Maps and Meaning: Levitical Models for Contemporary Care

Mapping Human Communities

2 Mapping Human Communities A Layering of Maps Years ago, some atlases took the form of books filled with multilayered, translucent maps. The base map provided the earliest known contours of the country. Subsequent superimposed layers showed how the contours changed over time and indicated topographical features, natural resources, precipitation rates, and the like. This multilayered presentation enhanced the reader’s understanding of the country’s interrelated, yet distinct, aspects. In the following pages, we offer a similar layering of mental maps to present the Priestly imagination, contextualize the specific biblical stories we will explore, and explicate some of the more obscure details contained in them. 27 In the Priestly imagination,1 two overlapping mental maps—one geographic and the other spiritual2 —provided ancient Israelites with tools to orient themselves whether they were in familiar or unfamiliar territory. These “we-maps” served a dual purpose: to maintain community cohesion and to facilitate individual transitions. They explicated the roles and functions of each individual, family, and tribe, and they enabled each one of these entities to understand itself as a component of the larger whole. These maps were accompanied by a set of narratives that prescribed behavior during times of predictable and unpredictable change. To grasp the experience of the metzora and others destined to spend time outside the camp, we must keep in mind three interrelated yet distinct features of the levitical writers’ worldview. First, everything in the world was defined by its relationship to kedushah, usually translated as “holiness,” and taharah, usually translated as “purity.” Second, everything in the world had an essential nature. And, third, the geographic world contained two main regions: the machaneh (camp) and michutz lamachaneh (outside the camp). 1. In The Divine Symphony: The Bible’s Many Voices (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2003), Israel Knohl explains the distinctive features of the two strata of writings that relate to the priesthood and the sacrificial system. The earlier strand, known as P for Priestly, focused on the unique functions of the priesthood, identified the sacrificial system as the means to draw near to God and holiness, and articulated strict purity laws. The later strand, associated with the Second Temple period, recognized the unique functions of the priesthood but also had a democratizing tendency that allowed the populace, regardless of purity, to participate in and have access to the cult. This strand also stressed ethical behavior as a means to draw near to God. For this reason, it is known as the Holiness writings, which scholars abbreviate as H. (While Knohl’s entire book explicates these distinctions, see particularly pp. 63–69.) In the schema presented in this chapter and in this book as a whole, we utilize the Priestly writings. Throughout this book, we use the words “priestly” and “levitical” interchangeably. They are not intended to describe a historical reality but, rather, the biblical world as portrayed by the Priestly authors. 2. While the word “cultic” might be a more apt adjective, we choose to use “spiritual” because of its greater relevance to our own time and context. Maps and Meaning 28 Kedushah, Taharah, and Tumah In the Priestly rendering of the Israelites’ world, only God could designate a person, people, place, object, day, or season as kadosh, meaning holy. That which was holy deserved special honor and treatment, and it was set apart from the ordinary for the purpose of serving God. In Hebrew, the words “consecrate” and “holy” have the same root —kuf-dalet-shin—because consecration is the act of setting something aside for holy purposes. God’s designation of the Sabbath as a day set apart from the rest of the week for the purpose of serving and honoring God is probably the clearest and best-known example of this phenomenon.3 God also designated the priests as a holy class set aside for the service of God and the cult.4 Interestingly, a separate biblical strand identified the entire people as a “nation of priests” and holy to God.5 Regardless of whether or not they were kadosh, people, objects, and covered places had an additional characteristic: they were either tamei, usually translated as “impure,” or tahor, usually translated as “pure.” Everything in the world, whether holy or profane, could experience the transient states of tamei and tahor. Specific activities and circumstances rendered people, places, and things tamei; prescribed procedures and rituals enabled a person, place, or thing to reclaim...