פרשת מצורע תש"ו - נגעי בתים

The Hebrew term for leprosy is a homonym embracing various meanings. The whiteness in a man's skin is called leprosy; the falling off of some hair on the head or the chin is named leprosy; and a change of color in clothing or in houses is referred to as leprosy. Now this change in clothes and in houses which the Torah has called leprosy, as a homonym, is not a natural phenomenon, but was deemed a sign and a wonder among the people of Israel to warn them against evil gossip. If a man dealt out malicious gossip, the walls of his house would change; if he repented, the house would become clean again. But if he persisted in his wickedness until the house was demolished, leather objects in his home upon which he would sit or lie would then suffer a change; if he repented, they would become clean again. But if he persisted in his wickedness until they had to be burned, the clothes which he wore would undergo a change; if he repented, they would become clean again. But if he persisted in his wickedness until they had to be burned, his skin would suffer a change and he would become leprous, and be set apart and exposed all alone, so as not to engage in evil talk, which consists of mockery and malicious gossip.
In warning against this, the Torah says: "In an attack of leprosy you shall be careful… Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the journey" (Deuteronomy 24:8-9). The Torah means to say: Consider what happened to Miriam the prophetess who spoke against her brother, even though she was older than he, and had nurtured him on her knees after having endangered her life to save him from the sea. Now she did not disparage him but made the only mistake in placing him on a level with other prophets, and he did not mind all this, as it is written: "Moses was a very humble man" (Numbers 12:3). And yet, she was immediately punished with leprosy. How much more then is this applicable to evil men, those fools, who keep talking arrogantly and boastfully.
It is therefore proper for the man who would steer his course of life aright to shun their company and refrain from talking with them, that he should not be caught in the net of evil and arrogant men. The company of wicked mockers follows this usage: At the outset, they indulge in much idle talk, as it is written: "A fool's voice comes with a multitude of words" (Ecclesiastes 5:2). Thereupon they fall into discrediting the upright, as it is written: "Let dumbness strike the lying lips that speak insolence against the just" (Psalm 31:19). Then they get into the habit of talking against the prophets and discrediting their words, as it is written: "They mocked God's messengers, despised his words, and derided his prophets" (II Chronicles 36:16). Then they come to speak against God and to deny the very principle of religion, as it is written: "The Israelites devised things that were not right against the Lord their God" (II Kings 17:9). It is written moreover: "They set their mouthings against heaven, and their tongue roams the earth" (Psalm 73:9). What caused them to set their mouthings against heaven? Their tongue, which first roamed the earth. Such is the conversation of the wicked, occasioned by their sitting at street corners, the meeting places of the ignorant, and the company of drunkards in the taverns. The conversation of worthy Jews, on the other hand, is permeated with words of Torah and wisdom. For this reason, God lends them aid and bestows wisdom upon them, as it is written: "When those who revered the Lord spoke to each other, the Lord heeded and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the Lord and ahhered to him" (Malachi 3:16).

And when the plague of leprosy is in a garment, whether it be a woolen garment, or a linen garment;

When ye are come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession;