Rabbi's Sermons

Shabat Shalom

          Those who read the weekly Torah portion - metzora, will surely remain with lots of questions about the meaning behind the almost mysterious ritual of the purification from leprosy. Chazal our sages, could not interpret the secret behind the ritual cleansing of a patient after his recovery, and Maimonides himself, despite his profession as an experienced physician, could not understand the process of purification of the leprosy using as we read from the Tora: "two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop". Maimonides wrote and admitted as I quote: "I do not know the causes of all these things". Now, if this is what Maimonides admitted, what else could I add?

          I also remained with many questions about almost every paragraph I read. I stopped when I reach the detailed compound to be prepared as we read: "The blood of the bird, cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop" and I tried to understand the essence of the whole chapter. Why would the Torah spend so many words to an entire chapter dedicated to this specific phenomena? What was so important about leprosy? And what was the biblical leprosy at all?

          The Hebrew word TZARAAT did not exist in other languages and was translated into Greek by the Septuaginta as LEPRA or today’s LEPROSY in English, although there is no relation between the two since, as we read this morning, leprosy did not only affected humans but also clothing and even houses. The Talmud in NEGAIM explains that TZARAAT lesions were generally skin diseases in humans that were characterized by sores of any type, not just the terrible bacterial disease known today. Clothing or homes affected had a greenish or reddish patch identified as mold or fungus.

          The Halachic significance of leprosy involved the laws of purity and impurity, so most commentators agree that leprosy had a spiritual significance and the reasons to have it were moral failures. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch indicates that TZARAAT was actually a "spiritual problem" rather than a disease. This is because the patient was not checked by a doctor, but by a priest, while the Torah itself requires a person to seek medical attention in case of illness or accident, as it written in Exodus 21 "Ve Rapo Irape" from “REFUA - medicine”, in addition to it Hirsch emphasizes based on the Torah, that the outcome of leprosy was not defined as an “illness” but as TUM’A - contamination related only to temple matters.

          The Babylonian Talmud Arachin 15b, reinforces this point as we read: "Reish Lakish said: Why is it written, ‘This shall be the law of the leper' METZORA? This is to teach us about defamation". Actually, we may read METZORA not as a word, but as an acronym (Mtzr"a) meaning MOTZI SHEM RA “whosoever says Lashon Hara”. Midrash Rabba even ranks the kind of sins, and by the same rating indicates the punishment: The lightest started with leprosy in the house, then leprosy of the garments, and finally leprosy on the body of a man, so he had to live in seclusion for a week until he had fully healed, not for fear of becoming ill with a disease, but because he was not wanted due to his/her immoral behavior! After a fully recovery still the “leper” had to sacrifice for the sin, not the sin of being sick, but the sin that caused leprosy in the very first place LASHON HARA. Although it is not explicitly stated in the Torah that the sin of TZARAAT comes for this reason, some sages found a hint from the story of the serpent on Genesis, the very first one that spoke defamation about God.

          The severity of the offense was because the snake did not even gained anything from it, it came out from pure evil. The snake’s sin caused fungus in the houses as it says in Genesis: "and he sent him out of the Lord God from heaven ... and expel him from paradise (from home)", and the mold on the clothes as it is written in Genesis:  "Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them" and finally the lesions on the body, that is, diseases and even death as it is written in Genesis: "and unto dust shalt thou return".

          How is TZARAAT relevant to us today? Since the destruction of the Temple the whole reference to the Biblical leprosy seems irrelevant now days, as if TZARAAT had disappeared from the world along with the priests, and the ceremonies, or perhaps… maybe... TZARAAT is still among us but in a different shape or meaning. Today we know a victim of defamation or gossip can socially or legally press charges, and in more serious cases the offender may be sent to “quarantine” to jail, away from society even for years.

          There is much to learn from the biblical leprosy, but more from the "Leprosy" nowadays: defamation and negative emotions can cause a person to remain isolated and remote from society. In the other hand, an honest, humble and true prayer, from our souls can create miracles! And it does not really depend anymore on a Cohen or a priest… it simply depends on us. In the Book of Tehilim, Psalm 34, there is a clear and simple recipe for a good and healthy life: “Netzor leshoncha Mera - Keep thy tongue from evil - Usfatecha midaber mirma and thy lips from speaking guile - Sur mera vease tov - Depart from evil and do good”, Bakesh SHALOM Verodfehu – “seek peace and pursue it”.

I love a song that uses this verse:

מִי-הָאִישׁ, הֶחָפֵץ חַיִּים; אֹהֵב יָמִים, לִרְאוֹת טוֹב. ^יד נְצֹר לְשׁוֹנְךָ מֵרָע; וּשְׂפָתֶיךָ, מִדַּבֵּר מִרְמָה. ^טו סוּר מֵרָע, וַעֲשֵׂה-טוֹב; בַּקֵּשׁ שָׁלוֹם וְרָדְפֵהוּ.

Shabat Shalom!

April 19th, 2024

Rabbi David Laor