The
Stain is Noticeable
Posted on April 15, 2021 (5781) By Mordechai
Dixler | Series: Lifeline | Level: Beginner
This week’s Torah portion
describes a person infected with a Negah – a
blemish, which might infect his skin, his clothing, or even the walls of his
house. So it is immediately obvious that the “infection” the Torah is
describing was a spiritual illness, not medical. A medical condition would not
appear on both humans and walls and would be treated by a medical doctor. The
diagnosis of a Negah, on the other hand, was given
by a Kohein, a member of the
priestly class specially trained to recognize these blemishes.
What was the point of
having a spiritual kind of leprosy? In G-d’s relationship with the Jewish
people, how was it appropriate for them to be afflicted in this way?
The Talmud (Arachin
16a) attributes these blemishes to any one of seven causes: negative speech,
murder, a false oath, forbidden sexual relations, arrogance, theft, and
stinginess. G-d used these blemishes to communicate His
objection to these negative activities, both to the infected individual and to
those who observed his condition.
This disease did not
affect everyone who committed these iniquities, and in our time this form of
communication does not occur at all. The Negah is a
powerful tool for change and was therefore reserved for people and times of
high spiritual caliber. We are simply not on the spiritual level to properly
grow and change from having or seeing this illness.
But if the Negah no longer afflicts people, and has not for
millennia, it begs the question — why are two portions of the Torah almost
entirely devoted to the intricate details of how to recognize and treat a
spiritual blemish that no longer exists? How is the Torah speaking to us in our
generation, when so many words are devoted to a foreign affliction none of us
have ever seen?
While we may not see these
blemishes today, these Torah portions make one thing very clear — our actions
always have real consequences. Sometimes we see those effects, but other times we don’t. We
might say something to a neighbor that’s insensitive, and wishfully imagine
that it didn’t really matter. However, just because they didn’t react to the
comment doesn’t mean they didn’t hear it and weren’t hurt by it. They might
forgive us for our insensitivity, or they might not, but the words hurt. In
former times our treatment of other people might have been revealed to us and
the public through a skin blemish or an ugly stain on our home. In our time the
same actions can severely damage our souls, our relationships, and our homes —
we just don’t always get to see it.
If these are the effects
of our negative actions, Judaism teaches us that the consequences of our
positive actions and spiritual achievements are many times more potent. By
contrast to the Negah, these great spiritual deeds
never had a physical manifestation. We do make unfortunate mistakes, but we can
always replace them with positive actions to mend our relationships and correct
our ways. The effects of our kind words and deeds is not always obvious, but G-d knows and He is keeping score. He is sure to
reward us generously.
Finding
The Silver Lining
Parshas Metzorah
Posted on April 4, 2022 (5782) By Rabbi Elly
Broch | Series: Kol
HaKollel | Level: Beginner
“When you arrive in the
land of Canaan that I give you as a possession, and I will place a tzoraas (1)
affliction upon a house in the land of your possession.” (Vayikra/Leviticus
13:33) Tzoraas manifested itself not only in the form of skin blemishes, but
also affected clothes and houses in the form of discolorations. This, in
certain situations, required burning of the garment or demolition of the entire
house.
The Midrash expounds
that although seemingly counterintuitive, this was good for the owner of the
house. The heathen inhabitants who previously lived in the Land of Israel,
before abandoning their homes, often concealed their money and possessions in
the walls of their houses. Demolition of the house uncovered these treasures,
allowing the new Jewish owner to benefit.
Yet the Talmud (Eruchin 16a) teaches that this plague
came as a punishment for an individual’s indiscretions. If G-d was castigating the wrongdoer, why was it
orchestrated that the houses broken down as a punishment would yield treasures?
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (2) explains that although the
plague came to benefit the house owner with treasure, that objective was
possible to achieve without going through the ordeal of destroying their house.
The tzoraas experience was demanding and unpleasant, to alert the recipient of
his wrongdoing and need for change. The plague worked to achieve both
punishment and reward.
