Deeper Than the Skin
|
“And, behold, if the appearance thereof be deeper than the skin” (Leviticus 13:30) Your body is a map of roads Your skin enfolds what All your past is bored into it For, you know But A vast space |
“讜职讛执谞值讛 诪址专职讗值讛讜旨 注指诪讜止拽 诪执谉 讛指注讜止专” 讙旨讜旨驻值讱职 诪址驻指讛 砖讈侄诇 讚旨职专指讻执讬诐 注讜止专值讱职 注讜止讟值祝 讗侄转 讻旨指诇 注址讘指专值讱职 谞侄讞直拽指拽 讘旨讜止 讛执谞值讛 讬指讚址注转 讗址讱职 诪侄专职讞指讘&苍产蝉辫;讙旨指讚讜止诇 |
In our contemporary world, scrutinizing someone else鈥檚 body is a practice reserved for lovers and doctors. But in this week鈥檚 parashah, in the world of the tabernacle and temple, it is the priest who is instructed in all the myriad ways a body might be formed, deformed, and reformed. The detailed focus on such a mundane thing as the human body may seem odd for a man tasked with the maintenance of God鈥檚 dwelling place. It might also draw attention to gender questions as we鈥攔eaders of this parashah鈥攆ollow the temple official as he is introduced to the taxonomy he will perform (also) on women鈥檚 bodies.
Either way there is something uncomfortable about this image鈥攂e it of a holy priest bothering himself with such earthly matters or of an (always male) official vested with divine power to inspect and quarantine women鈥檚 bodies. The question I had in mind in writing this poem was whether we can (or should) 鈥渞edeem鈥� this image鈥攚hether a way to do that would be to reduce the priestly practices, typologies, and scrutinies to a kind of metaphor, to a synecdoche of a lover.
