פרשת צו: צרעת - חיים צומחים מתוך המוות

As for the person with a leprous affection: the clothes shall be rent, the head shall be left bare, and the upper lip shall be covered over; and that person shall call out, “Impure! Impure!” The person shall be impure as long as the disease is present. Being impure, that person shall dwell apart—in a dwelling outside the camp.

Rabbi Ze’eira began: “My lyre is for mourning, and my flute is for the voice of weepers” (Job 30:31). There it is taught: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as joyous for Israel as the fifteenth of Av and as Yom Kippur, on which the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in white borrowed garments so as not to embarrass one who did not have one. All the garments require immersion. The daughters of Israel would go out in them and dance in the vineyards. It is taught: One who did not have a wife would turn to there. What would they say? ‘Young man, lift your eyes and see what you are choosing for yourself. Do not look at beauty, look at lineage.’ Likewise it says: “Emerge, daughters of Zion, and gaze at King Solomon, at the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the rejoicing of his heart” (Song of Songs 3:11). “The day of his wedding” – this is the giving of the Torah. “The day of the rejoicing of his heart” – this is the building of the Temple, may it be built speedily in our days.Granted Yom Kippur, as it is a day of pardon and forgiveness for Israel, the day on which the last tablets were given. However, what is the fifteenth of Av? Rabbi Yaakov bar Aḥa said in the name of Rabbi Asi: It is the ideal time for chopping trees, as all the trees chopped on it do not produce a worm, and it is taught: Any wood in which a worm is found is disqualified from being atop the altar. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana and Rabbi Asi said in the name of Ulla in the name of Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi]: It was then that Hoshea ben Ela canceled the sentries that Yerovam ben Nevat had deployed on the roads. Rav Kahana asked before Rav: Is it possible that he did all this good and it is written in his regard: “Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, ascended against him, [and Hoshea became his servant]” (II Kings 17:3)? Rather, it is because he removed the collar from his neck and placed it on the neck of the masses, and he did not say: All the people should ascend and pray, but rather, anyone who wishes to ascend let him ascend.Rabbi Shmuel bat Naḥmani [said], and some say it in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzḥak: [The fifteenth of Av is] the day the tribes were permitted to enter into marriage with one another, as it is stated: “And every daughter who inherits an inheritance [from the tribes of the children of Israel shall be a wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father]” (Numbers 36:8), and it is written: “And no inheritance shall pass from tribe to another tribe…” (Numbers 36:9). Is it possible for a daughter to inherit [from] two tribes? Rather, say on this basis, her father was from one tribe and her mother from another tribe.The Rabbis said: [It is] the day the tribe of Benjamin was permitted to enter the congregation, as it is written: “Cursed is one who gives a woman to Benjamin” (Judges 21:18). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: They read a verse and drew them near, they read a verse and distanced them. They read a verse and drew them near: “A nation and an assembly of nations shall be from you” (Genesis 35:11). They read a verse and distanced them: “Ephraim and Manasseh will be like Reuben and Simeon for me” (Genesis 48:5) – as they are not considered with their brothers. Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: It was the day that the tribes were permitted [to marry each other].Rav Matna said: It was the day that the slain of Beitar were allowed to be buried. Rabbi Eliezer the Great said: It is reasonable on the fifteenth; from that point on, the intensity of the sun wanes and they would no longer chop wood for the arrangement. Rabbi Menasya said: They called it the day of the breaking of the scythe. From that point on: One who adds, adds, and one who does not add, will be gathered.Rabbi Avin and Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is the day that the digging for those who died in the wilderness was halted. Rabbi Levi said: Every eve of the ninth of Av, Moses would dispatch a herald to the entire camp, saying: ‘Go out and dig,’ and they would go out and dig graves and sleep in them. In the morning, he would dispatch a herald saying: ‘Rise and separate the dead from the living,’ and they would stand and take themselves out. Fifteen thousand and more were subtracted, for a total of six hundred thousand. In the fortieth year, the last one, they did so and found themselves intact. They said: It appears that we were mistaken in our calculation, and they did the same on the tenth, the eleventh, the twelfth, the thirteenth, and the fourteenth. When the moon was full, they said: It appears that the Holy One blessed be He abrogated the decree from upon us, and they then rendered it a holiday. But due to their iniquities, mourning beset this world with the destruction of the Temple twice. That is what is written: “My lyre is for mourning, and my flute is for the voice of weepers” (Job 30:31). “The people wept that night” (Numbers 14:1) – when they were exiled, Jeremiah began lamenting over them: “How does…sit solitary?” (Lamentations 1:1).

