This week's parsha turns us onto the word tzaraat, meaning a sort of spiritual illness.
Chassidism hints that our soul-mojo is driven by two opposing forces: the inclination to flee or move (ratzo), and the inclination to just be or to settle in (shov). In moments we are struck with excitement, love, lust, ambition, desire, and such, we are in ratzo-mode. We feel the need to change something about ourselves or our situation or environment to get our goal, to strive for something better or more beautiful. When we have a moment of humility, loyalty, commitment or awe, we are in shov-mode. We feel like tucking in, affirming ourselves or our existences or environments just as they are, as good enough, we are accepting our current standing in the world, or the path we walk along and just taking the moment to exist within as it is. Ratzo drives us to run a marathon, shov to relax in the tub just because; ratzo to plant trees, shov to enjoy the sunrise.
The disruption of this balance is Tzaraat. The will escapes the self and fails to return, leaving behind a state of being where we risk succumbing to all sorts of issues and pains taking root like weeds in an forgotten garden.
In a spiritually healthy soul-mojo, we vacillate between ratzo and shov, back and forth. No urge to pick one over the other, but to fluidly exist as the two inclinations rise and fall. The in and out of breath. In contraction and expansion of the beating heart.
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