Earlier in Melachim II, we find the dramatic taking leave of the Prophet Eliyahu from his disciple, Elisha. At that time, Eliyahu asked Elisha to request something from him, and Elisha had requested double the amount of prophetic spirit that had rested upon Eliyahu. Eliyahu responded that it was a hard request, but that if Elisha would be able to see the manner in which Eliyahu was taken from the world, that would mean that his request would be granted, and otherwise, not.

The two prophets are walking near the "Yarden"/Jordan, and we read how a fiery chariot and fiery horses separate the two great men of Israel, and take Eliyahu "in a storm" to heaven. Elisha, seeing this, cries out, "My father, my father, chariot of Israel and its cavalry!"

The early chapters of Melachim Bet paint a picture of Elisha as a wonder-working prophet who has been given by Hashem the "Key of Opening the Womb," as we see in the account of the Woman of Shunam and the Key of Reviving the Dead, as we see in the account of her son.

It is a time of famine, but Elisha is nevertheless supporting 2200 prophets. A wealthy individual brings to the prophet twenty one loaves of barley bread. Elisha instructs that they be distributed to his students, and even though one loaf will have to satisfy one hundred hungry students, Elisha says that Hashem has said that the amount will suffice. The bread is distributed and miraculously, it does more than suffice.

Naaman is the Chief Military Officer of the King of Aram; he is very successful in war, and he has the full confidence of the King. One day he contracts the disease without a physical cause spoken of at length in the Bible, "Tzaraat." The forces of Aram invade Israel and among their captives is a young Jewish girl, who is assigned to the house of Mrs. Naaman. When she hears that Naaman has contracted "Tzaraat," she tells her mistress that the only way to rid oneself of the disease is to go to the Prophet of Israel, find out the spiritual cause, follow his instructions and repent before Hashem.

Mrs. Naaman tells her husband in the name of the little girl, Naaman does the same to the King of Aram, the King sends a huge gift meant for the prophet with a letter to the King of Israel, Yehoram. When the King receives the letter, he goes into "mourning," because either he is too embarrassed to go to the prophet Elisha because of past disobeying of his commands or it just does not occur to him, in his lack of belief in G-d, that Elisha can do anything for him.

Elisha enters the picture, and sends a message to the palace of Yehoram, asking why the King has donned the clothes of mourning - let Naaman come to the Prophet, who will cure him by instruction from Hashem, Naaman will be cured and will know that there is a Prophet in Israel!

Naaman goes to Elisha's home with his Chariot and his horses, and remains "parked" outside, certain that because of his own greatness, the prophet will have to come out to him. He will then wave a magic wand over the leprous skin, pronounce some blessing, and the cure, if there will be one, will be forthcoming. Elisha does no such thing. He sends his servant Gechazi out to tell Naaman that all he need do is go to the Yarden River, immerse in its waters seven times with a contrite attitude, and he will be cured.

Naaman gets very angry; he didn't expect this kind of reception from the Prophet of Israel. Who did he think he was? If he wanted to recommend immersion in water as a cure, didn't he know that Naaman had far greater rivers in Aram than the Yarden, and that Naaman had been bathing in them every day with no effect!

Naaman's servants approached him and suggested that Jews are anything but stupid, and if the Prophet had suggested immersion in the Yarden, he might at least try it. Who knows? It might work. So Naaman went down to the Yarden, immersed himself seven times, trying to have a contrite attitude as the Prophet had instructed him, and emerged with the skin of a young boy.

And Naaman returned, with his entire entourage, to the home of Elisha, and made the following declaration, "I know now that there is no G-d in the World but Hashem! Now accept a present from your servant. But Elisha responded, "By the Life of Hashem Whom I have served, I will take nothing!" Naaman tried repeatedly to convince him, but the Prophet adamantly refused!

Giving up, Naaman requested permission to take earth from Eretz Yisrael, enough to be carried by two donkeys, enough to build an altar, for he vowed never to sacrifice before a god other than the true G-d again. But he requested a single exception. That is, when he would go with the King of Aram to the local shrine, and the King would be right with him, then permit him to bow in the House of Rimon, may Hashem forgive your servant in this matter. And Elisha responded, "Go in peace."

