Composed a DVar Torah

This effort took much of the day.  Its first draft is done to my satisfaction.  It is probably too long for an optimal oral presentation.

Our congregation, whose titled people have not endeared themselves to me, essentially leaving me out more than they should, jolting my pain centers as they do this, undertook a major project.  In the absence of a Rabbi, congregants in turn prepared the shabbos sermon, which became known as Torah Talks.  First a signup sheet, which would get three people doing this as volunteers, and two of them not worth being in shul Saturday morning.  Like many things, when I expressed to the VP who initiated the project, that invitations would expand participation and the quality of the talks, I got my now expected dismissive wave of the palm in response.  But anyone who thought this through would figure out quickly that it's a better way to do this.  And so the project was assigned to somebody who took it seriously.  She assembled a wide array of speakers with very few Second Acts.  Over about six months, a pattern has emerged with lawyers talking about something law, scientists finding some science in their presentation, genealogy enthusiasts going that route, and people really focused on Torah staying within the bounds of the parsha.  I expected to be bypassed, as I can be eccentric in my comments, but Tazria-Metzora is Torah's foray into medical care, so the invitation came to me.

I read commentaries, almost none having to do with medical care, as tzaraat is really a mythical disease, the external expression of misconduct, with intervention lacking the privacy protections that American law currently mandates.  Yet the Kohanim did function in some ways like doctors.  Sometimes more like loyal soldiers carrying out a mission, but sometimes given latitude to deal with uncertainty.  They did what they were told, used interventions that were more of a sure cure than most of what we do today, and never challenged what they were told to do.  So I was able to follow our emerging tradition to match, or sometimes contrast what Torah illustrates as the proper path, though isn't always really the best thing to salute and do without challenge.

It took effort, more than I've given anything, but it came out well, at least in writing.  And most important to me, I got on the invitation list.

The composition in its written form.  

https://richardplotzker.medium.com/torah-talk-tazria-metzor-d2f3b71e5643   And with two reads in my computerized stats.