The Torah portion that we read this week is about a number of different conditions that can cause uncleanliness and necessitate the offering of a sacrifice. Clearly the substance of this particular section is not only out of date, but refers to a method of worshiping God to which we will not return.
The section was composed at a time when there were no doctors, as we know them, to help cure the sick. Indeed, all prognoses was made by the observation of one from the priestly class, who knew religious law but hardly knew anything about medicine. We are not even sure how to identify some of the conditions that they concern themselves with. We are certain that their beliefs about the birth of male and female children do not fit into our perception of reality.
However, there is much to learn from the ancient Jewish concept of sacrifice. First of all, sacrifice meant giving. To get better, or to find ones balance in the world one had to know how to give. Sacrifice was not an inexpensive proposition. Even in those ancient times when the Torah was given, some were too poor to afford the requisite sacrifice.
Did that mean that some were too poor to worship God? We all know of religious institutions that the poor cannot enter because they cannot afford the dues, or because they do not feel welcome on account of the poverty of their clothes. In ancient times the Torah recognized that poverty could be a bar to worship and so the Torah allows a special sacrifice for the poor that gives evidence of their desire to be straight with God, but not at the expense, which causes them economic hardship.
Our Torah has always been concerned with the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. How wonderful to see that concern expressed even in instances that are solely ritual in nature. How wonderful that our tradition is a tradition that works to ennoble every human being, and tries to create an atmosphere where every person will know that he or she is truly a child of God.