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The Story of Naaman the Leper
Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.
This week, the Torah goes into detail about what is called leprosy — but what is actually any infectious skin disease. The Priests were the equivalent of the medical class, and their role was to cure sick individuals, combining both the physical and spiritual.
This week’s Haftarah, on the other hand, deals with an event that took place in the northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Yehoram the pagan son of Ahab, when the prophet Elisha was the spiritual authority in Samaria. The two did not get along well.
At that time, Aram (modern day Syria) was the dominant power and its general was Naaman. He was a leper, which did not seem to have stopped him from being a successful military man. Aram regularly invaded Israel and took captives into slavery.
One such captive was an Israeli girl who served Naaman’s wife and told her mistress about this great man in Israel who could cure lepers. The King of Aram sent Naaman with a letter to the Israelite King, commanding him to cure Naaman. When the letter arrived, the Israeli king panicked, thinking this was going to be used by Aram as an excuse to invade.
When Elisha heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in despair, he sent a message to the king: “Why have you [ripped] your clothes? Let him come to me, and he will learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots to Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go and bathe seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be pure.”
But Naaman was angry. He said, “I thought he would come out to me, and would invoke his God by name, and would wave his hand toward the spot, and cure me. Are not the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? I could bathe in them and be pure!” And he stalked off in a rage. But his servants came forward and spoke to him. “Sir,” they said, “if the prophet told you to do something difficult, would you not do it? How much more when he has only said to you, ‘Bathe and be pure.’”
So, Naaman went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, and he was cured. Returning to Elisha he said, “Now I know that there is no God in the whole world except in Israel! So please accept a gift from your servant.”
The main point of the story is that Elisha cured Naaman not through magic, but rather through faith. As Naaman said, he expected Elisha to perform some magic — just dipping in the water seemed pointless. What Elisha was doing was stressing the importance of faith and human will in matters of health. Naaman was expecting spells. Elisha wanted to distinguish between magic and faith.
You might also see this as a metaphor for how we, who live in pagan societies, can remain loyal to our religious life. The postscript of this story is that Elisha’s servant Geyhazi betrayed his master’s values. Elisha refused any gifts of gratitude (unlike too many rabbis nowadays). Still, Geyhazi had run after Neeman telling him that Elisha had changed his mind, and asked for gifts, when Geyhazi only wanted them for himself. When Elisha found out about his betrayal, Geyhazi was punished by being stricken with leprosy. Poetic justice.
Israel was idolatrous, too. There were good and bad people — just like there are now. Shabbat Shalom.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently living in New York.
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Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money
The Jewish Colonial Trust was established on March 20, 1899. The first Zionist bank was the brainchild of Theodor Herzl who understood that funding would be required to make his vision of a Jewish homeland a reality. Each share cost one English pound, the equivalent of $280 today. (Herzl bought the first 1,000 shares which was a […]
The post Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money first appeared on The Canadian Jewish News.
The post Treasure Trove: If you own a share like this, Israel could owe you some money appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Palestinian Detained after West Bank Terror Ramming
Illustrative: Israeli police at the scene of a car-ramming terrorist attack near a market in Jerusalem on Monday, April 24, 2023. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters.
JNS.org – A Palestinian rammed his vehicle into a cop car in the West Bank on Saturday in what the military was investigating as a terror attack.
The incident occurred at the Eli gas station, the scene of repeated acts of terrorism against Israelis.
“A Palestinian vehicle accelerated towards a police car and collided with it, there were no casualties,” according to the Israel Defense Forces.
“Troops caught the terrorist and transferred him to security forces for further investigation,” added the statement.
On Sunday, three Israeli police officers were killed in a drive-by shooting near the Tarqumiya checkpoint, some 7.5 miles northwest of Hebron in Judea.
They were named as Chief Inspector Arik Ben Eliyahu, 37, of Kiryat Gat, who is survived by his wife and three children; Command Sgt. Maj. Hadas Branch, 53, of Sde Moshe, who is survived by her husband, three children and granddaughter; and 1st Sgt. Roni Shakuri, 61, of Sderot, who is survived by his wife, daughter and granddaughter.
Shakuri’s other daughter, 1st Sgt. Mor Shakuri, 29, was killed on Oct. 7 while battling an attempt by Hamas terrorists to take control of the police station in Sderot, in southern Israel near the border with Gaza.
The post Palestinian Detained after West Bank Terror Ramming first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Ukraine Concerned at Reports of Iranian Ballistic Missiles to Russia
A missile unveiled by Iran is launched in an unknown location in Iran in this picture received by Reuters on August 20, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it was deeply concerned by reports about a possible impending transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia.
In a statement emailed to reporters, the ministry said the deepening military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow was a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the Middle East, and called on the international community to increase pressure on Iran and Russia.
CNN and The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Iran had transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, citing unidentified sources.
Reuters reported in August that Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran and that dozens of Russian military personnel were being trained in Iran on the satellite-guided weapons for eventual use in the war in Ukraine.
On Friday, the United States, a key ally of Ukraine, also voiced concern about the potential transfer of missiles.
“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said on Friday that Tehran’s position on the Ukraine conflict was unchanged.
“Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict – which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations – to be inhumane,” it said.
“Thus, not only does Iran abstain from engaging in such actions itself, but it also calls upon other countries to cease the supply of weapons to the sides involved in the conflict.”
The post Ukraine Concerned at Reports of Iranian Ballistic Missiles to Russia first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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