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This
Week In The Torah.
Parsha Tazria/Metzora Leviticus Ch.12-13
This week's parsha includes
the laws of Nega Tzoras. This is a decease which manifests itself on a
person's skin with either a swelling (sa-es,)a scab (sapachas) or a bright
spot (baheres.) After diagnosis by a Cohen (priest) the person is removed
from the city and is isolated from society until he is healed. Our Sages
teach us the root cause of this decease is because the person was a continual
gossiper. Gossip causes distance between people and so, measure for measure,
he is also put at a distance from others.
Which kind of Tzoras will the
gossiper contract? Will it be a swelling, a scab or a bright spot? Well
this too is meted out measure for measure, for there are three kinds of
gossipers. Firstly the one that wants to feel good about himself by putting
other people down. He goes up by trashing everyone else. For this he'll
get a swelling. Next is the kind that wants to fit in with the crowd.
Everyone else is gossiping so he'll be a social misfit if he doesn't join
in. For this he'll a scab which is a clotting or gathering of blood. And
thirdly we have the Mr. Know-It-All. He prides himself on knowing everyone's
secrets, to him everything is bright and clear. So he'll get a nice bright
spot. G-d gives much more power to rewarding a person than punishing him.
If we see in the Parsha the severity of the punishment for a gossiper
we cannot begin to imagine how great the reward is for someone who controls
himself and speaks only good of people.
Based on the writings of Rav Moshe Sternbach
* * * * *
The Kohen and the Metzora
This shall be the law of the metzora on the day of his purification: He shall be brought to the Kohen. The Kohen shall go forth to the outside of the camp; the Kohen shall look, and behold! - the tzaraas had been healed from the metzora. Ch.12/2-3
In the first verse, the Torah says that the metzora is brought to the Kohen; but the very next says just the opposite, that the Kohen goes out to the metzora. So who really goes to whom?
The metzora is someone who has been spiritually contaminated to the extent that there are physical blemishes on his body. Untill those blemishes disappear, he must remain isolated, outside the camp. When they disappear, and he is checked by a Kohen, he may begin his purification process and re-enter
the camp.
The Sages tell us that haughtiness was a key factor in the metzora's spiritual decline. The metzora should therefore have to humble himself and go to the Kohen's house for an inspection. However, that is not possible, as the metzora is forbidden to enter the camp prior to the inspection. If, on the other hand, the Kohen goes to the place of the metzora, that may give the metzora an ego-trip and lead to a relapse. Therefore a specific place was set up on the edge of the camp where they would meet. And in order to humble the metzora, he must be waiting there first (verse 2), and then the Kohen arrives (verse 3).
Sources:Oznayim LeTorah
* * * * *
Impure! Impure!
And the person with tzara'as in whom there is the affliction - his garments shall be rent, the hair of his head shall be unshorn, and he shall cloak himself to his moustache; he is to call out, "Impure! Impure!". Ch.13/45
Why is it necessary for him to call out twice? Were people back then hard of hearing?
The commentators give two reasons why he has to call out Impure! First, to make known his condition, so that people will pray for his recovery. Secondly, it is taught that tzora'as afflicts the habitual slanderer. It is the nature of a slanderer to project his self-image onto others, imagining that they behave and think the same way he does. Consequently, if he slanders them that they have behaved in an impure manner, it's really a sign of his own impurity. For this reason he has to call out Impure!, to make him realize that this was the root cause of his slandering.
These two reasons explain why he has to call out twice: Once for others to hear; once for himself to hear.
Sources: The Shlah HaKodesh and Oznayim LeTorah
* * * * *
No Place Like Home
When the metzora is healed from his tzora'as he still needs to undergo a purification process to return home:
The Kohen shall command; and for the person being purified there shall be taken two live, pure birds, cedarwood, a crimson (tongue of) wool, and hyssop. Ch.14/4
The commentaries teach us that every facet of the meztora's purification is designed to teach him how to live as a better person. What symbolic role do the birds play in this purification?
King Soloman said: Like a bird wandering from its nest - so is a man who wanders from his place. (Proverbs 27/8.)
The Ralbag interprets this verse to mean that just as a bird never leaves its nest unless absolutely necessary (e.g., seasonal migration), so too man should not leave his place except for vital reasons. Alas, this was not the behavior of the metzora, who was punished for being a habitual gossiper. As Rashi comments on the prohibition of gossipping:
I say because all who instigate bad will and who relate malicious talk go to their fellows' houses to spy out what bad they may see or what bad they may hear to relate in the market. (Leviticus 19/16.)
So now the metzora must learn from the birds: there's no place like home, and avoid all those places of gossip!
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