Parshat Tazria-Metzora: Skin
So so tempting to skip this parsha altogether. It is right after Pesach. I could do a project connected to Sefirat Haomer or Yom Hashoah. Even the class teacher said to me "why don't you do something for Yom Haatzmaut instead of the parsha?" (I was kind of insulted...) But, I am committed to the challenge of finding something artistic in EVERY parsha - even the ones dedicated to bloody and seminal discharge :). Seriously though, this parsha is gross. It is all about the skin disease called "tzaraat" (translated as leprosy). Depending on the color and size of patches that appear on one's skin, a person is declared to be "pure" or "impure" by the Kohen.
"And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: If a man has a se'eith, a sappachath, or a bahereth (a swelling or a scab or a bright spot) on the skin of his flesh, and it forms a lesion of tzara'ath on the skin of his flesh, he shall be brought to Aaron the kohen, or to one of his sons, the kohanim. The kohen shall look at the lesion on the skin of his flesh, and if hair in the lesion has turned white and the appearance of the lesion is deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a lesion of tzara'ath. When the kohen sees this, he shall pronounce him unclean."
Lets just say, leprosy art projects are hard to come by. Thankfully, my husband suggested that I just focus the lesson on SKIN - its different characteristics, colors, and tones. I liked this idea because I knew that painting "skin color" was always a challenge for kids and that "skin color" is often used as a trigger for talking about important topics of diversity and racism. Of course, there are also lots of "scientific" things that can be addressed relating to skin - dermis, epidermis, cells, melanin, genes, etc.
If I were working with older kids (and at a school where I didn't think I might get in trouble for showing photos of naked shoulders, insert eye roll here), I definitely would have referenced this WONDERFUL photography project, in which Brazilian artist Angelica Dass captures the range of human skin tones by photographing a subject, taking an 11x11 pixel "sample" of that person's skin from the resulting image, and matching it to one of the thousands of colors in Pantone's international color database:
Her Ted Talk is definitely worth watching:
https://www.ted.com/talks/angelica_dass_the_beauty_of_human_skin_in_every_color#t-1848
In our lesson, we first had fun comparing our respective skin colors to different foods - an idea I stole from this cute poster:
Once we agreed that there is no ONE "skin color," I explained that we would be mixing paint colors to create six different skin tones, all which start off with the color brown (which the class teacher explained is because humans are created from the dirt). Mixing paint colors is always a great opportunity to review with the students "cool" and "warm" colors, primary and secondary colors, the color wheel, etc. Each section in our handy cupcake tin started with a bit of brown paint to which we added yellow, pink, white, orange, or black. Inspired by the Pantone project above (and unable to think of anything else), I decided that we would simply paint six squares resembling a standard paint chart (the teacher said it reminded her of the "nudes" section of nailpolish at the manicurist :)). In advance, I used washi tape to divide the paper which they removed only at the end of painting (always a fun trick in my opinion). Unfortunately, I was WAY too busy during the lesson itself to take any pictures of the activity this week. But, the kids were all into it and I think that it came out pretty cute in the end (some neater than others as you can see :)).
Another fun idea that I saw but didn't have time to do was to give the kids a chance to either: 1) name their colors and/or 2) write formulas for their colors. This is a great blog post on creating skin tones with kids: http://wonderteacher.com/how-to-create-skin-tones-with-watercolor-paints/
Finally, I enjoyed the Torah of Prof Wendy Zierler found TheTorah.com about the importance of SKIN in this week's parsha. Also, although I haven't read it in full yet, I am interested in the article entitled "Spiritual and religious aspects of skin and skin disorders" by Philip and Debrah Shenefelt (a doctor and a rabbi :)). Here is just the abstract:
Skin and skin disorders have had spiritual aspects since ancient times. Skin, hair, and nails are visible to self and others, and touchable by self and others. The skin is a major sensory organ. Skin also expresses emotions detectable by others through pallor, coldness, “goose bumps”, redness, warmth, or sweating. Spiritual and religious significances of skin are revealed through how much of the skin has been and continues to be covered with what types of coverings, scalp and beard hair cutting, shaving and styling, skin, nail, and hair coloring and decorating, tattooing, and intentional scarring of skin. Persons with visible skin disorders have often been stigmatized or even treated as outcasts. Shamans and other spiritual and religious healers have brought about healing of skin disorders through spiritual means. Spiritual and religious interactions with various skin disorders such as psoriasis, leprosy, and vitiligo are discussed. Religious aspects of skin and skin diseases are evaluated for several major religions, with a special focus on Judaism, both conventional and kabbalistic.
