Parashas Tazria-Metzora
Although the plague of tzara’as shows up on the skin, it is not symptomatic of a physical ailment, but of a spiritual one. We are told that the primary causes are ga’avah (haughtiness) and lashon hara.
The first primary symptom of tzara’as is “s’eis,” an elevated swelling of the skin (13:2). The word s’eis comes from the word lehitnasei, to elevate oneself. This symptom is caused by a false feeling of elevation. It is only when one feels superior that one speaks lashon hara and puts others down.
The second primary symptom of tzara’as is baheres, a bright spot on the skin. The word baheres comes from the word “bahir” which means clear or bright. The one afflicted thinks, because I am so bright, it is clear to me that I am always right and I become self-opinionated. Others who do not share my view are simply wrong. This sense of false self-assuredness stems from ga’avah.
Once these symptoms appear on the skin, the kohen, the spiritual doctor, is called in to diagnose them to see whether there are tell-tale signs of spiritual contamination, tumah (13:2).
There are several of these tell-tale signs.
One of them is that a hair in the afflicted area has turned white. The hair of a person who is old in his ways turns white. We are told that once a person commits the same sin many times, it loses the properties of something which is forbidden and by dint of age-old repetition morphs into something which he considers permissible (Yoma 86b). There is no way back for the hair that has turned white with age or for the whitewash of habit that turns wrong into right. The kohen’s diagnosis is that this person is spiritually contaminated.
Another tell-tale sign is that there is healthy flesh within the afflicted area. Focusing on the healthy area, the afflicted person remains in a state of denial. He protests, “I’m all right, Jack,” and refuses to admit his faults or mend his ways. This too leads the kohen to the determination that this person is spiritually contaminated.
On the day that the Metzora finished his declared period of tzara’as, he had to be brought to the kohen to undergo his purification procedure. During the tzara’as period, the Metzora had to adhere to the following five conditions. His clothes had to be torn; his hair had to grow wild; his mouth had to be covered; he had to declare to all that he was tamei and that nobody should come near him; and he had to be quarantined outside of the three camps (13:45-46). Common to all of these requirements was the humiliation factor. The same person who elevated himself by slandering others had to be stripped of all the accessories, luxuries and status that put him on the pedestal from which he lorded it over others. Worst of all, this erstwhile respectable and sociable person was forced to live alone shunned by the people he defamed.
So, now that he had served out his time and would soon be eligible to rejoin the world, why was he not eager to undergo the purification ceremony to be administered by the kohen which would be his ticket back to freedom? Why did he have to be brought to the kohen, rather than rush to him of his own accord? The answer is that like an alcoholic who is scared to touch any alcohol after his rehabilitation, so too the Metzora was fearful of assuming his former position in society lest he fall off the wagon again and relapse into slandering and disparaging those around him. But the Torah does not want us to live in isolation or to deprive ourselves of the permitted joys of life. It wants us to demonstrate that even when life is lived to the full, it can be lived in such a way which helps other people rather than hurts them, and in a way that G-d can be proud of.
The purification procedure involved the following. Two tahor birds had to be brought, one of which was slaughtered. Its blood had to poured into an earthenware vessel (14:4-5). Like birds, the Metzora could not stop prattling. But unlike birds whose chirping is pure in the sense that it hurts no one, the Metzora’s gossiping wounded others. Maligning his victims caused the blood to drain from their faces. As part of his atonement, the bad blood he generated had to be poured into an earthenware jar, the humblest of receptacles. What is the remedy for speakers of lashon hara? He should talk about Torah (Arachin 16b) which is compared to living water. The bad blood he generated had to be mixed with and dissolved by the mayim chayim in the humble jar.
In addition to the two birds, the purification ceremony involved the taking of a rod made of cedar wood. The cedar tree produces no fruit, yet it stands tall and proud. What is it so proud of? Pride leads to haughtiness which in turn leads to sin. So, the rod of cedar used to beat others down needs to be tied with a crimson string, signifying the color of sin, to the lowly hyssop plant which grows on the ground. The overgrown ego of the slanderer needs to be shown its connection to sin which will ultimately bring it down to the humble level of the hyssop.
Finally, the second bird that was not slaughtered was sent to fly over the fields (14:7). Unlike the city which is full of people living in houses who are targets of slander, the fields are empty of people giving one nobody to talk about. If one wants to live as free as a bird, don’t abuse the privilege by standing on a perch and snooping into other people’s lives. Pretend you are living in a field where what goes on is none of one’s business.