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IF
A MAN LOSES THE HAIR OF HIS HEAD AND BECOMES BALD, HE IS PURE. AND IF ON THE
EDGE OF HIS FACE HIS HEAD BECOMES SMOOTH, HE IS FOREHEAD-BALD, HE IS STILL
PURE. BUT WHEN THERE IS ON THE BALD SPOT OR ON THE FOREHEAD AN AFFECTON, WHITE
AND REDDING, IT IS SPROUTING TZARAAT, ON HIS BALD SPOT OR ON HIS
FOREHEAD. WHEN THE PRIEST LOOKS AT HIM, AND HERE: THE SWELLING OF THE AFFECTION
IS WHITE AND REDDISH, ON HIS BALD SPOT OR ON HIS FOREHEAD. LIKE THE LOOK OF TZARAAT
ON THE SKIN OF FLESH: HE IS A MAN WITH TZARAAT, HE IS TAMEI, YES,
TAMEI. TAMEI SHALL THE PRIEST DECLARE HIM, HE HAS THE AFFECTION ON HIS
HEAD.
(Vayikra
13:40-44)
The principle of 'measure
for measure' is in operation. Afflictions of the house come because of
stinginess and tsarut ayin (Jastrow defines tsarut ayin as
narrow-mindedness, selfishness, envy.),
etc. If the affliction is upon the head, it most certainly must house faulty
intelligence and alien information. Therefore the tzaraat affects his
bald spot, the place when thought and intelligence reside. If his sin has to do
with the qualities and powers of the soul or with actions, - as they said
(Arachin 16a), 'There are seven reasons why afflictions appear' - then the sin
is not distinctive from the aspect of the powers of intelligence, which make
man unique. Such is not the case if one sins with his powers of intelligence;
then the affliction is upon his head. He sins with that faculty which is unique
to man alone, which is not found in any other living creature, therefore
Scripture twice emphasizes "a man".
(Meshech Chochma, Vayikra 13:40-44)
Jewish
liturgy differentiates between 'nega' (plague) and machalah (illness): "May The Holy
One, Blessed Be He, protect him and save him from all trouble
distress, from all
affliction and illness" (Shacharit for Shabbat). This prayer reflects passages from the
Bible, which refer to the two concepts: "Or if an enemy oppresses them
in any of the settlements of the land. In any plague and in any disease" (I Kings 8:37). Plague and disease are part of those
miseries which afflict man's body and soul. We shall attempt to investigate why
the Bible had to differentiate between the two.
Disease
is familiar from the Torah: "He said, 'If you will heed the Lord your God
diligently, doing what is upright in His sight, giving ear to His commandments
and keeping all His laws, all the sicknesses which I have imposed upon Egypt, I
will not impose upon you, for I the Lord am your healer.'" (Shemot 15:26). (To what was the Torah referring when it
mentioned 'diseases'? The Talmud (Bava Metsia 107b) distinguishes between choli - sickness,
which also appears in the Torah ("also every sickness and every blow
that is not written in the document of Instruction" - Devarim 28:61) - and machalah - (also translated as
'sickness'). Rabbi Chanina claims that the word "choli" refers to cold - to a chill which causes body disturbances.
Rabbi Yossi bar Chanina understands choli as "nasal excretion"
or as "excretion from the ear". An excess of such secretions
indicates body disorder. Further on, the Talmud explains that "illness is
bile", in other words, harm caused by problems in the digestive system. If
we assume that Greek medicine influenced Chazal's understanding of physiology,
the gall distinguishes between the four fluids of the body (blood, white bile,
phlegm, and black bile). When their balance changes, illnesses attack the body
(Rashi explains the phlegm theory in Tractate Sotah 5a). The Talmud also plays
with the word machalah, "it sickens the whole human frame".
