Inclusão social prevista exclusão inevitável: saúde, pureza e santidade no contexto do Levítico 13 e 14

Abstract

The bad living conditions of the jewish community, in the postexilic period, created the necessity of tough laws to control hygiene and sanitary habits, wich could keep the survival of that group. The Leviticus, in this chapter 13 and 14, was a real preventive medical treaty and their procedures envolved deep questions wich referred to a group of skin disorders known by the hebrew term tsara at. According to the people of that time, such disease came from the transgression of the Mosaic laws and could afecct either human beings or their clouthing or houses. From the break of this state of purity, they believed one would be struck sick by some kind of tsara at. There was the imposition of an isolation for those with the disease, what can be called as social exclusion. Such exclusion, however, was not intentional because they were tempted to the maximum to go back to the initial state of purity. On the other hand, even nowadays, with breakthroughs in medical therapy techniques, the occasional isolation of some patients with infecto-contagious diseases is still inevitable. Due to the fact that, without this isolation, inumerous other inocent victims could suffer with the dissemination of these patologies. The confusion aroused by the reading of the Lv 13-14, through several translations, where the term lepra substitutes for the original tsara at, comes from the maintainance of the first, wich its greek origin denotes to the second a group of unspecified skin disorder. This is to name another disease that nowadays is known by the name of leprosy and its ethiology is well known and wich character is highly contagious and deforming and, in some cases, when not duly treated, becomes a stigma and therefore demands a social exclusion due to the prejudice from those who are ignorant about the problem.