Shabbat Parashat Tazria - 5784

Shabbat Parashat Tazria - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

  God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon saying, if a person will have on the skin of his

  flesh a white spot, a whiter spot or an even whiter spot and it will become a tza'arat

  affliction on the skin of his flesh he shall be brought to Aharon the Kohen or to one

  of his sons the Kohanim. [Vayikra 13:1]

We see very many verses that begin similarly, "God spoke to Moshe saying", and even

a couple "God spoke to Aharon saying", but very few adding Aharon in with Moshe.

There must be a reason for each such addition. What is it here?

It is easy to answer that the subject of this Divine speech was meant for the Kohanim

specifically, teaching them how to fulfill the commandments regarding analyzing tzara'at.

But there are other commandments directed to the Kohanim that come through Moshe

alone, plus here Moshe is included without obvious need as he will not need the information.

Ramban cites Devarim [21:5] that grievances and plagues will strike the people at the word

of the Kohanim. Aharon is included here to receive the commands directly from God (although

there are those who say God speaks to Moshe directing him to tell Aharon) to ensure the

people understand that the Kohen is not bringing about these bad things of his own accord,

rather at the direction of God.

Rav Hirsch wonders whether the inclusion of Aharon is merely because the subject matter

applies to the Kohen, He notes various other commandments that are directed specifically to

the Kohanim where they were given to Moshe alone, not including Aharon, such as various

sacrifices. He notes a few where Aharon is included with Moshe, but the subject matter is

general to the people, such as forbidden foods. He concludes that the inclusion of Aharon in

any specific speech is because the command will need to be repeatedly taught in depth to the

people, and the Kohanim are the core of the Torah teachers.

One has to wonder though, what needs to be taught to the people in our verse, since they do

not do the tzara'at analysis. Only the Kohen does that, which seems closer to Ramban's opinion.

But Ramban's view does not seem to apply to the forbidden foods since Kohanim are not the only

ones who can perform that analysis, rather Rav Hirsch is closer to that.

In the end, it appears that each verse has its own reasoning, and there is no overarching one-size-

fits-all reason. For our verse, perhaps Ramban is closer.