Metzora

In the previous weekly portion, Tazria, we read about how a person was declared impure in the case of an affliction of tzara'at. The impure person was sent outside the camp and remained there until he was healed. The family had to take care of him, bring him food. If there was no family, then charitable organizations took care of this. His free time (and such a person had a lot of free time) he had to devote to reflecting on how he had come to such a life and how he could correct his life. When he saw that the tzara'at had left him, he could call the kohen. And this is what you and I will read about, beginning with verse 1 of chapter 14.

The kohen, who is appointed to serve in the Holy, who has special clothing for entering the Holy, can go out and descend into the impure. In Hasidism this is called raising the sparks of holiness out of impurity. One can descend, go out beyond the bounds of the camp, in order to bring back into the camp those who have ended up outside the camp. This is one of the properties of holiness: to see the impure, to know how to come into contact with the impure and at the same time not become impure. This concerns us as well. When we see something impure, we can become infected with this impurity: flare up with some kind of anger, condemnation, and immediately find ourselves outside the camp next to the one we are rebuking or criticizing, if this rebuke is impure. The kohen goes out beyond the bounds of the camp not in order to throw stones at those afflicted with the disease, but in order to lift them up, in order to bring them back.

What birds are these? It is not written that they are doves or turtledoves. Most likely, what is meant is simply clean birds, such as starlings. Cedar wood – this is, of course, not the whole cedar tree, you did not need to take a whole cedar, just a splinter of cedar wood. So, what is this set that the kohen takes? Little birds are creatures that chirp a lot, chatter a lot. Little birds are the image of a chattering creature, and tzara'at is often given to a person as a punishment for chatter, for meddling with his talk where he should not have. And therefore we will also correct him with little birds. Tola'at (crimson thread) teaches modesty, on the principle of I am a worm and not a man, as David says (Tehillim 22:7), using the same word: “Ve'anochi tola'at velo ish.” Cedar wood, a splinter of cedar – this is a splinter of the tallest tree known in the area, not the tallest in the world, but the tallest in the imagination of the average inhabitant of Israel. Hyssop is a small subshrub. The teaching about modesty – where one may be big, where one must be small – teaches a person to measure his own scale. That is the set, the kohen's first-aid kit for a person being purified of tzara'at.

They drew water from a spring, collected it in an earthen vessel, and over this vessel they slaughtered the little bird.

Into the mixture of blood and water the kohen dips this whole set. Some part of the person who has been purified of tzara'at must die. The old man has a soul that is afflicted by sin, like flesh afflicted by disease. In order for the person to be purified, this sinful part must die, and the death of this part is symbolized by the little bird that is slaughtered. And why do they dip the living little bird into the blood? So that the part of the person that remains alive would understand that it has been smeared in blood, would understand what has actually happened, that it is as if a living part had been cut off from it.

The living little bird flies away. This is a symbol of the liberation of the body that was afflicted with tzara'at from tzara'at: what died – died; what remained alive – goes out to freedom.

When we read this, it may seem that the person came home but cannot go into the house: in the yard, on the doormat, on the steps he will spend the night for 7 days. No, that is not so. The one sitting, living outside his tent is one who cannot yet go in to his wife, cannot unite with his wife. He still has 7 days of purification, just as a woman has 7 days of purification after giving birth, as the kohanim have 7 days of consecration. This is a time of rehabilitation, when a person is recovering: it seems he is already healthy, but he still has to be watched very closely.

There is a dispute about whether it is necessary to shave the hair in invisible places. Invisible places are the places that are not visible when a person stands naked during the examination by the kohen. That is, the hair in the armpits, the hair where it is difficult to shave it off. Some of the sages say: “The hair must be shaved off completely, absolutely all the hair removed.” Others say: “Only in the place that the kohen sees.” The Torah says, and this is most likely, that all the hair must be shaved off. Why shave off the hair? We will later learn that the Levites too shave off their hair in preparation for service. And there too this question can be asked. What happens to hair when it is shaved off? When a person shaves off hair, it begins to grow again – this is a property of hair. If it is the hair of the beard, then this is regarded as a person's wisdom, his strength. The hair on the body is regarded as a manifestation of the person from the inside outward, it is what comes out of a person outward, what strives to come out of him outward: his aggressiveness, his striving to manifest himself in this world.