And he had gone just about a mile …

(That is the end of the Haftarah, but the continuation is that Gechazi couldn't deal with the fact that his Master had refused any compensation for the curing of Naaman. And he ran after Naaman and told him that Elisha had changed his mind and did in fact want some compensation. This act of betrayal by Gechazi resulted in his being punished by the same terrible disease, "Tzaraat," that Naaman had been cured of.)

Two females play important supporting roles in the healing of Naaman. They are the mysterious, unnamed "young girl" who was taken captive by the Arameans and put into the service of the general's wife. She told Naaman's wife that the best "Tzaraat"-Specialist in the world at that time was the Prophet Elisha, who lived in Shomron.

Naaman's wife, the other "supporting actress," faithfully related the same message to Naaman, in the name of the girl, that a cure might be available in Shomron. The principle of "Everyone who repeats a message in the name of the one who said it brings redemption to the world" came true in this case, as Naaman's Tzaraat was cured and, according to the Baal HaTurim on Shemot 28:7, he was brought under the wings of the Divine Presence, became a convert and one of his descendants taught Torah publicly in Israel."

Actually, there was no confrontation, because Elisha did not come out to speak with Naaman, but sent Gechazi out to give him the prescription for the cure: seven immersions in the waters of the Yarden River.

This was the second time that Elisha had seen someone on a chariot with horses. The first was his spiritual mentor, Eliyahu, whom he had seen on a fiery chariot, pulled by horses of fire. That had been a test, whether he would be able to see the spiritual vision. This too, the sight of Naaman on his earthly chariot pulled by earthly horses, was also a test. The test was whether he could give Naaman the right message, so that he would learn the lesson of humility, which was the key to his cure.

The connection with Eliyahu is emphasized by the fact that Naaman's servants refer to him as "Avi," my Father. This is the same term, an unusual one to be used by the servants of a military commander for their master, that Elisha had used in reference to Eliyahu HaNavi, his spiritual guide and master, when he referred to him as "Avi, Avi, Rechev Yisrael U'Parashav," "My father, my father, Chariot of Israel and its cavalry."

• After Naaman immerses himself seven times in the waters of the Yarden, the text in Melachim 2 describes him as emerging with the skin of a "naar katon," a "young boy." This may be a "remez," a hint, that the one most responsible for his cure was the "naarah ketana," the "young girl," who had seemed to be playing only a "supporting" role in the drama (Melachim 2, 5:2-3).

• Centrality of the Yarden in the Life of the Jewish People; The encounter between Yaakov and Esav, many centuries earlier, described in the Torah in Parshat Vayishlach (Bereshit 32:4-33:17), took place by the Yarden. Yaakov says, in thanking Hashem, "ki b'makli avarti et ha-Yarden ha-zeh," literally meaning that his only possession at the time of his first crossing was his staff, but interpreted by the Midrash as meaning that Hashem gave him the ability to split the waters of the Yarden using his staff.
  
  Elisha, also, as had Eliayhu before him, crossed the Yarden in miraculous ways, and the Midrash says "Greater miracles were done for Elisha in the Spliting of the Yarden than were done for Eliyahu." (Yalkut Shimoni al HaTorah 92)

• Yaakov also said at that time, "Katonti mikol ha-chasadim u'mikol ha-emet asher asita im avdecha," "I am too small and insignificant to have deserved all the kindnesses and all the truth that You have done for Your servant, (Bereshit 32:11)" perhaps another allusion to the "narah ketanah," the "young girl" who saved the day, from behind the scenes, in our Hafatrah. And for the parallel role of the Jews in history, as the "smallest of the nations," yet somehow providing from behind the scenes the creative energy for mankind.

• Yaakov was returning from Padan Aram; the Haftarah deals with the interaction of the descendants of Yaakov with the Nation of Aram.

• Our Parshah begins "When a woman conceives;" (Vayikra 12:2) Elisha, the Prophet-hero of the Haftarah, is entrusted by Hashem with the key of conception, as we see in the story of the childless "woman of Shunam;" and Yaakov was promised by Hashem in Bereshit 32:13 "And I will make your seed as the sand of the sea, that is uncountable."

• Naaman says to Elisha, "And now, I beg of you, accept this "beracha," this blessing, from your servant." (Melachim 2, 5:15)
  Yaakov and Esav had struggled over the "blessing" of their father.

