Tazria-Metzora 5780

(1) The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

(2) When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration, and it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of his body, it shall be reported to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests.

(3) The priest shall examine the affection on the skin of his body: if hair in the affected patch has turned white and the affection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous affection; when the priest sees it, he shall pronounce him unclean.

(4) But if it is a white discoloration on the skin of his body which does not appear to be deeper than the skin and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest shall isolate the affected person for seven days.

(1) הפך לבן [THE HAIR …] IS TURNED WHITE — This means that at first it was dark, and it turned white within the plague. The smallest number of hairs implied by the term שער is two (Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 2 2).

(2) עמק מעור בשרו [THE PLAGUE] IS DEEPER THAN THE SKIN OF HIS FLESH — Every white colour is deep (in contrast to a dark colour surrounding it) just as the colour of anything illuminated by the sun is deeper than the shadow (Shevuot 6b).

(3) וטמא אתו HE SHALL PRONOUNCE HIM UNCLEAN — He (the priest) shall say to him. “Thou art unclean” — for it is an enactment of Scripture that hair that has become white is a symptom of uncleanness.

(32) On the seventh day the priest shall examine the affection. If the scall has not spread and no yellow hair has appeared in it, and the scall does not appear to go deeper than the skin,

(33) the person with the scall shall shave himself, but without shaving the scall; the priest shall isolate him for another seven days.

(2) Our ancestors tested the Holy Blessed One ten different times, but they were punished only for the sin of slander ([which was one of them]). These are the ten: Once at the sea, once when the manna was first given, once when the manna stopped coming down, once at the first appearance of quails, once at the latter appearance of quails, once at Marah, once at Refidim, once at Horev, once [at the Calf, and once] with the spies. And the sin of the spies was the worst of them all, as it says (Numbers 14:22), “They have tested Me these ten times, and have not heeded My voice.” And also (Numbers 14:37), “The men died before God by plague, for spreading bad reports about the Land [of Israel].” And from this we can reason that if the Holy Blessed One punished the spies for insulting the land, which has no mouth to speak, no reaction, and no shame, then all the more so would the Holy Blessed One punish someone who speaks ill of his friend and shames him.

Rabbi Shimon would say: Afflictions come upon those who speak slander. For so we find with Aaron and Miriam, who spoke slanderously about Moses, and punishments came upon them – as it says (Numbers 12:1), “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses.” And why does the verse place Miriam before Aaron? [This teaches us that Tziporah (the wife of Moses)] went and talked to Miriam, and then Miriam went and told everything to Aaron, and then the two of them began to speak against this righteous man. And because these two spoke against a righteous man, punishments came upon them, as it says (Numbers 12:9), “And the Eternal became angry with them, and departed.” What do we learn from “and departed”? This teaches us that God departed from Aaron and attached to Miriam, because Aaron was not as engaged as Miriam in spreading slanderous words around, so she was (immediately) punished more. Miriam said: Prophecy has come to me even though I have not separated from my husband. And Aaron said: Prophecy has come to me even though I have not separated from my wife. And even our earliest ancestors received prophecy even though they did not separate from their wives. But Moses, because he is so arrogant, separated from his wife. They did not take this up with [Moses] directly, nor did they know for certain that it was true. It was not at all clear that he was being arrogant. We can reason from this that if Miriam, who spoke against her brother only secretly, was still punished, then if one speaks against his friend publicly, and shames him, all the more so will he be punished.

(3) Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar would say: Afflictions come upon those who speak slanderously. This is what you see with Gehazi, who slandered his teacher and was afflicted with a skin disease that clung to him until the day he died, as it says (II Kings 5:27), “May the skin disease of Na’aman cling to you…and he left him, and he was flaky like the snow.”
He would also say: Afflictions come upon the arrogant. This is what we find with Uzziah, as it says (II Chronicles 26:16–19), “And when [King Uzziah] became strong, his heart became so proud that he became corrupt, and trespassed against the Eternal [his God by entering the Temple of the Eternal to offer incense on the altar. And after him came] the priest Azariah, with eighty other brave priests of the Eternal. They stood up against King Uzziahand said to him: It is not for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the Eternal, but for the priests, who are the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated, to offer incense. Get out of the Sanctuary, for you have trespassed, and there will no glory for you from the Eternal God. Uzziah, holding the incense lighter, became angry; but as he became angry with the priests, a skin disease broke out on his forehead.” At that moment, the Temple split apart into two halves, twelve miles apart. The priests, panicking, rushed to get out, “and he, too, rushed to get out, for the Eternal had afflicted him. And he was a leper until the day he died. He stayed in isolated quarters, as a leper, and he was cut off from the House of the Eternal, while Jotham his son was put in charge of the king’s house, and governed the people of the land” (II Chronicles 26:20–21).

(1) There is a story of Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar: He was once coming from Migdal Eder, from his teacher’s house, and he was riding on a donkey. He was traveling along the coast, and he spotted somebody who was quite ugly. He said: Empty one, how ugly you are! Are all the people in your city as ugly as you? The man replied: What can I do about it? Go to the Artisan who made me and say to Him, How ugly is this vessel You made! When Rabbi Shimon realized that he had sinned, he got off his donkey and prostrated himself before the man. And he said: I have sinned against you. Forgive me. But the man replied: I will not forgive you until you go to the Artisan who made me and say, How ugly is this vessel You made! Rabbi Shimon followed after him for three mil. All the people in the city came out to greet him, and then said: Peace be upon you, Rabbi! The man said: Whom are you calling Rabbi? They said: The one who is traveling behind you. He said to them: If that is a rabbi, may there be no more like him in Israel! They said to him: God forbid! What did he do to you? He told them: Such-and-such he did to me. They said to him: Even so, forgive him! He said: I hereby forgive [him], but only if he does not continue doing this.

On that day, Rabbi Shimon went to his great study hall and taught: A person should always be soft like a reed, and not rigid like a cedar. For the reed, when all the winds come and blow against it, moves in their direction. But when the winds quiet down, the reed returns to its place. That is why the reed merited to be made into a quill that is used to write a Torah scroll. But the cedar does not stay in its place; when the southern wind comes and blows against it, it uproots the tree and flips it over. And then what happens to the cedar? [Woodcutters come along and chop it up, and take from it to build houses and then] throw the rest into the fire. And that is why they say: A person should always be soft like a reed, and not rigid like a cedar.