There is a story in the Talmud about Sancherib, king of Ashur, who, after he had fought to his heart's content, decided to take up a peace process, to establish peace in the whole world, and developed very vigorous activity on this account. The Talmud tells a long story about this and says that the Most High made it so that the hair on his body fell out, shaved off his hair, and the man became powerless. People who practice some kind of magic and all sorts of impure things also often connect themselves with hair; since ancient times hair was considered a dwelling place of something impure. But in this case that is not what we are talking about. A person who meddled where he should not have, who violated boundaries, learns to build boundaries anew. He must rid himself of everything that grew on him during the time he was in the affliction of the disease. When we said that the affliction of tzara'at itself is, as it were, a depression in the body, this too is a kind of compression of the person within his boundaries. Therefore a person shaves off his hair at his purification, again washes his clothes and again bathes his already shaven body, deprived of that very aggressiveness, that very negative force that strives outward, and becomes pure.

A log is 0.35 liters. So, the one being purified must bring two lambs. One lamb will be for the asham offering (guilt offering), the second lamb will be for the ola offering (burnt offering). The ewe, the only case where an animal unambiguously of the female sex is offered as a sacrifice, is the chatat (purifying offering), which one person brings (this is written about in chapter 4 of our book). And together with each of the offerings he must bring a mincha (grain offering). This is also the only case when a grain offering is brought together with the asham offering. Why? Because bread symbolizes in this case the manifestation of a person's flesh: the word bread (lechem) can be translated both as the word flesh and as the word meat.

That is, the kohen takes the person with his two lambs and with the ewe and brings them to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

So, the procedure of purification begins with the guilt offering – an offering for a conscious sin.

Why does it say here in the usual place where they slaughter the chatat and the ola? Later on we will read that the blood of this offering is dealt with not the way the blood of an ordinary offering is. And therefore we might think that it, too, is slaughtered somewhere in another place, not where it usually is, and therefore the Torah speaks about this in such detail, down to the little things.

In the commentary on verse 23 of chapter 8 of our book we examined why the blood of the offering is dealt with in exactly this way when Moshe consecrated the kohanim. A person is purified, he is raised to the level of holiness, and everything begins with blood. The person is first anointed with blood, the blood of the offering on him purifies him from impurity. First, from the state impure he must pass into the state neutral, and then they will lay for him a little bridge of holiness.

Why does the Torah repeat kohen twice? So that we would not think that the kohen will pour the oil onto the left hand of the one being purified; in actual fact he pours it over. Pouring the oil over, as it were, “brings it to life,” and the oil now symbolizes the inner component of a person. If blood restores a person's life, blood is connected with the vital forces, then oil symbolizes health, the ability to be in society, it gives the body its juices. The kohen pours it over onto the palm of the left hand. How much oil fits on the palm of a hand? Not all that much, much less than a log (0.35 liters). The rest of the oil will be a gift to the kohen, it is his share.

In Hebrew it is precisely the index finger that is called by the word etzba.

the blood of the asham offering.

I will repeat that blood symbolizes a person's life, and oil symbolizes what this life is filled with: health, the desire to live and so on.

So, let us repeat the whole process: the kohen takes the oil, pours it over into the little palm of the left hand, and with the index finger of the right hand first sprinkles before the Most High, then anoints the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, the big toe of the right foot – just as at the consecration of the kohanim. By this a little bridge to holiness is laid for the person. Far from always are we invited or immediately raised up into holiness. Here a path opens up for the person, a road to holiness opens up. He can walk along it or not walk along it, this is his freedom of choice. That is, from this moment on the person receives access, a pass into the holy, and it depends only on his decision whether he will make use of this pass.

Let me remind you that the verb lechate, from which the word chatat comes, means sterilization, purification. When a person has already been purified, he can bring the burnt offering. This is the last offering in the series of offerings of the one being purified from tzara'at.

At each of the stages there is purification, at each of the stages a particular part of the healed person is purified. And when all the offerings have been brought, the purification is complete.

