The person to be cleansed must wash their clothes, shave off all their hair and bathe with water; then they will be ceremonially clean. After this they may come into the camp, but they must stay outside their tent for seven days. – Leviticus 14:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 3, 2018): Leviticus 14

Mahatma Gandhi argued that “Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.” There is an element of truth in the statement. And it is really a healthy way to live. To die to the events of one day and then be able to wake up the next morning refreshed and with a new agenda and a new chance to make the difference is an enviable way to approach life.

I like it. And there are admittedly some nights that the Gandhi strategy drives me to bed in hopes that I can die to the events of the day and wake up to a new reality the next day. Sometimes it works. The sleep is exactly what I needed to face the problems of the day before with fresh ideas and new energy. But sometimes, the problems of yesterday hold over and infect the new day and the day of my new birth.

There was no cure for leprosy. The leper would never be accepted back into the community. But, for the one who is examined and is diagnosed to have just a “rash,” rather than something more serious, there had to be a path back to the community. But at this point, the original symptoms have to have, at least, a ceremonial solution. The person has been declared to be unclean. “Oops, we were wrong, this is not leprosy” was not an appropriate response. The circumstances needed something more significant.

That something more was rebirth, and it was more substantial than Mahatma Gandhi’s cycle of sleep and wake up reborn. In this concept of rebirth, the afflicted is to shave off all of the hair on the body and return to their hairless condition they displayed at their birth. Once the hair was shaved off, they were reborn and were able to return to the community, but strangely not to their own tents. Their return home would not happen for another week. Almost as an echo of circumcision, the person would live outside their tents for a week, and then they would shave the hair off of their bodies once more, and then finally be welcomed back into their homes.

They were once again reborn, and able to partake of all that the community had to offer. And the health difficulty that had driven them away from their communities and their homes was something that happened in a different life.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 15