Tazria – Metzora
God spoke to Moshe
and to Aharon.
If a man has on the skin of his flesh a very white spot, or one that is
nearly so, or one that is shiny white, and it forms a leprous mark in the skin
of his flesh, then he shall be brought to Aharon, the
Kohen, or to one of his sons, the Kohanim…
13:1 - 2
The Torah describes its symptoms and the means by
which the Kohen of old diagnosed and isolated the infected person. The Torah describes the purification rite by
which the one recovered from the disease may reenter the camp. The Torah, however, does not explain the
causes of the infection. Here the rabbis
began to speculate. Some thought that Tzaraat was somehow the result of sin. Of lewdness, said some; of slander, said
others. In any case, a physical ailment
was given a spiritual meaning…The reason that the afflicted person comes to the
Kohen is that it is the Kohen who can determine when a person is contagious and
must be isolated from contact with others….If Tzaraat
is a metaphor for sin, then if sin were as visible in its beginnings as it is
in its result, none would approach it.
It is not. Therefore, we need
some expertise in diagnosing it in its inception. The Kohen of old acquired this expertise
through family tradit8ion and training.
Leonard Kravitz (20th
Century)
Nevertheless, Torah does not slight the leper,
leaving him to suffer his bitter fate alone, but patiently and at length
discusses the ways for his cure and purification. Two weekly Torah portions – Tazria and Metzora, sometimes
read together on one Shabbat, are devoted to this subject. The Kohen, or priest, representing the entire
community, is the one in charge of dealing with the situation of the leper. Here too, we see the difference between other
cultures and the Torah approach based on the idea that all human beings are
created in the Divine Image. “In almost
all cultures throughout history, the attitude towards persons ill with leprosy
was an emotional loathing and rejection.
The leprosy patient has been excommunicated and deprives of his civil
rights; this action has extended even to burial, either symbolic or actual,
while still alive (Britannica, 1968 ec, vol 13, p. 980).
Pinchas Peli (20th Century)
The details in this week’s readings about Tzara’at
include the instruction that in each suspected case, it is the task of Aaron
(the first high priest) or one of his descendants to rule on the ritual status
of the outbreak. Thus, individuals who
display a skin eruption, garments in which a stain or mold appears, or houses
in which the walls show evidence of a mold are subject to examination by the
priest. While this system, as well as
the underlying apprehension about unknown contagions, may appear archaic to
contemporary Jews, it raises several issues that remain pertinent…The ancients’
priest had a tremendous responsibility:
he alone could pronounce something “clean” or “unclean.”
Richard Hirsch (Contemporary)
Why is the Kohen’s
responsibility to diagnose that group of contagious skin diseases… Obviously, the tasks assigned to the Kohen do not
represent the total of medical knowledge.
Only certain kinds of skin diseases are in his domain, not to mention
other kinds of illness. Clearly, there
had to be other health practitioners around.
Why, then these symptoms only?
One possible answer is that these are diseases people shied away from,
were repelled by, wanted to forget about.
Therefore it was the Kohen’s task to remain
concerned, to reach out to them, to make sure that they could be re-integrated
into the community as soon as possible…This still remains the task of religious
institutions; to be able to remain aware of the human needs of those whom most
people might reject…
Shamai
Kanter (Contemporary)