But what is to be done if a person has no money, no means to bring two rams and a ewe, and all this is fairly expensive, and the person has run through a lot of money after the quarantine, and he does not have money even for small livestock? About this we read in verse 21:

A tenth of an efa is 2.2 liters of solet flour, flour of the highest quality. And what to take instead of one more lamb and instead of the ewe, we read in verse 22:

Everything is just as in the previous case. The kohen does not do a sloppy job, does not cut himself any slack. The person who has come to him has not only been healed of tzara'at, he is also poor. And although he has no money for lambs, and little will come the kohen's way from this, the kohen still does his work honestly.

We see that a person afflicted with tzara'at is not a lost person; the Most High afflicts in order to restore. The kohen takes care of him at the very beginning of his path, when he is declared afflicted, when this disease is only just being detected in him. The kohen takes care of the afflicted one and goes out to him beyond the camp in order to purify him. The afflicted one receives the opportunity to be purified, even if he lacks the means for it. The Most High takes care of those who sin, He has no lost souls, no souls outside His care. And the kohen is instructed to be ready to go out beyond the bounds of the camp, to make offerings, to perform purification beyond the bounds of the camp, instructed to be ready to take trouble over every sick soul. And for the kohen, too, there must be no unneeded and useless souls. This is probably the main lesson of chapter 14.

With God's help, you and I continue to study the weekly portion Metzora. We have already read about the different kinds of tzara'at that occur on a person and on his clothing, and we will read further about one more kind of affliction.

In the land of Israel, in the land where the people will come, there will be one more kind of tzara'at, which will afflict not only people and clothing, but also houses. There are very many different theories regarding the order: does it begin with the house, then – clothing, then – the person, or does it begin with the person, then – clothing, then – the house? I am more inclined to understand that the Most High gradually warns a person, creeping closer to his flesh, and first of all tzara'at appears on the person's house.

What happens in this case is what will be discussed.

Why does he not say: “An affliction has appeared on my house,” but says: “Something like it”? Because he does not engage in self-treatment: only the kohen can make such a diagnosis as nega, as affliction, that is why he says to the kohen: “I have a suspicion of nega. Please do a diagnosis.”

And what will happen if what is in the house becomes impure? Any vessel that becomes impure – copper, glass, tin, wooden – can be immersed in water, and it will be clean; a bed that becomes impure can be immersed in water, and it will become clean; a mattress can also be immersed, dried, and it will be clean. What among the things in the house can certainly in no way be purified? These are clay pots: if they become impure, they can only be broken, because clay is porous and absorbs substances into itself, but this is a physical reason. There is also a spiritual reason, which also has its root in the physical world: a wooden vessel can be cut down, turned into another object – carve a spoon out of a pot or something else. A ceramic vessel cannot be remade into anything. Copper can be melted down, and tin can be melted down, and glass can be melted down, but fired clay – that is already final. Just as it cannot be remade in the physical world, it cannot be remade in the spiritual world either. In order for a person to change, he too should not become a clay shard.

So, the kohen commands that everything be pulled out of the house before he comes into the house, so that it does not become impure. And why suddenly such concern? Well, clay pots, plates – if they become impure, a person will buy new ones and break these – big deal, what a great sorrow: the price of clay vessels is sometimes a few kopecks. One can say that this is the Torah's compassion for a person's property. There is such an understanding that the Torah often shows concern for a person's property (we spoke about this in relation to clothing). But there is one more important aspect: one should not multiply impurity. If some objects become impure, and even if we then purify them, that is not very good. It is not very good for the amount of impurity in the world to grow, so if this can be avoided by carrying all the vessels outside beforehand, then that is good and useful.

When the kohen comes, all the things will already be outside. This also means that people will look: “Aha… a meat grinder! And he told me last week – I asked him to lend me a meat grinder, and he told me that he did not have one. Aha… a book about Harry Potter! And here I thought he was a decent person, and look what he reads,” and so on. It will be possible to examine the person's property: just as he (if we are talking about lashon hara, about evil speech) put someone's dirty laundry on display, so he too will have to live through having his whole private life put on display, until the kohen comes.

