Metzora: Completely Covered
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
According to tradition, the affliction of tzoraas characterized by specifically described lesions was a result and consequence of sin, generally loshon horo. Tzoraas was to be diagnosed not by a doctor but by Aharon or one of his descendents, a kohane. The priest was to declare the“patient” either pure or impure rather than healthy or sick. However, the Torah includes an interesting twist in the diagnosis. If the patient has tzoraas over a small part of his body or over most of his body, the priest will declare him impure. However, if the entire body is covered withtzoraas, the priest must declare him pure. What is the purpose of this seemingly illogical anomaly? What are we to learn from this exception to the rule?
First, while it is well known that tzoraas was a consequence of improper speech, the Gerer Rebbe points out that sometimes one is held accountable for the omission of proper speech. For example, failing to encourage someone when it is clear they need encouragement, or denigrating a friend’s purchase after the transaction has been completed. As Rabbi Friefeld points out, what good does it do to comment on the small rooms when your friend invites you over to see her new apartment? All you have done is cause pain when it was unnecessary. We are responsible for being sensitive with the use of our language.
What would be the purpose of declaring someone impure? In that case, he would be exiled from the camp until such time as he presumably learned from their sin, repented, and would thereby be “cured” and the priest could again declare him pure. As listed in Otzrot HaTorah, the purpose of this quarantine was twofold. Not only was it meant to bring the sinner to mend his ways, but it was also a lesson for others to keep away from him so as not to learn from him. In this context, it is easy to see why someone completely covered in tzoraas need not be declared impure and quarantined. Certainly, he himself would be embarrassed by his condition and would be inclined to repent, and certainly the public, seeing his condition would be inclined to keep their distance and thus not learn from him. As the Chatam Sofer points out, the one completely covered with tzoraas poses no danger to the public, for his problem and possible negative influence is obvious to all. On the other hand, if someone is only minimally or partially covered with tzoraas, he is a danger to society and to others, for the observer is unsure whether it is appropriate to interact with him.
Rabbi Pincus brings this point home in a Biblical context. How is it possible, he asks, that the twelve tribes of Israel could be descended from the evil Lavan? He was pure evil in all his dealings and character traits. He had not one iota of truth within him. That is precisely the point. Such unadulterated evil is easily recognizable, and Lavan’s daughters knew to stay away and not learn from him. It is only when there is a mixture of truth with the lies and deception that one may be confused into accepting an erroneous narrative. The very name Lavan translates as white and denotes purity, in this case, pure falsehood unadulterated with any truth. It is for this reason that liars who want to be believed always include a grain of truth in their lies.
Daas Sofrim then takes us into the era of the kings, during the time of Achav. Bnei Yisroel were so immersed in idol worship that they worshipped Hashem as One among a pantheon of gods. Eliyahu challenged the priests of Baal to a sacrifice contest. If we examine the words the Baal priests used in their prayers to Baal, we will notice that their words are very similar to the words Eliyahu would use in his calls to the Ribbonoh shel Olam. The priests of Baal understood that if they were to keep the populace on their side, they would have to keep the language of worship familiar to them, even if the target of that worship was antithetical to Judaism. Eliyahu demanded that Bnei Yisroel choose between Baal and Hashem rather than jumping from one ideology to the other on a whim. There should be no gray area in worship.
It is not just in these instances that the gray areas exist. We all have unresolved questions and issues where the answers are unclear. Going back to the very beginning of time, points out Rabbi Shmulevitz, Cain had the pure and beautiful idea of giving thanks to the Creator through bringing an offering. Yet, that idea became tainted when Cain let his ego and greed intervene, and brought a cheap, unworthy sacrifice of flax seed to God. Purity consists of completeness and wholeness, without mixture and without a gray area. Therefore we can understand that when someone is so totally covered in tzoraas that no healthy skin is visible, he is indeed “pure” and unadulterated. Within our own lives, being pure and whole cannot remain a purely intellectual exercise, but must translate into how we live our lives. If we understand that Hashem pays us back whatever we spend to enhance our Shabbos experience, for example, it behooves us to be willing to spend a little extra on the more elegant flowers or the special Shabbos treat.
