Of bald men, bearded ladies, and Parsha Tazria

I created a program several years ago called ParshaDrama, in which I go to a school and present the weekly Torah portion to different grades through a combination of storytelling and dramatics, playing the roles of the various characters while sometimes calling up students to assist when there are multiple characters in the Torah’s storyline.

For Parsha Tazria, I typically call up volunteers in order to “point out” the kinds of blemishes that are described in the parsha, accompanied by an explanation of the process the person will now have to endure in order to be deemed tahor again.

Since I mostly deal with younger grades, I am often in a co-ed school with boys and girls together.

Last week, immediately after presenting the parsha about the dedication of the Mishkan and the role of Aharon and his sons, including the deaths of Nadav and Avihu, one girl, who is in first or second-grade, asked me why I don’t include girls in the story. After accepting her critique, I told her I am unaware of Aharon having daughters. And I reminded her (with a smile … I was very nice) there are many “girls” in the stories in Bereshit, even if they are not as prominent as the “boys.”

I pick the girl volunteers to demonstrate many of the tzara’at afflictions in our parsha, or for a unisex discussion about law in Mishpatim, as well as anytime I specifically need someone with a beard (e.g. some kohen situations in Parshat Emor), because many of the girls are adept at bringing their ponytails round to front and tying them under their chins.

It is an interesting point of note that the only person recorded by the Torah to have been afflicted with tzara’at is a woman (Miriam, in Bamidbar 13). It does not follow that tzara’at is a women’s disease any more than a men’s disease, as we encounter other metzo’ra’im (tzara’at inflicted individuals) in the rest of the Bible who are men as well.