Parshat Tazria-Metzora 5761

This week's double portion covers some interesting and off-the-beaten-track topics.  Where else in the Torah can you read about
spreading or stationary skin eruptions and inflammations, or discolorations
of the scalp and beard? ("A dermatologist's delight," you're thinking.)  

And if that's not your cup of tea, read on for descriptions of green and red spots that appear mysteriously on one's clothing and on the walls of one's house…and the involved procedures, directed by your local Kohen, for determining their precise nature and working towards their removal.  ("Martha Stewart Meets Leviticus?" you're wondering.)

I don't mean to be flippant, but only to underscore the undeniable strangeness of much of the material in these portions.  It's remote from our daily experience. 

For the affliction, known as tzara'as, that manifests itself in these various and specific ways (on the skin, clothing and walls), is indicative of a spiritual malady, not a medical condition--ancient or modern.  As our Sages in the Talmud explain, tzara'as was a divine punishment for various  forms of "anti-social behavior," including loshon ha'ra (malicious slander of one's fellow man), arrogance, robbery, and sexual immorality.  (Artscroll Chumash, Stone Edition, p. 610, based on Arachin 16a)  It was a supernatural phenomenon, and therefore, appropriate (and limited) to the earlier days of our nation when the Temple stood and the connection between the physical and the spiritual was far more openly revealed.   

Which means that while those (still widespread) sins mentioned above do damage one's soul even today, and give rise to a "spiritual" tzara'as, as it were (as the Chofetz Chayim explains), their physical manifestation in the form described in these portions is now absent.  While introspection and self-correction are appropriate responses to any affliction (according to the Talmud), don't hesitate also to call your skin doctor should strange spots appear on your hand or face...or your favorite local pressure cleaner [like JEM, Inc.] should unsightly red and green blotches crop up on your walls! 

But we should still study the portion carefully, even if we are unlikely to encounter tzara'as in our everyday lives.  For all the verses of the Torah contain wisdom and instruction. 

I'll give you one beautiful example.

The Torah describes what a person was supposed to do if he saw something suspicious on his walls: 

"…he, to whom the house belongs, shall come and declare to the Kohen, saying, 'Something like an affliction has appeared to me in the house.' The Kohen shall command; and they shall empty the house [of possessions] before the Kohen comes to look at the affliction, so that everything in the house should not become spiritually impure…" (Leviticus: 14, 35-6)

The Talmud notes the cumbersome phraseology ("he, to whom the house belongs"). The Torah could much more simply have written,  "The owner shall come…"  What are we being taught by the extra words?  

The Talmud (Yoma 11b and Arachin 16a) explains that the words allude to an ugly character trait of the homeowner; they reveal to us the very attitude on his part that caused the Almighty to send this punishment upon him.   Rather than letting others share in his wealth and possessions, he believes that he alone is the one to whom the house belongs!  Since (as one of the Talmudic texts describes the scenario) he has pretended that he doesn't even have the belongings that his fellow man asked to borrow, G-d exposes his treachery by requiring him to empty the house…and those possessions he willfully withheld from his neighbor are now out on the lawn (or sidewalk) for everyone to see!  

Another way of looking at this punishment (this is my own understanding) is that G-d is dealing with the afflicted man "measure for measure."  Since he was unwilling to let others get pleasure and benefit from his home and possessions, he himself is now deprived of that right, too!  At the very least, he is subjected to the inconvenience of emptying his house; in other circumstances, the whole house may have to be dismantled or even demolished.   (See the portion for details.)

Contained in these few words is a fundamental idea of Judaism: our possessions, our wealth, everything "we own," in fact, we do not really own in any absolute sense.  It is on loan.  All that we have been blessed with is merely meant to be utilized (and sanctified) to help us in the service of G-d.  And very much included in that charge is the obligation to benefit our fellow man with everything we have.  Wealth is a blessing…and, like all blessings (talents, Torah knowledge, etc.), it is meant to be shared, not hoarded.   

As my kids love to sing (nearly bringing tears to my eyes each time they do), "Avraham's ohel (tent) had four doors; in and out the people went.  He gave them food, and helped them rest.  Who will be Avraham's guest?" Now, that is the paradigm of a (Jewish) home, and the most eloquent epitaph for an unequaled servant of G-d!  You can be sure there was never a spot of tzara'as on the walls of Avraham's tent.   

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his classic introduction to Judaism, Nineteen Letters, expands on the same theme:    

"Everything bestowed upon you-mind, body, fellowman, material goods, other creatures, every talent and every power-all are merely means to action…to further and safeguard everything…The earth was not created as a gift to you-you have been given to the earth, to treat it with respectful consideration, as G-d's earth, and everything on it as G-d's creation, as your fellow creature, to be respected, loved and helped to attain its purpose according to G-d's will… Our life's mission is concerned with what we become, what we make of ourselves, and what we give, not what we get.  We should measure our attainments by the extent to which we fulfill G-d's will with the help of our outer and inner acquisitions, utilizing every single one, small or large, for truly human deeds of Divine service."  (Feldheim edition; pp. 56-57; my emphasis)

I'll be the first to tell you that I myself am far from the ideal Hirsch (or my daughter, with her Day School ditty) so movingly presents.  But I can't think of a more beautiful goal to aim for in life, or a better summary of what G-d wants from us Jews--His holy nation.

We have a choice.  To be a blessing to the world… or to barricade ourselves in our homes (and egos), reserving all that we own for ourselves alone.  The latter course has a price: to invite upon oneself the curse of tzara'as, and face the big-time (spiritual) cleaning bills that will entail.   May  we all strive, instead, to choose the first way, and to live joyfully ever after!

GOOD SHABBOS!

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