And fire came forth from ה' and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of ה'. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what ה' meant by saying: Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, And gain glory before all the people.” And Aaron was silent. Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come forward and carry your kinsmen away from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.” They came forward and carried them out of the camp by their tunics, as Moses had ordered. And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not bare your heads and do not rend your clothes, lest you die and anger strike the whole community. But your kin, all the house of Israel, shall bewail the burning that ה' has wrought.

O mortal, I am about to take away the delight of your eyes from you through pestilence; but you shall not lament or weep or let your tears flow. Moan softly; observe no mourning for the dead: Put on your turban and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover over your upper lip, and do not eat the bread of comforters.” In the evening my wife died, and in the morning I did as I had been commanded. And when I spoke to the people that morning,

the priest shall order two live pure birds, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop to be brought for the one to be purified. The priest shall order one of the birds slaughtered over fresh water in an earthen vessel;

and the priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson stuff, and throw them into the fire consuming the cow.

As the cloud withdrew from the Tent, there was Miriam stricken with snow-white scales! When Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she was stricken with scales. And Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, account not to us the sin which we committed in our folly. Let her not be like a stillbirth which emerges from its mother’s womb with half its flesh eaten away!”

On the seventh day all hair shall be shaved off—of head, beard [if any], and eyebrows. Having shaved off all hair, the person shall wash those clothes and bathe the body in water—and then shall be pure. On the eighth day that person shall take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish, three-tenths of a measure of choice flour with oil mixed in for a meal offering, and one log of oil. These shall be presented before ה', with the party to be purified, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, by the priest who performs the purification. The priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it with the log of oil as a guilt offering, and he shall elevate them as an elevation offering before ה'. The lamb shall be slaughtered at the spot in the sacred area where the sin offering and the burnt offering are slaughtered. For the guilt offering, like the sin offering, goes to the priest; it is most holy. The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the ridge of the right ear of the one who is being purified, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot.

He brought the letter to the king of Israel. It read: “Now, when this letter reaches you, know that I have sent my courtier Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

See, I appoint you this dayOver nations and kingdoms:To uproot and to pull down,To destroy and to overthrow,To build and to plant.

But the truth is that no person is able to stay at one level always, because the life-force ebbs and flows, it comes and goes, meaning that when he is attached to Blessed God he feels life-force and pleasure; and afterward he moves away and falls from his level. And contained in this are secrets of Torah, the reason why it is necessary to fall from his level; and one reason is so that he can arrive afterward at an even greater level, for in every thing there must be Absence before Presence. When we want to rise to an even greater level there must be absence beforehand, therefore one must fall from the level at which one currently stands.

With every elevation, there is always a state in which lack precedes being. That manifests itself as a state of descent and spiritual weariness prior to the intensified strength [that comes] from the more elevated source.

