Maps and Meaning: Levitical Models for Contemporary Care

If you’re looking for a fresh perspective on pastoral care, as well as Christians caring for other Christians, try this book. As it turns out, the ancient book of Leviticus, with its focus on the relationship between priests and those ‘’outside the camp’’ due to disease, offers a paradigm for our interactions today with those suffering outside our ‘’camps’’ due to illness, PTSD, and a host of other issues.

Rabbis Wiener and Hirschmann write compassionately and bring valuable expertise and anecdotes as they explore previously esoteric territory. Through the lens of the metzora and the kohen, they gently urge us to be more compassionate to ourselves and to others; to confront loss and grief, acknowledge its messiness and impact on us and others, and perhaps even rise to the challenge of being elevated by it.It has always fascinated me how Hebrew Scriptures devote far more verses to tzaraat/metzora than almost any other topic, including Shabbat, kosher law etc. In reading Maps and Meaning be prepared to revisit the terrain of these enigmatic scriptural passages and personas and emerge with new appreciation of their implication and lessons for our lives. More than simply ruminating on the text, Wiener & Hirschmann convincingly derive practical steps to guide us through encounters with loss, sickness, and disenfranchisement, while emphasizing models of self-care.For the scholar, the footnotes are enlightening; for the layperson, they don't get in the way of the narrative. Scholar or lay, Jewish or not, you will never read this section of Scripture the same way again.