From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 1:42 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Tazria - Metzora, 5764




                                                   So Young

                 By Rabbi Joshua (youthfully known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


Parshas Tazria begins with the laws of a woman who gives birth - a yoledes - including the requirement to circumcise a male baby on the eighth day, and the purification process required of the mother after the child's birth. The rest of the parsha deals with the laws of tzora'as, which is a certain kind of skin disease that generates tumah, or impurity, and also necessitates a purification process, but only after it is identified by the kohein. In Netvort to Tazria, 5763 (available at Torahheights.com), we offered some explanations for the Torah's mention of bris milah within the context of the laws of the yoledes. We did not, however, explain why the laws of the yoledes and of bris milah are followed by the laws of tzora'as. On a simple level, we can explain  that both the tumah of the yoledes and the tumah of the metzora, the person afflicted with tzara'as, are cases of impurity that is generated by a process occurring within  the person - tumah hayotzei migufo - as opposed to impurity caused by coming into contact with an outside, impure source - tumas maga. These two kinds of tumah constitute two separate categories, and involve different sets of rules. Therefore, they are mentioned next to each other in the Torah. I would like to suggest an alternative explanation, which flows from an explanation we mentioned last year in connection with the question of why bris milah is mentioned in the context of the laws of the yoledes.

Based on remarks of Rabbi Zvi Dov Kanotopsky and the Sefas Emes, we explained that through removing the foreskin, the orloh, in the process of bris milah, the process of actualizing the child's inner essence, his tzurah, begins. When a mother gives birth, although the act of giving birth is really a fulfillment of her role as a woman, she must remember that the child is not merely an extension of herself and her husband, but a personality in his own right, with his own essence, that must be actualized. As soon as the child is born, then, the parents must dedicate themselves to the development of the child's character in a way that will enable him to bring out his inner essence and find his place within the wider Jewish collective. With this in mind, we can now approach the section of the parsha that deals with tzora'as.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his commentary, points out that, according to the Talmud (Nidah 44a), the laws of tzora'as apply even to a one-day old infant. This halacha would seem to contradict another passage in the Talmud, according to which tzora'as comes as a divine punishment for various offenses, primary among them the speaking of leshon hora, or derogatory talk, or gasus horuach, or arrogance. The Talmud mentions, in all, seven offenses for which tzora'as occurs, and all of them are related to deficiencies in character. How, then, can a one-day old infant be considered a metzora? He hasn't had the time to develop his character yet ! R. Hirsch explains that when the parents have these bad traits, then God sends them a warning by causing tzora'as to appear on their own bodies. If they do not take the message to heart and change their character, then eventually these traits will appear in their children, as well.

 We can understand this explanation of Rabbi Hirsch by referring to the well-known remarks of Rabbeinu Nissim of Gerona in his Derashos HoRan (number five), that  the reason Avrohom did not want Yitzchok to marry someone from Cana'an is that they had bad character traits which were passed on through their families. He therefore sent Eliezer to Padan Aram, where Avrohom's family came from, to find a wife for Yitzchok, even though the people there worshipped idols. Idol worship, he felt, affects the soul, but is not passed on from parent to child, and can be changed easier than bad character traits, which become part of one's nature, and are passed on through the family. In the same way, then, parents who have bad character traits and do not endeavor to correct them even after receiving a divine warning will eventually impart these traits to their children, and it is thus possible for an infant to contract tzora'as.

Rabbi Hirsch explains tumah, in general, as being a loss of control in moral matters which comes about through an excessive emphasis on the physical. The process of childbirth is perhaps the time when a woman is most centrally focused on the physical aspects of her existence, and, therefore, after she has given birth, she needs to go through a process of purification, or of taharah, to regain moral control.  The process of tumah and taharah involves the father, as well, since marital relations with the yoledes are forbidden during part of the process. While going through this process, the parents are reminded of the need to inculcate their child with the proper character traits that he will need to actualize his inner essence, as symbolized by the mitzvah of bris milah. In order to do this, they must make sure that their own character is beyond reproach, so that the child will not adopt any bad traits from them, which could ultimately lead to the kind of character that precipitates the tumah of tzora'as.  


Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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