TAZRIA_LEVITICUS XII:1-XIII:59 – METSORA_LEVITICUS XIV:1-XV:33

In the chapters of Shemini, in describing some of the animals that should not be eaten, the text mentions: “Of their flesh, you shall not eat, and you shall not touch their corpses; they are unclean to you.” The prohibition includes contact with the dead animal because it produces tum’á, a ritual impurity. The Talmud questions whether this rule applies to everyone and replies that only Kohanim should avoid coming into contact with the corpse and, even more so, with a deceased human. The Kohen should not touch the body of a deceased or even be under the same roof as the corpse. Therefore, the Kohen should not enter a house or funeral home where the deceased’s body is kept before burial.

Although there is no prohibition for a village member to acquire ritual contamination, the status of Tame had a limiting effect. The person who came into contact with a corpse became Tame until he did not leave this state through Tahara, which requires immersion in a Mikve. 

During the state of Tame, the Kohen could not enter the Beit HaMikdash or share the Kodashim’s meat, the sacrifices. Neither could he partake of Ma’aser Sheni or Teruma. In addition, Tame condition has relevance in marital relations, the period after childbirth, and additional situations. 

The Chachamim expanded the notion of Tum’a and Tahara to include the prohibition of eating at the table of an Am Ha’arets, an unliterate person, because of the suspicion that the laws of Ma’aser are not being complied with in that home. It should be noted that, during the period of the Beit HaMikdash, the concept of Tum’a was considered equivalent in rigor to the concept of Kashrut practiced today. This is not to say that Kashrut was not a fundamental part of the religious observance of those times, only that the emphasis was on the Laws of Tum’á and Tahara.

According to Ramban, the precept of Kedoshim tihyu, “Be consecrated,” or perhaps, as Rashi interprets, “stand apart,” also means observing the alluded Laws of Tum’a and Tahara, which point toward physical cleanliness and ritual purity. Question and answer of Rabbi Meir, Who is ignorant? The person who consumes his daily meals in a state of ritual impurity.

The Essenes emphasized these laws and governed their lives by these principles. According to Flavius Josephus, the Essenes were divided into four castes, and the younger ones belonged to the lower rank. So, if a young man touched a higher caste member, he had to undergo an immersion. 

According to the Talmud, “the garments of an ‘ignoramus’ are not considered fit for a Pharisee, those of a Pharisee is not suitable for people who are allowed to eat Tsara’at, and those who can eat Teruma are not suitable for those who can eat Kodesh, which are the foods that come from Korban, the sacrifice.

Because of this rule created social differences that, by the way, had nothing to do with the person’s economic situation. The differences of opinion between the schools of Hillel and Shamai also concerned the laws of Tum’a and Tahara. What some said was Tahor, pure, was declared Tame, impure, by others. However, they never stopped using each other’s food utensils or eating in the respective homes of their intellectual opponents.

Raphael Yankelevitz points out that Ezra HaSofer expanded the scope of the laws about ritual purity. Still, the Chachamim insisted that the Tora study does not require the state of purity. So, in the case of the study, people of different degrees of purity can be brought together. This is how Rabbi Yehuda ben Betera expressed himself: “The words of your mouth have nothing to do with impurity, and when a student questioned him, he said to him: open your mouth so that the words that come out of it are clear because  the words of the Tora do not acquire impurity, as the prophet says, ‘are not My words like fire, saith the Lord.’ Just as fire is not susceptible to impurity, so are the words of the Tora.”

MITZVA: ORDINANCE OF THE TORA IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 5 POSITIVE MITZVOT AND 2 PROHIBITIONS

1. Leviticus 12:2,5 The ritual impurity of women after giving birth.
2. Leviticus 12:4 The ritually unclean person should not ingest Holy Sacrifices.
3. Leviticus 12:6 The offering that the woman brings after giving birth.
4. Leviticus 13:2 The ritual impurity of the person who has (manifests itself with a rash on the skin) Tsara’at.
5. Leviticus 13:33 Do not cut the hair of a Netek lesion (type of Tsara’at).
6. Leviticus 13:45 The person with Tsara’at or anyone who can transmit ritual impurity to others should not cut his hair and leave his clothes torn.
7. Leviticus 13:47 Laws about Tsara’at of garments.

