Netvort parshas Tazria-Metzora, 5770:    Coming Out
 By Rabbi Joshua (emergingly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

Much of the content of the two Torah sections read this week, Tazria and Metzora, deals with the laws of tzara'as, commonly translated as leprosy, probably because of the Septuagint's translation of the term as lepra.  Tzara'as appears on three media: a person, clothing and houses. A person afflicted with tzara'as is referred to as a 'metzora.' according to the rabbis of the Talmud and Midrash, the physical affliction of tzara'as is an indication of an inner, spiritual malady.  Although the Talmud lists seven moral lapses that cause tzara'as, and the Midrash Rabbah lists ten, the most common failing that is associated with tzara'as is lashon hora, or evil, negative speech. The word metzora is, in this context, taken as a contraction of the words 'matzo rag,' meaning, to bring out, or express, evil.  Rabbi  Shlomo Ephraim of Lunshitz, in his commentary Kli Yakar, says that the words motzi ra do not refer to the evil talk that the person speaks, but to the process of bringing out into the open the evil that resides within the person who has become a metzora. Yet a third explanation of the words motzi ra in reference to the metzora is given by Rabbi Yeshayah Horowitz (the Shelah), as cited by Rabbi Moshe Sternbach in his Ta'am Ve Da'as.  He says that that the process of purification that the metzora goes through rids him of the evil that is within him and for which he has been afflicted. I would like to focus on this third explanation of the words motzi ra, and point some of the ways in which the purification of the metzora helps cleanse him from his spiritual contamination.

When the potential metzora notices that he has indications of tzara'as on his flesh, he is taken to the kohein for observation. The Mishnah in Negaim (2:5) tells us that even if it is a kohein who notices the spot on his own flesh, he must go to another kohein to determine his status. The way this is phrased in the Mishnah in Negaim is that a person can see all 'negaim,' or spots, except his own.  Rabbi Yisroel Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidus, is said to have explained this statement homiletically by translating the word 'chutz' - usually taken to mean 'with the exception of' as 'on the outside,' thus rendering it to mean that any spot, or fault, that a person sees in others is an indication that he has something of that fault within himself. The Shelah, in explaining the requirement for a person who has been declared a  metzora to cover his face up to his lips  with say, publicly “impure, impure” (Vayikra, 13:45) is an antidote to his practice of finding fault in others and declaring them to be impure. Perhaps this is also why the metzora must dwell, for the duration of his malady, outside the camp. Instead of engaging in examining the moral propriety of others, he must now dwell alone and concentrate on his own failings.

Another law is stated in regard to the process of examining the potential metzora that can act as a guide toward preventing him from engaging in lashon hora. The Torah tells us that when the person with a spot on his flesh comes to the kohein to be examined the kohein should look at it and if the spot fits the criteria for tzara'as, it is a tzara'as affliction and "the kohein should look at it ('vera'ahu hakohein) and declare him contaminated” (Vayikra, 13:3). Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohein of Dvinsk, in his commentary Meshech Chochmah, translates the word 'vera'ahu' differently, explaining it to mean that the kohein sees him, the person who came for the examination. The kohein needs to check if this person is a chasan, a groom, in which case the examination is postponed until the seven days of celebration are completed (see Negaim, 3:2). Rav Meir Simcha explains that the kohein cannot simply look at the outer manifestations of tzara'as on the person's body, but must also look at the time frame, the outside circumstances in which the spot appears. On a wider scale, this can serve as a lesson to this person, to look at the surrounding circumstances of another person before speaking about the way he deports himself. This idea is underlined by rabbi Yehoshua ben Prachia in Pirkei Avos (1:7) when he says that one should judge every person favorably. The literal translation of this teaching is that one should judge the whole person favorably, meaning that he should take into consideration the circumstances in which he finds himself before deciding that he is not acting properly. This message needs to be delivered to the person who goes the kohein to be examined for a possible case of tzara'as, as well.

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