The unusual Torah determination that this full metzora is pure can be approached from the alternate perspective of the one afflicted. From the point of view of the afflicted one, when his body is covered up to 99%, he still would have some hope. However, when he is totally covered, his only hope is in salvation, and he must turn to God, writes Rabbi Munk. Rabbi Feuer, noting the verse from Psalms where David calls on Hashem, stating that he is poor and destitute, infers that when someone is so totally covered in tzoraas, he feels totally without any other recourse. Then Hashem’s mercy is aroused and He comes to the aid of the afflicted.
This situation can be compared to that of a city under siege. As Rabbi Pincus points out inTiferes Shimshon from Rambam’s Laws of Kings, when laying siege to a city, one must always leave one side open to enable the inhabitants to escape. There are two reasons for for this. First, when there is no escape, the besieged will fight more ferociously. Second, when man feels at his lowest, Hashem Himself has pity and helps, for it is from the “dung heaps that Hashem will raise up the destitute.”
Rabbi Dovid Hofstedter reminds us that the purpose of affliction is to raise one’s awareness that he has distanced himself from Hashem. The purpose of punishment is to inspire sinners to repent. Quarantining the metzora removes the individual from the triggers that may have led him to sin and provides him with the solitude to contemplate his deeds and lead to his return to the right path. It is the perfect environment to purify oneself. It helps him achieve inner humility and teshuvah writes the Chofetz Chaim. That is why Aharon and his descendents were chosen to declare the individual’s purity or impurity. According to the Medrash Rabbi Hofstedter cites, Aharon along with Miriam was momentarily stricken with tzoraas when Miriam spoke loshon horo about Moshe. But Aharon sensed his sin immediately and repented instantaneously, thus avoiding the impurity oftzoraas. Since Aharon himself went through the teshuvah process for loshon horo so quickly, he and his descendents were the appropriate vehicles to determine the purity or impurity of tzoraas and to instruct the metzora toward proper repentance.
The goal of tzoraas and its quarantine, then, is to lead the individual toward the humility that is necessary for teshuvah. One who is completely covered, notes the Chofetz Chayim, will be driven to do this introspection, not attributing the affliction to chance.Let us return to King Achav to understand this progression. Achav (and his wife Jezebel) were among the cruelest and most bloodthirsty kings of Israel. Hashem decreed that they would be killed, dogs would lick their blood, and the monarchy would be wrested from them. Eliyahu delivered the message of Hashem’s decree to Achav, upon which Achav did teshuvah. What constituted this teshuvah? The Yalkut writes that Achav postponed eating his meals for three hours. As a result of this teshuvah, Hashem delayed wresting the monarchy from Achav to later generations.
Unbelievable! This is teshuvah? Rabbi Frand in An Offer You Can’t Refuse explains that indeed this was teshuvah. When one does teshuvah, one minimizes his ego, makes his personal needs less important, and shows humility. As king, Achav had his every desire fulfilled immediately. By delaying his personal gratification, he was making his world less egocentric and acknowledging the existence of others and of God. For Achav, this was indeed teshuvah.
The concept of the effects of total tzoraas versus partial tzoraas is evident throughout Jewish history. When our existence as Jews was challenged absolutely, as with Pharaoh or Haman, (and in recent history with Hitler) we understood the evil and remained strong. However, when the evil and hatred was couched in friendly terms, become one of us, just change a little, the line between good and evil became blurred and we began succumbing to evil through assimilation and our moral fiber was weakened, writes the Chatam Sofer.
Lavan (white), the paradigm of falsehood, when reversed becomes Naval, abomination, a denier of God. Using the simple translation of our verse, the Chatam Sofer cites our Sages as saying that when the world will be reverse and completely white, when the entire regime will become an abomination, the government will fall, for falsehood must attach itself to some truth to continue to exist. Similarly, Rabbi Schwab notes that when the entire world becomes heretical without even one spot of purity, the entire ideology will dissipate like smoke and Moshiach will arrive.
The details of the laws of tzoraas teach us that the most dangerous information is that in which truth and falsehood are intertwined, for pure good or pure evil is much more easily discernible. Further when all seems lost and there appears no clear spot of hope, Hashem Himself will help us. Finally, when denial of God is so absolute that no unblemished truth about God emerges, the existing regime will crumble and God will send Moshiach to reveal the true light and glory of His presence to the world.