The Talmud points out that the gematriya of 'machalah' is 83, "corresponding to the 83 illnesses which depend
on the gall"; in other words, the word 'machalah' is a general term for many illnesses. In Tractate Sanhedrin
(101a) the
Sages expound upon the passage "all
the sicknesses which I have imposed upon Egypt, I will not impose upon you, for
I the Lord am your healer"
- "If you
hearken, yes, hearken to the voice of the Lord your God" - If you hearken, I will not impose [sickness], but if you do
not hearken, I will impose [sickness]." Here, sickness appears as a
punishment for our behavior, but the Talmud also attributes illness to natural
causes. "A piece of bread in the morning and a kiton of water
counteract illness" (Bava Kama 92b), i.e., proper eating habits can prevent
or cure sickness. (Rabbi Yoseph Hayyim of Baghdad, author of "Ben
Yehoyada", notes the linguistic connection between machalah, lechem, and
melach - illness, bread, and salt - which underlines eating habits). The
Talmud adds illness that attacks man not only to punish, but also to awaken
him. The word machalah is also very akin to mechilah -
forgiveness. Illness can be a stimulus to self-examination and to service of
the Creator. "Said Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba, A sick person does not recuperate
before all his sins are forgiven" (Nedarim 41a). Sickness strikes in varied ways
(weather, wounds, evil eye, etc.); this is not the proper place for
elaboration. But these ways - unlike the nega (affliction) - are
part of the natural order.
The
Torah describes three kinds of negaim which focus on one's skin, his
clothing, and his home. In Parashat Tazria it is written: ""Any human being - when there is on the
skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a shiny-spot and it becomes on his
body an affliction of tzaraat..." (Vayikra
13:2). The Torah ties the nega
to tzaraat. The tzaraat causes impurity (tum'ah), and there are those who consider tzaraat to be
contagious. It is the tum'ah of the tzaraat, which is
infectious; the nega itself is not contagious. In our parasha, one
who suffers from tzaraat is termed a "metsora" - "This is to be the Instruction for the
metsora" (Vayikra 14:2). By using this term, the Torah emphasizes
the responsibility of the carrier of the nega; the metsora is one
who brings the nega upon himself because of his misbehavior. The Talmud
details the causes of tzaraat: Rabbi Yochanan said, Negaim are
visited upon man for seven reasons, for slander, for bloodshed, for swearing
falsely, for illicit sexual relations, for arrogance, for robbery, and for
meanness" (Arachin 16a). A midrash (Bemidbar Rabba, Parasha 7:5) lists eleven causes of tzaraat, all
in the realm of 'between man and his fellow man.' Maharal emphasizes that the
connection between all these sins is that they "touch upon something which
deviates from the proper order" (Chidushei Agadot,
Part 4, p. 140, Tractate Arachin).
The
Talmud stresses that the most serious sin that results in tzaraat is lashon
ha-ra - slander, tale-bearing. "Whoever speaks lashon ha-ra
sins against heaven and earth"; the sin is between man and his fellow,
between man and the Omniscient. Why is this wrongdoing considered so serious?
Because it is so difficult to avoid it, it is so prevalent. If Moshe, Aharon,
and Miriam were guilty of this sin, it must be very difficult not to fall into
the trap.
The
Tanchuma (10:10) grades the negaim. The nega begins with one's
home. If he repents, well and good; if not, it affects his garment. If he still
does not repent, the nega reaches his flesh. If the negaim do not
come naturally, they are sent from Heaven, as per the passage in Shemot (12:1-10),
"Miram and
Moshe spoke out against Moshe... the anger of God flared up against them... Miriam
has tzaraat like snow". The nega is actually a special
sign that the Creator sends man as a warning. It is said of our father, Yaakov,
struggling with the angel "He touched [Hebrew - "va-yiga" - from the same root as "nega"] the socket of his thigh" (Bereishit 35:25). Rabeinu Bahayey asks why God
"touched" Yaakov's thigh". His explanation is the
touch/affliction resulted from "the sins of marrying two sisters during
their lifetimes." Because Yaakov had married two sister, Leah and Rachel,
he was punished, afflicted in the sinew that is on the socket of the thigh.
This sinew symbolizes forgetfulness, as is explained in the Talmud, "Why
is it called 'gid ha-nasheh (the sinew which leaves)"? - Because it moves from its place" (Hullin
91a). In the case of Leah
and Rachel, Yaakov forgot his 'place' - "the Place" - "HaMakkom"
being one of God's appellations.