The word sheka'arurot occurs in the Tanach only here, and, as happens in such a case, it is difficult to understand what it means; we can only guess on the basis of similar words. Some say that it means rough, others say that it means wet, oozing. There is also an opinion that it means located in a corner or in the corners. This understanding is also relevant, because there cannot be tzara'at on a round house; all round lines are connected with nature, they are natural. Many peoples have round dwellings, built precisely on the basis of the closeness of these peoples to nature. As they develop, peoples move on to straight lines (so the Jewish sages say), and human housing is then built along straight lines. Within the framework of cooperation with the Most High, in the “orchestra of the universe,” the Most High plays the part of the rounded lines, and man plays the part of the straight lines, and when they come to harmony in the human world, in man, then the Creator will be revealed in the straight lines.

Let us return to the description of the affliction. Yerakrakot o adamdamot (greenish or reddish) – this is the tenth kind of affliction. From the very beginning of the weekly portion Tazria we read that there were six kinds of affliction on a person's body: se'et (swelling), sapachat (lichen), baheret (spot), shechin (boil), netek (scall), marita (hair loss) on the head. And also three kinds of affliction outside a person's body: on woolen clothing, on linen clothing, on leather clothing. Here we read about the fourth affliction outside a person's body – the affliction of the walls of the house. And, of course, a parallel with the Ten Commandments suggests itself: when a person does not observe one of the Ten Commandments, the affliction of tzara'at overtakes him.

There is a very important nuance in how the kohen examines the house; tradition speaks about this. Most houses in those times were small and semi-dark inside; people could not build a house with a lot of light, since a large window meant large heating expenses. And if the house is in semi-darkness, then the question arises: is it necessary to open the windows to let more light into the house, to examine it better? Must the kohen come, to put it in modern terms, with an ultrasonic flaw detector, with a strength tester (a Schmidt hammer), with a rebar analyzer, with a concrete hardness tester, and check the walls for quality? Or does he examine the house in the conditions in which the person lives? And the law says that the kohen must examine the house in the conditions in which the person lives, with the same lighting: if the house is in semi-darkness, then in semi-darkness. We must not come with flashlights, with microscopes, with flaw detectors, in order to search out sin in a person. If the affliction became visible to him under his conditions of life, then this is a sin that is visible at his level.

There is an interesting story by Jonathan Swift in his “Gulliver's Travels,” when Gulliver ends up in the land of giants. And there live men and women of enormous height, and the women are probably beautiful. But because Gulliver himself is the size of a pore of their skin, it seems to him that they give off a stench, that they are unclean. And the approach of the Torah teaches us not to make giants out of those whom the kohen is trying to heal, not to use special instruments to detect the affliction. The kohen examines what is visible to the naked eye of the one living in the house, and no technical means. And in exactly the same way, when sin manifests itself in a person's life, no microscopes and flaw detectors are needed to see it as larger than it has manifested itself. One must treat what has manifested.

So, the kohen saw this affliction.

The kohen must go out of the house before making any decision: if the kohen declares the house impure while he himself is still in the house, then the kohen too will become impure. When we determine someone's impurity, we must at that moment be aware of ourselves as separate from the one whose impurity we are determining.

So after all, the house is clearly afflicted with tzara'at, and the question is how deeply. Here the first surgical intervention takes place.

Here the stones are thrown out not outside the bounds of the camp, but outside the bounds of the city, because this does not happen now; it will be so only in the land of Canaan.

An impure place – there is some place outside the bounds of the city where there will be a dump of impure things that do not need purification. There they lie, and whoever has no need to will not go there.

That is, as the first surgical measure with respect to the infected house, they take out precisely the afflicted stones (remove the afflicted organs of the house), throw them out, and all the plaster. Plaster is what makes the house a single whole; one can say it is the skin of the house, because plaster clothes the house as skin clothes a person.

That is, “prosthetics” for the house with other stones and other plaster.

If after all these procedures the affliction nevertheless returns and is no longer acute but chronic in character, then there is no helping the house anymore; here euthanasia is applied, putting to death out of mercy.

And this is evidence that the house that can be afflicted with leprosy does not mean a brick house, not a panel house, not a concrete house, but a house that is made of three components: stone, wood, afar (dust, earth, plaster).