Rabbi Avigdor Miller (3)
further elaborates that the Creator of the World, in His infinite wisdom, has a
master plan that our finite human minds cannot fathom. This plan will
materialize and cannot be stopped or frustrated by our decisions and actions.
Certain events are destined to occur regardless of our actions, but the
sequence or details of the events may be manipulated to teach us a Divine
lesson. G-d wished to benefit the house owner by
exposing the treasure. At the same time, the individual made choices and
committed sins punishable by tzoraas. The tzoraas was a punishment, causing the
afflicted to repent and commit to a more spiritual life, while simultaneously
fulfilling G-d’s master plan with the discovery of the treasure. People
often undergo some misfortune or suffering that appears on the surface to be a
negative message from the Divine. However, later reflection upon the events
brings the understanding that while they were difficult and challenging, they
provided him with a fantastic opportunity for growth and development. The Torah
is reminding us of the well known and much experienced axiom: what at the
moment may seem like a punishment is, in reality, an opportunity and a
treasure.
Have a Good Shabbos!
Self
Destruction
Posted on March 29, 2022 (5782) By Rabbi
Mordechai Kamenetzky | Series: Drasha| Level: Beginner
There is an underlying
theme to the message of the Metzora. This spiritual disease that causes
discoloration of the skin or of hairs upon the skin, in unpredictable patches
is caused by sins of speech gossip, slander and the like. When a person
notices the discoloration, he is to immediately approach a kohen and show him the abnormality. It is up to
the kohen to not only to determine the status of the
affliction, but to actually invoke the status of impurity on the man through
his rendition of his adjudication on the matter.
The physical affliction of
tzora’as is definitely not a contagious one. In fact, the Torah teaches us that
there are times that the kohen can hold off on his
declaration; e.g. a groom during the week of wedding festivities is spared the
humiliation of isolation. If tzora’as were a communicable disease it would
surely warrant immediate isolation despite the circumstances.
Yet when a man is declared
as tamei (impure) he is kept in isolation. The Torah explicitly explains: “All
the days that the affliction is upon him he shall remain contaminated; he is
contaminated. He shall dwell in isolation; his dwelling shall be outside the
camp” (Leviticus 13:46).
The question is simple. If
the sins of anti-social behavior cause the malady, why is the man isolated?
Would it not be better if he is embarrassed within the community and learns to
better himself through communal interaction? How will solitude help him cure
his societal ills?
There is a classic tale of the
gentleman who purchased a plane ticket from New York to Los Angeles. The man
was quite finicky about traveling and asked the agent for a window seat.
Somehow, he was not placed by the window, rather in the aisle.
During the entire trip, he
fidgeted and squirmed. Immediately after the long journey the man went straight
to complain.
“I specifically asked for
a window seat,” he exclaimed. “Your agent in New York assured me that I would
be getting a window seat. Look at this stub. It placed me right in the aisle!”
The customer relations
agent in Los Angeles was not fazed. Unfazed she asked the man, “Did you ask the
person in the window seat to trade places?”
This time the man was
irate. “I was not able to!”
“And why not?”
“There was no one in the
seat.”
My grandfather, Rabbi
Yaakov Kamenetzky, of blessed memory, in his classic work Emes L’Yaakov
explains. People often blame the ramifications of their doings on everyone else
but themselves. Truth be told, a person who is afflicted can circumvent
confinement by not reporting the negah to the Kohen, or
even by pulling out the hairs that are discolored. It is akin to a man who is
sentenced to house imprisonment. His hands are tied together with the rope attached
to his teeth. He is told to watch himself and not escape.
In essence, a negah is
merely a Divine wake-up-call. It is heaven’s way of letting an individual know
that there is something wrong. It is a personal message and must be taken
personally.
And so in solitude the man
sits and ponders what exactly needs correction.
If a person wants to
correct himself, he need not cavort with others to do so. If one can remove the
barriers of false flattery and social falsehoods, he can do a lot better for
himself: because self-improvement is dependent upon self-motivation. Without
the truth meeting the self, any attempt toward self-improvement may lead to
nothing more than self-destruction.
Good Shabbos
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