METSORA

LEVITICUS XIV:1-XV:33

THE MALAISE OF THE SOUL

The great biblical expositor and defender of orthodoxy, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch of Germany, insisted that Tsara’at, the affliction that occupies the attention of the biblical text, should not be confused with leprosy. In the case of leprosy, you should go to the doctor; on the other hand, for the cure of the Tsara’at, the indicated person is the Kohen, who examines the wound and determines what should be the remedy for its healing. Because Tsara’at is an outward manifestation of inner spiritual evil.

The Chachamim start from the premise that the Tora is not a set of rules whose purpose is to take care of the person’s physical health, even if this is a consequence of observing its laws. The fundamental task of the Tora is to look out for the spiritual health of the individual and the collective, to trace the path by which the individual can approach the Divinity, particularly through the Mitzva. Therefore, the interpreters of the biblical text, beginning with the Talmud, pointed out that the rashes of Tsara’at were manifestations of a spiritual ailment. 

They suggest that Metsora is an allusion to Motsi shem ra, the pernicious slander against one’s neighbor. The category of Tsara’at also covers other things because a house can also suffer from this evil; that is, the walls can be infected. In this case, the above explanation is no longer adequate. In addition, according to many speakers, the rules on “infected walls” only apply in Erets Israel, the Promised Land. 

According to Rashi, when the Kohen ordered that the walls of a house be destroyed because they were irretrievably infected with Tsara’at, this decision brought benefit to the person because the Amorites who had inhabited those lands during the 40 years that the Hebrews passed through the desert, hid gold and jewels in their walls. Treasures that were recovered by the Hebrews when they tore down the walls of these houses.

Shimon Golan records the opinion of the Zohar, which maintains that the reason for Tsara’at on the walls is that the houses were built under the sign of idolatry. In contrast, the Promised Land demands that all constructions be carried out under a pattern of Tahara, spiritual purity. Therefore, the Tora ordered that the houses be inspected and, in case of any suspicion of impurity, the Kohen could order their destruction to be afterward rebuilt under a sign of purity. 

Since the Divine Presence takes up residence in the Promised Land, every building must be fit to house His Presence. Therefore, whoever builds a house must verbally manifest that he is doing it for the Glory of God, and because of this action, God will be present in that home.

According to Rambam, Tsara’at occurs in a home because it housed Lashon Hara, that is, because people were slandered there, a sign that bad tongue can spread even to walls.  

Tsara’at could disappear by the abstention of Lashon Hara. On the other hand, if a person does not do Teshuva and does not desist from the misuse of the tongue, even leather goods and clothing could be infected with Tsara’at. Indeed, that is what happened to Miryam, who dared slander her brother Moshe. 

Tsara’at affliction is a Divine warning that first appears in the houses. Still, if the person does not change his behavior, Tsara’at advances toward his belongings and clothes and attacks his body. 

The Midrash holds that Tsara’at results from various transgressions: “Cursing God,” illicit sexual intercourse, shedding human blood, arrogance, penetration into another’s compound, theft, false oath, desecration of God’s Name, and idolatry. The Tora points out that there is a direct relationship between physical health and spiritual health. Therefore, faced with an illness, the person must question his ethical and moral behavior since the ailment is often a manifestation of a malaise of the soul.

MITZVA: ORDINANCE OF THE TORA IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 11 POSITIVE MITSVOT

1. Leviticus 14:2 Ritual of purification by tsara’at.
2. Leviticus 14:9 Shaving the person affected by tsara’at on the seventh day (part of the purification ritual).
3. Leviticus 14:9 Immersion of the unclean individual in a mikve for ritual purification.
4. Leviticus 14:10 The offering of the individual with tsara’at when he is healed of his affliction.
5. Leviticus 14:35 Laws of ritual impurity of a house contaminated with tsara’at.
6. Leviticus 15:2,3 Laws of ritual impurity of the person who has emissions, Zav, who is the object and reason for his ritual impurity.
7. Leviticus 15:13,14 Offering of the Zav when healed of affliction.
8. Leviticus 15:16 Laws concerning the ritual impurity of semen, which is ritually impure and causes ritual impurity.
9. Leviticus 15:19 Laws of ritual impurity of the menstruating person who acquires ritual impurity and causes ritual impurity.
10. Leviticus 15:25 Laws of ritual impurity of the person who is menstruating abnormally that acquires ritual impurity and causes ritual impurity.
11. Leviticus 15:28,29 Offering of the Zava woman, who is menstruating abnormally when she has already been ritually purified.