• In Vayishlach, we also find the story of the kidnapping of Dinah, the young daughter of Leah, who "went out to see the daughters of the land, met and captivated Shechem, the prince of the region, and was violated and taken captive by him." (Bereshit 33:18-34:31)
  
  In our Haftarah, we find "And the regiments of Aram went out and they captured from the Land of Israel a "young girl."

• In Parshat Vayishlach, we find Yaakov bowing before Esav seven times. In Parshat Tazria, we find the number "seven" as the time-unit of uncleanness, of separation - between husband and wife after the birth of a boy, and twice seven for a girl. As a time-unit of separation from society, the Tzarua, the victim of Tzaraat, must be confined, during the diagnostic period, first seven days, then in some cases another seven days, etc. In the Haftarah, we find Naaman immersing himself seven times in the Yarden, to rid himself of the uncleanness of Tzaraat, at the command of the prophet.

• In Parshat Vayishlach, we find our father Yaakov urging his brother, Esav, to accept his present, "Vayiftzar bo, vayikach," "And he urged him, and he accepted;" (Bereshit 33:11) quite the opposite of what we find in the Haftarah, when Naaman urges the Prophet Elisha to accept his gift for restoring him to society, "Vayiftzar bo, vayemaen," And he urged him, and he adamantly refused. (This term "Vayemaen", and he refused, is identical to the term that we find in connection with Yosef's refusal to yield to the temptation of his attempted seduction by the wife of Potifar.)

In Vayishlach, Esav asks Yaakov's messengers, "What did you intend by that whole group that you sent to me?" using the Hebrew word "machaneh" for group. In Parshat Tazria, we find that the "Tzarua," who is diagnosed by the "Kohen" to in fact have "Tzaraat" is sent "michutz la-machaneh," outside the group, or camp, of society.

In the Haftarah, we find Naaman returning, "hu v'chol machanehu,' "he and all of his camp," as if to present them all as a gift to the Prophet and to the G-d of Israel.

• At the end of the Haftarah, after Naaman is cured, and Elisha has refused his gifts, we find "Vayelech meito kivrat aretz," "And he went for about a mile …" That's the end of the Haftarah. Of course, what happens after that point in Melachim 2, is that Gechazi, the servant of Elisha, messes up the Kiddush Hashem, by running after Naaman, and telling him falsely that his master has changed his mind about accepting some compensation for his services. For this, Gechazi is "rewarded" with the "disease" which has been lifted from Naaman.

In Vayishlach, in a similar manner, tragedy strikes when Yaakov finds himself "only about a mile," "od kivrat ha-aretz lavo efratah," from Efrat. His beloved wife Rachel, pregnant with Binyamin, goes into labor and the baby has lodged itself into a breech position, and the only way to have any live survivor is to remove it while killing the mother. This is done, and Rachel becomes the only one of the Four Mothers buried outside the "Meorat Ha-Machpelah," the Cave of the Machpelah, in Hebron. According to Jewish Tradition, it is the weeping of our Mother Rachel that arouses Hashem to take pity on his exiled People.

• In Parshat Tazria, the Kohen, the Priest, is the one who deals with the individual who "may be" afflicted with the dread disease. In the Haftarah, it is the Prophet, the Navi, who cures Naaman. But their roles are very different. The Kohen is the "diagnostician," as it were, who identifies the occurrence of the disease. In the Haftarah, there is no doubt that Naaman has Tzaraat. It is Elisha's task to cure him in a way that creates a great "Kiddush Hashem," Sanctification of G-d's Name.

• Naaman's Disease, "Tzaraat," seems not to be among the scourges of mankind whose prevention and cure are taught nowadays in medical school. That disease afflicted a society that was closer to Hashem, and its behavior could be directly rewarded or punished. However, its causes have not disappeared. CHAZAL teach that it was caused by slander and arrogance. We must concentrate on avoiding the causes even though Hashem now presumably uses some other, less obvious, method of punishment.

• There seem to be too many connections for there not to be a pattern here. One thing we see is the cyclical role that the Jewish People play in history, sometimes acting in a submissive manner, sometimes as a beacon of light.

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel