From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 4:03 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Tazria - Metzora, 5767



                                                  Dead or Alive?


                  By Rabbi Joshua (questionably known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


  The Talmud (Nedorim 64a) tells us that a person afflicted with tzora'as, or leprosy, is considered as if he dead. Although we  have discussed the reason for this in Netvort in the past (see Netvort to parshas Metzora, 5765, available at Torahheights.com), I would like to suggest a different explanation now, as an outgrowth of an approach presented by Rav Chaim Shmulevitz in his Sichos Mussar, no. 63. Rabbi Shmulevitz suggests that since, as part of his cleansing process, the metzora must keep out of all three camps, he is unable to perform acts of chesed. Therefore, his life is really meaningless. King David tells us (Tehillim 89:3) that the world was built with chesed, meaning, as Rav Saadia Gaon explains, as an act of lovingkindness by God, to provides Him with avenues through which to perform chesed. As part of our duty to walk in God's ways, then, we must also perform acts of chesed towards others. A person who lives only for himself has an empty life, and is considered as if he is not really living. I would like to demonstrate that there are wider implications for this approach to the metzora's status, based on a statement of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto, or Ramchal, in his Mesillas Yeshorim, or Path of the Just.


  In the first chapter of Mesillas Yeshorim, Ramchal writes that the rabbis taught us that we were created in order to delight in God and enjoy the radiance of His presence. Although the place to enjoy this pleasure is the world to come, this world serves as a vestibule in which we prepare to enter the banquet hall. Clearly, however, one who does not have any relationship with God in this world can scarcely be considered to be preparing himself to delight in God in the next world. The midrash mentions seven sins for which a person is afflicted with tzora'as. Prominent among these sins are leshon hora, or evil talk, and gasus ho-ruach, or arrogance. Leshon hora, too, can be seen as an example of arrogance, in that the person who engages in it is building himself up by tearing someone else down. The Talmud in Sotah (42a),  tells us that God says of the arrogant man that He cannot live with him in the same world. Thus, the metzora, who became afflicted with this condition because of arrogance and is therefore expelled from all three camps surrounding the holy ark, is not only being excluded from society, and thereby unable to engage in acts of chesed which can serve as an avenue to relate to God. He is also being excluded from God's presence in the camp, because he has developed his personality in such  a way that he cannot live together with God in the same world. Since man's purpose in this world is to work to develop his relationship with God, the metzora, who has been excluded from the three camps, is, truly, tantamount to being a dead man. 



  The explanation we have suggested in understanding the comparison of a metzora to a dead man really is of one piece with the explanation of Rav Chaim Shmulevitz. Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Pekudah, in his Chovos HaLevovos, or Duties of the Heart, writes that man is able to connect to God through interacting with his fellow man. After all, although we believe in God, we do not actually see him. How do we then train ourselves to develop a relationship with Him ? Through interacting with people, who bear God's image, we are able to take the further step and relate to God. The metzora, who dwells alone outside all three camps, is unable to do acts of chesed, and, therefore, is unable to develop his relationship with God. Without this relationship, he is really unable to prepare to delight in God's presence in the next world either. As a result, he is considered as if he were a dead person, since he cannot fulfill the purpose for which he was created.



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

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