Shabbos Parashas Metzora - 5776

Shabbos Parashas Metzora - 5776

Rabbi Hal Miller

Thereafter he may enter the camp, but he shall dwell outside of his tent for seven

days. [Vayikra 14:8]

This is Shabbos HaGadol, the Shabbos preceding Pesach. Since the holiday falls

on Shabbos this year, we have an impact on our parsha schedule. Here in Israel, the

holiday will end the following Friday, and we will read Acharei that Shabbos. With the

"second day" in the diaspora, all of you outside of Israel will have the last day of

Pesach on that Shabbos, and you won't get to Acharei until the following week, when

we here will be on Kedoshim. I will stay with the Israeli schedule, so those of you not

yet here can just save each one off for a week, until we get resynchronized. Or, you

can make Aliyah!

Last week, in Vayikra 13:46, we read, "He shall dwell alone, his dwelling shall be

outside the camp." Our verse now terminates, at least in part, the period that the

metzora is required to be outside. Why did he have to be alone outside the camp?

Now that he's back in the camp, why does he remain outside his tent for another

seven days? Other people who violate commandments are not treated this way.

Rashi notes that in many places a man's wife is referred to as his house or tent. Our

verse therefore is a prohibition against marital relations for another week. Nachshoni

adds that the separation outside the camp was because the metzora can infect other

people, thus this is protection for his wife now that he is allowed back in the camp.

Marital relations presumably are still too close, while other interactions with people will

no longer infect them. Rav Hirsch also sees this command as practical, "This kind of

tumah is very strong, and can easily cause harm to others."

But other people with various kinds of illnesses are not banned this way. Why here?

The Talmud in Arachin 16b says, "He caused discord between man and wife,

between man and man. The Torah therefore said, 'He shall sit in isolation'." We know

that many people with various forms of tumah are banished from the camp for some

period, but they get to dwell together there. Only the metzora is told to live alone. Something

about his illness would cause harm even to those other outsiders. Rambam tells us

that this is not a natural physical illness: "The metzora's isolation is intended to seclude

him from other people so that they may be relieved of the damage caused by his tongue."

Our verse is telling us that the illness involved here is lashon ha'ra, evil gossip. When

the tongue speaks, people are affected. Whether it is for good or for ill depends on

what is being said. The metzora has this leprosy because he spoke lashon ha'ra. The

impact on others is severe. The impact on those close to the speaker, whether fellow

sufferers or even moreso his wife, is magnified. For the protection of those nearest him,

his sentence is extended.

Sefer HaChinuch looks at it from a different angle. He says that the order keeping the

metzora out of the camp, and all the moreso extending his separation from his wife, is

to ensure that he does a proper teshuvah. The longer he sits in separation, the more time

he has for self-reflection.

In either case, what we learn here is the severity of evil speech, in any form. Stay

away from it!