Unclean

Today, like other days, Benjamin had spent hours watching people's hands: hands reaching out, touching; hands as they greeted each other; as they worked; as they passed things between them; as they expressed concern for each other.

Hands fascinated him: hands that grasp other hands in greeting; hands that reach out for attention; hands that express compassion with a gentle warmth; hands that caress lovingly. Children's hands, so small and smooth, that pat tenderly the one they love.

Vendor's hands touch the customer as they exchange goods and money. Beggar's hands stretch out for alms. Robber's hands grasp, assault.

Hands, touching hands.

Benjamin looked at his own hands in disgust. Like most of the rest of his body they were covered with leprosy, cracked, sore, and running with a smelly discharge. Lately he had experience numbness in his fingers and he knew that as the disease progressed his fingers would drop off.

Thrusting his hands beneath his ragged tunic he moved on, calling out the warning "Unclean - Unclean" as he went. At his call people quickly stepped aside or turned their backs and covered their faces. The look of disgust when someone looked into his ravaged face brought him to the point of wearing a rag across his face whenever he left the caves where he lived.

Two years ago Benjamin had been a successful merchant in the busy streets of Capernaum. He lived in a small but clean house several streets away from the busy street that filled with people every day. His wife Leah was strikingly beautiful. But she was quiet and shy and blushed when he spoke of her beauty. His small son, Simon, was dark complexioned like his mother and had her beautiful wide, dark eyes. His tiny daughter Ruth was but a few weeks old when the first spot appeared on his arm. In just a few weeks it had spread to his wrist. As Mosaic Law prescribed, Benjamin saw the priest and was diagnosed a leper.