dialogue, as the encounter of men and women to name the world, is a fundamental precondition for their true humanization.”
These words were written by Paulo Freire in his 1992 book Pedagogy of Hope.
I brought Freire to this column before to explore the impact of education as it is discussed in both our tradition as well as in his revolutionary book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” (1968)
I’d like to dive deeper into one of the crucial components in Freire’s theory of education as a liberating act, and that is his Dialogical Approach. I would like to do so with the help of our Torah portion this week - Tazria.
וְהַצָּר֜וּעַ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֣וֹ הַנֶּ֗גַע בְּגָדָ֞יו יִהְי֤וּ פְרֻמִים֙ וְרֹאשׁוֹ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה פָר֔וּעַ וְעַל־שָׂפָ֖ם יַעְטֶ֑ה וְטָמֵ֥א ׀ טָמֵ֖א יִקְרָֽא׃
"As for the person with a leprous affection: the clothes shall be rent, the head shall be left bare, and the upper lip shall be covered over; and that person shall call out, 'Impure! Impure!'"
Here we can read a description of a person who was infected with this affliction and the instructions they received to notify the public of it. Their clothes rent, their hair wild, and they should declare themselves infected by calling it out loud twice.
Rashi explains it on the surface level. The infected are instructed to call out their infection so people know to stay away from them and thus not get infected themselves.
The sages of the Talmud however, in the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat have another idea.
אִילָן שֶׁמַּשִּׁיר פֵּירוֹתָיו סוֹקְרוֹ וְצוֹבֵעַ אוֹתוֹ בְּסִיקְרָא וְטוֹעֲנוֹ בַּאֲבָנִים. בִּשְׁלָמָא טוֹעֲנוֹ בַּאֲבָנִים, כִּי הֵיכִי דְּלִיכְחוֹשׁ חֵילֵיהּ. אֶלָּא סוֹקְרוֹ בְּסִיקְרָא מַאי רְפוּאָה קָעָבֵיד?
A tree that sheds its fruit prematurely, one paints it and colors it with red paint and loads it with stones? Granted, to load it with stones so that its strength will weaken. However, painting it with red paint, what healing is he performing
כִּי הֵיכִי דְּלִיחְזְיוּהּ אִינָשֵׁי וְלִיבְעוֹ עֲלֵיהּ רַחֲמֵי. כִּדְתַנְיָא: ״וְטָמֵא טָמֵא יִקְרָא״. צָרִיךְ לְהוֹדִיעַ צַעֲרוֹ לְרַבִּים, וְרַבִּים יְבַקְּשׁוּ עָלָיו רַחֲמִים.
"so that people will see the tree and pray for mercy for it. As it was taught and will cry: Impure, impure"
There is something very profound here. Our sages suggest that the announcement was not merely to make sure that people stay away, but rather to awaken the empathy of the surrounding people so they could pray for the healing of the infected.
Personally, I often struggle with asking for help. For example, I would find myself paying an enormous amount of money in childcare rather than asking a neighbor or a friend for help, and I do my best to keep my troubles to myself and not share them with others, hoping I could figure everything out on my own.
Our sages advised against this. Not sharing our troubles with others prevents them from extending a hand. Furthermore, as Israeli Rabbi Eyal Vered explains, not opening ourselves up and showing vulnerabilities can turn us over time into arrogant and judgmental people.
Targum Onkelos (a 2nd century translation of the Torah to Aramaic) translates the plague of tzaraat - leprosy, into ‘confinement’ or in Aramaic סְגִירוּ.
The disease, the infection, is our confinement; it isolates us and shelters ourselves from others.
Our capitalist zeitgeist encourages us to shelter, to not seek help, to not show vulnerability, for the sake of our unconscious wish of dominance over others.
In his Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire, who was clearly a Marxist educator, viewed modern education as a part of the capitalist Superstructure writes that true dialogue, humility and the show of vulnerability are crucial for the creation of true education.
“Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and for people… Dialogue further requires an intense faith in humankind, faith in their power to make and remake, to create and re-create, faith in their vocation to be more fully human… Nor yet can dialogue exist without humility. The naming of the world, which is an act of creation and re-creation, is not possible if it is not infused with love… How can I dialogue if I always project ignorance onto others and never perceive my own?”
Our Sages stressed the importance of asking for help in order to allow people to pray for one’s suffering. If you don’t believe in the power of prayer, feel free to translate it to the igniting of empathy, to the healthy development of the humility to know that we are all vulnerable — and in that we are also equal.
