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Shabbos Parashas Tazria-Metzorah - 5777

Shabbos Parashas Tazria-Metzorah - 5777

Rabbi Hal Miller

When you arrive in the land of Canaan that I give you as a possession, and I

will place a tzaraas affliction upon a house in the land of your possession.

[Vayikra 14:34]

The concept of tzaraas is incredibly difficult, both as to what it is and what it means.

This week we limit ourselves to the question of what is different about a house that it

should be separated out and treated differently from vessels or the body of a person.

But we do need at least a basic definition and description of the Torah verses on the

topic. For this we turn to Nachshoni: "Tzaraas, according to the commentators, is an

outward manifestation of a spiritual and moral disease. At first, it appears in the home.

Afterwards, it spreads to one's garments. If the person has still not taken heed of the

warnings by Hashem, it appears in his body as well."

Our question comes from the difference in wording in the introduction of tzaraas for

each of these three levels, house, vessels/garments, and person. For a vessel or garment,

the Torah says, when there shall be in it. For a person, it says, when they shall have in

them. For a house it says, "I will place". The first two examples speak of a potential, but

the third speaks of a prophecy, or a guarantee. Why?

Ramban says that "I will place" is to tell us that "the hand of Hashem has done this," not

nature, and not conditional. Nachshoni writes that tzaraas in vessels or a person "comes

only as a punishment for lashon hara that does injury to someone," and that it comes in

houses "as a result of a person's stinginess." He explains the second part of that: "Chazal

give three reasons for nega'im in houses: punishment to a person who refuses to lend his

belongings claiming he does not have; exposing items that the person stole and hid; and

revealing treasures which the Canaanites concealed in their homes." Numerous others

explain that were an individual meritorious, he would be able to find the treasures without

the destruction of his house, but that even a Jew who spoke lashon hara merited those

treasures.

R'Shimon Bar Yochai says it is not a punishment, or at least was not when Israel first

entered the land, free of sin. Our verse pins down that this only occurs in the land of Israel.

When the people first entered, they were the holiest generation of all, those who had met

Hashem face to face on Sinai. Thus the issue of houses does not fit with the other two,

rather was only for the treasure-finding opinion. Vessels or body affliction depended upon

sins by people, but house tzaraas was a given.

Sfas Emes says that it is an opportunity to bring kedusha to something tamei, clearing

the tzaraas through teshuva. In other words, even today, if we do something wrong or have

something not particularly holy, we can bring holiness to it by our proper actions. Our verse

tells us that Hashem will place a mark on it in some form to remind us to bring this item to

holiness.

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