The
Holy One, Blessed Be He, afflicts man. Not all negaim impose impurity,
as we read: "Between judgment and judgment, between stroke (nega)
and stroke" (Devarim17:8).
The Talmud explains:
"Between an impure nega and a clean nega" (Niddah 19a). Some negaim are unclean, and the
priest must declare the afflicted to be impure - "When the priest looks
at it he is to declare him 'tamei' (Vayikra 13:3), and some are clean.
When
an illness befalls man, if it comes to warn him or to punish him and cause him
to repent, the nega is a divine touch, The Holy One, Blessed Be He,
coming closer to man. Unlike the machalah, which can be
life-threatening, the nega does not kill. At worst, the nega makes
the person impure, distances him from the Mishkan and the camp of Israel so
that - in solitude - he be able to find his Creator within himself.
"For
where should an afflicted person flee?
If not to his soul"
(Miron Isaacson, Bitul Haguf HaNashi, p.
77)
Dr. Rafael Rosner is a Semio-analyst, head of the
Semio-Analysis Institute in Tel Aviv
"I place an
affliction of tzaraat on a house in the land of your holding" - What is the sin
of the land, that it should be punished? Rather, because of man's sins is the
land punished, as is written (Psalms 107) "Fruitful
land into a salt marsh because of the wickedness of its inhabitants" - Why from the
wickedness? So that people see and learn. Similarly,
(Isaiah 26)
"… for when Your judgments are wrought on earth, the inhabitants of the
world learn righteousness."
Why do
affliction come to the world? For the sake of the people, so that they see and
say: He who sins is afflicted, and he who does not sin is not afflicted. Why
are trees and stones afflicted - so that their owners see and repent.
(Tanchuma,
Metzora, 4)
The priest is to command that they take
for the one to be purified two birds, live, pure, and wood of cedar and scarlet
of the worm and hyssop (Vayikra 14:4). "Wood
of cedar": Because
negaim appear because of arrogance. "scarlet of the worm and
hyssop": What is the cure?
He must lower himself from his haughtiness as [to the level
of] the worm and the hyssop.
(Rashi, Vayikra 14:4)
The character of the most
unsociable being as represented by the tzippor dror - [literally, a free
bird. Commonly translated as 'sparrow'], which refuses to accept authority, is
presented here in contrast to what is demanded for re-entrance into the social
life of the community. This is the contrast of the animals of the "field" to the humans of the "city".
The demand which is made as the condition for the re-entry into the social life
of the community "And he shall slaughter the bird", is energetic subjection of the
wild untrammeled animal life under the sharp control of the morally strong
human will.
(From
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch's commenatory on the Book of Vayikra, quoted by Prof.
Nechama Leibowitz z'l in "New Studies in the Book of Vayikra", p.
162)
"Lo, I will send the prophet Eliyahu to
you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord. He shall
reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when
I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.
(Malachi Chap.3)
Said
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, in this world I sent a messenger before them and
he would destroy the nations of the world, but in the world to come, I will
send you the prophet Eliyahu - may he be well remembered - as is written "I
will send the prophet Eliyahu to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful
day of the Lord."
(Yalkut Shimoni, Mishpatim 247-359)
Said
Rabbi Yehoshua: Through Raban Yochanan ben Zakkai, who heard from his teacher
and his teacher from his teacher, I received a ruling given to Moshe at Sinai,
to the effect that Eliyahu will not come to make impure and to cleanse, to
distance and to bring close, but rather to distance those [disqualified
families who gained acceptance by force, and to bring close [those families]
which were unjustly disqualified by force. In Transjordan the [legitimate}
family of Beit Tsarifah was forcefully disqualified by Ben Zion; another family
[which should have disqualified] was certified by force. These are the kind of
cases which Eliyahu will come to make pure and to cleanse, to distance and to
bring close.
Rabbi
Shim'on said: To bring close, but not to distance.
The
Sages said: Neither to distance nor to bring close, but to make peace in the world, as is
written: "I will send the prophet Eliyahu... . He shall reconcile
parents with children and children with their parents."
(Mishna Eduyot 8:7)
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