Parshat Tazria, meaning “[she] conceives,” begins with the purity laws related to childbirth and the commandment of circumcision. 

The Torah then goes into extensive instructions regarding the laws of tzara’at, or leprosy. Leviticus 13 reads: 

He shall be unclean as long as the disease is on him. Being unclean, he shall dwell apart; his dwelling shall be outside the camp. ¹

In Jewish texts, the traditional cause of leprosy is lashon hara, wicked speech, and refers to speaking ill of another. Rashi says the reason the person is put in isolation is precisely because such speech causes division between people. Citing the Talmud, ² he writes: 

Our Rabbis said: Why is he (the leper) treated differently from other unclean persons that he should abide solitary? They replied: Because he, by slanderous statements ³, parted man and wife, or a man from his friend, he must be parted from everybody. ⁴

The Bible’s quintessential example of this is in the Book of Bamidbar, Numbers, chapter 12, when Miriam speaks maliciously against Moses for having a Cushite wife, and is punished with leprosy—and is made to isolate for seven days.  

Just as the person causes isolation and division among people, so too are they isolated and divided from the community. 

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, making a similar point, identified this type of transgressor as “the whisperer who separates close friends,” citing the verse from the Book of Proverbs ⁵, “A shifty man stirs up strife, and a querulous one alienates his friend.” ⁶

All of these teachings are perfectly valuable, necessary, and helpful. Still, we must remember that the role of isolation in our modern society ought to be tightly limited to instances such as the need to keep community members safe from contagious diseases. This seven-day isolation for speaking lashon hara may seem intense, but it is nothing like the brutalities of the solitary confinement system used in prisons today. It touches on similar isolation ⁷ but without any of the intense cruelties intended to deeply affect the body and soul of the incarcerated. 

In the United States, an estimated 80,000 people are imprisoned in solitary confinement8. When we recall what God says near the beginning of Genesis, “It is not good for man to be alone,” ⁹ we must realize that long-term solitary confinement is a clear misuse of social isolation. 

In the Covid era, we’ve all gotten a taste of how difficult seclusion can be. It can lead to increased anxiety and depression among other crushing challenges. Having experienced that for ourselves, how much more so should we be concerned for those who are placed in exceedingly more extreme conditions, being in a dark space with no touch or human contact.

As the philosophy professor Lisa Guenther said in a VBM interview in 2020 ¹⁰, solitary confinement was originally intended to “force” reflection by offenders in a productive and generous way. What people quickly realized, though, is that it functions much more as a punitive measure, and it can be devastatingly damaging to a person. ¹¹

While the mental-health effects are disastrous in themselves, solitary confinement puts the inmates in serious physical danger as well. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2014 found that “Although only 7.3% of admissions [in New York City] included any solitary confinement, 53.3% of acts of self-harm and 45.0% of acts of potentially fatal self-harm occurred within this group.” ¹²

In 2011, Juan E. Méndez, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, said that “solitary confinement should be banned by States as a punishment or extortion technique.” He explained, “Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” ¹³ 

With the horrors of this method of imprisonment in mind, Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson, Director of Education at  T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, composed a version of the Mi Shebeirach, the prayer for healing, modified for those enduring solitary confinement. It goes:

May the One who blessed our ancestors

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah—

Who was with our brother Joseph in the pit and in prison,

and with Miriam when she was isolated from the camp for seven days—

bless and heal all those who are imprisoned in solitary confinement.

May the Holy Blessed One be filled with mercy for them,

strengthening them to withstand this act of torture and keeping them from all harm.

May God speedily send them complete healing of spirit and of body

and grant our society the wisdom to find a more fair and humane system for preserving justice and public order, soon, in our day.

For God said of Adam, “It is not good for a human to be alone,” ¹⁴

and the prophet Amos exhorted, “Hate evil, love goodness, and establish justice in all your gates.” ¹⁵

And let us say, “Amen.” ¹⁶

And so, we are called to reevaluate the whole enterprise of solitary confinement, avoiding cruelty wherever possible. While there are instances, for example, when solitary confinement is thought to be necessary to prevent the prisoners from harming others or being harmed, we must find more responsible and restorative alternatives. Degradation in our prison systems is not something we should feel comfortable allowing. 

Rabbi David Bashevkin, on Tablet magazine’s Daf Yomi podcast “Take One,” argues that “the prototypical model of a prison” should be the womb. He says: 

What happens in the womb? … The entire point of the womb is to nurture somebody to develop that independence in order to… ultimately have that independent life. Part of the responsibility of what that world [of prison] needs to be is not just the pain and punishment, but serving as a societal womb of sorts, to ensure that part of that process of isolation and punishment is giving them the skills so they can one day form some meaningful contribution to the larger society. ¹⁷

By recognizing the image of God in everyone, no matter what they have done, we come to understand that justice demands not revenge, but acts of healing—both for the transgressor and of the divisions between us. 

Sources:

1. Leviticus 13:46
2.  Babylonian Talmud, Arachin 16b
3.  Numbers 12:10
4.  Rashi on Leviticus 13:46:1
5.  Proverbs 16:28
6.  Likutei Moharan 14:9:10
7.  The isolation period described in the Torah for a metzora, a leper, is limited to being confined outside the Israelite camp and the requirement for the metzora to cry “tamei, tamei” (“impure, impure”) when seeing a passerby. No acts of cruelty, physical or otherwise, were involved in the process. In fact, the isolation period could be viewed as a teaching moment and rehabilitation process.
8.  Solitary Watch: “FAQ, Solitary Confinement in the United States”
9.  Genesis 2:18
10.  Guenther was quoting what she says she learned from Angela Davis. 
11.  Valley Beit Midrash: “Confinement As a Unique Form of Oppression: Prof. Lisa Guenther Interviewed by R’ Shmuly Yanklowitz”
12.  Kaba, Fatos et al., “Solitary confinement and risk of self-harm among jail inmates.” American journal of public health vol. 104, 3 (2014): 442-7, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.301742
13. United Nations: “Solitary confinement should be banned in most cases, UN expert says” (2011)
14.  Genesis 2:18
15.  Amos 5:15
16.  Lev Meirowitz Nelson: “Mi Sheberach for People Held in Solitary Confinement,” T’ruah (2016)
17.  Tablet: “Take One: Moed Katan 14”