Once, the prince was carving wood and he nicked his finger. The princess ran to bandage his finger and she saw a gemstone there. She was extremely jealous of him, and she made herself sick. Many doctors came but were unable to heal her at all. Sorcerers were called. A sorcerer was there, to whom she disclosed the truth, that she had made herself sick because of her brother, as mentioned. And she asked the sorcerer if it were possible to perform a spell on a man to become leprous. He said, "Yes." She said to the sorcerer, "What if he asks another sorcerer to annul the spell so that he will be healed?" The sorcerer said, "If the sorcery is thrown into the water, it can no longer be annulled." She did so and threw the sorcery into the water. The prince became very leprous. He had leprosy on his nose, on his face and on the rest of his body. The king got involved with doctors and with sorcerers, but they were of no avail. The king decreed on the Jews to pray. The Jews sought the tzaddik (who had prayed for the king to have a son, as mentioned), and brought him before the king. Now, this tzaddik would always pray before Hashem Yithbarakh, inasmuch as he had promised the king that his son would be completely made of gemstones, and it had not been fulfilled. And he complained to the Eybishter (the Most High; God), "Have I done this for honor's sake? I have done this only for Your honor, and now, it has not been fulfilled the way I said." And the tzaddik came to the king. The tzaddik had prayed (namely, for the leprosy of the prince to be healed), but to no avail. He was informed that it was sorcery. Now, this tzaddik was higher than all sorcery. The tzaddik came and informed the king that it was a sorcery, and that the sorcery had been thrown into the water, so the prince could not be healed except by throwing the sorcerer who performed the spell into the water. The king said, "I give you all the sorcerers to throw into the water so that my son be healed." The princess was afraid, so she ran to the water to pull the sorcery out of the water, for she knew where it was. She fell into the water. A great tumult erupted over the princess' falling into the water. The tzaddik came and said that the prince would be healed. And he was healed, the leprosy withered up and fell off, and his entire skin peeled off. And he was entirely of gemstones, as the tzaddik had said.

How does the court intimidate the witnesses in giving testimony for cases of capital law? They would bring the witnesses in and intimidate them by saying to them: Perhaps what you say in your testimony is based on conjecture, or perhaps it is based on a rumor, perhaps it is testimony based on hearsay, e.g., you heard a witness testify to this in a different court, or perhaps it is based on the statement of a trusted person. Perhaps you do not know that ultimately we examine you with inquiry and interrogation, and if you are lying, your lie will be discovered. The court tells them: You should know that cases of capital law are not like cases of monetary law. In cases of monetary law, a person who testifies falsely, causing money to be given to the wrong party, can give the money to the proper owner and his sin is atoned for. In cases of capital law, if one testifies falsely, the blood of the accused and the blood of his offspring that he did not merit to produce are ascribed to the witness’s testimony until eternity. The proof for this is as we found with Cain, who killed his brother, as it is stated concerning him: “The voice of your brother’s blood [demei] cries out to Me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). The verse does not state: Your brother’s blood [dam], in the singular, but rather: “Your brother’s blood [demei],” in the plural. This serves to teach that the loss of both his brother’s blood and the blood of his brother’s offspring are ascribed to Cain. The mishna notes: Alternatively, the phrase “your brother’s blood [demei],” written in the plural, teaches that that his blood was not gathered in one place but was splattered on the trees and on the stones. The court tells the witnesses: Therefore, Adam the first man was created alone, to teach you that with regard to anyone who destroys one soul from the Jewish people, i.e., kills one Jew, the verse ascribes him blame as if he destroyed an entire world, as Adam was one person, from whom the population of an entire world came forth. And conversely, anyone who sustains one soul from the Jewish people, the verse ascribes him credit as if he sustained an entire world. The mishna cites another reason Adam the first man was created alone: And this was done due to the importance of maintaining peace among people, so that one person will not say to another: My father, i.e., progenitor, is greater than your father. And it was also so that the heretics who believe in multiple gods will not say: There are many authorities in Heaven, and each created a different person. And this serves to tell of the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as when a person stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to each other. But the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, stamped all people with the seal of Adam the first man, as all of them are his offspring, and not one of them is similar to another. Therefore, since all humanity descends from one person, each and every person is obligated to say: The world was created for me, as one person can be the source of all humanity, and recognize the significance of his actions. The court says to the witnesses: And perhaps you will say: Why would we want this trouble? Perhaps it would be better not to testify at all. But be aware, as is it not already stated: “And he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he does not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity” (Leviticus 5:1)? It is a transgression not to testify when one can do so. And perhaps you will say: Why would we want to be responsible for the blood of this person? But be aware, as is it not already stated: “When the wicked perish, there is song” (Proverbs 11:10)?