One can say: fine, if a brick house is not susceptible to tzara'at, a panel house is not susceptible to tzara'at, then we will make exactly such a house, and tzara'at holds no fear for us. Why do people make houses that will be open to affliction? Because a person wants to have communion with the Most High, even if this is a person whom the Most High punishes for sins. He wants, and He rejoices, the Most High waits for the manifestation of a person's sinfulness before the punishment for it comes. Let the house be punished first, so that a person's house becomes, in a certain sense, a lightning rod for the wrath of God.

This is not necessarily the owner – someone who went in, whoever it might be.

This is a more terrible kind of impurity. Why these two categories – sleeping and eating? Sleeping and eating are what pertains to residing. Where a person sleeps and eats, there he lives; this means he did not go in there by chance. Therefore, when, for example, Israel celebrates Sukkot, the Most High gives the commandment to live in a booth. And how is this commandment interpreted? In the booth one must sleep, eat, and one more thing that is not mentioned here: study Torah. A person's life, a person's house is the place where he sleeps, eats and studies; the place becomes a house, it needs a mezuza at the entrance, and it has the status of a house in all its senses.

Further on we read a more optimistic version of how events develop.

How will the kohen purify the house?

This is what we read about and examined at the beginning of chapter 14, in the case of the person whose body was afflicted by tzara'at. And further on everything goes according to the same plan.

Living water is water that is taken from a source of flowing water or lake water, not from another vessel.

This is very important: the house is purified in the same way as the Tent of Meeting, because the house for a person – is in essence his ohel mo'ed, a place in which a person must conduct himself in holiness. The commandment “Be holy, for I am holy” is fulfilled at home, and the house is also a person's sanctuary. Just as the afflicted one is expelled from the holy, so a person is expelled from his house, is deprived of his sanctuary.

With regard to the person afflicted with tzara'at, it does not say beyond the bounds of the city, because all the actions of purification take place beyond the bounds of the city (after all, the kohen goes out beyond the camp). Here everything takes place in the city, but the kohen goes out to the edge of the city and there sends the little bird away into the field – look how much work the kohen has.

And, as usually happens when a topic is concluded, the Torah reminds us what topic this was.

This teaching is given so that the kohen could on any day say about something that it is pure or impure, determine where there is tzara'at, where there is no tzara'at, and purify from tzara'at. And so that a person could be impure on one day, pure on another day, so that a person would have such a possibility to become pure on the next day or after several days. The task of the kohen's service is that a person should not remain impure for all time, and for this the kohen does all this complicated and, at first glance, incomprehensible work.

With God's help, you and I continue reading the weekly portion Metzora. In chapter 15 the conversation will turn to a topic that it is not customary to talk about: the ritual purity of the sexual organs and everything connected with it. Even though this topic is considered in society almost shameful and people do not talk about it with each other, the Most High called Moshe and Aharon and commanded them to give the people a very detailed instruction on how to act when there are some unusual manifestations connected with the sexual organs. The Most High Himself announces this, speaks on this topic and thereby makes this topic not so shameful after all and quite worthy of discussion, if there are some problems in this area.

In this case the word basár (flesh), which is used here, means the male member. Such a euphemism is also used by the prophets. What is meant is a discharge from the sexual organ.

The discharge has stopped up the seminal duct, and the person has problems with ejaculation during intimacy with his wife. The discharge spoken of here is not ejaculation, it is some other discharge that is not connected with orgasm. The sages determined that there are some causes that can lead to a discharge of seed, as, for example, if a person saw something that inflamed him, thought about something that inflamed him, that is, visible, discernible causes of what is happening. If a person knows why he had this discharge, and one can understand that this discharge is precisely of seed, then this is not the case that is described here. What is meant is an involuntary discharge from the sexual organ that has no visible and clear explanation. In this state a person is impure, and he makes what is around him impure.

What is meant is precisely a bed, that is, something that is intended for lying on (a bedstead, bedding, a featherbed, a mattress on the floor, a sleeping bag), and every thing on which he sits – all this will become impure. If a person sits on something that has a hollow inside, into which something can be put (like a vessel, a pot, a vase, a box), then everything he sits on, all this will become impure.

We have said that anyone being purified, even after he bathes, remains impure until evening. Here the Torah tells us that not only is the one discharging mucus impure, he makes impure everything that is under him. This is a special form of impurity that, perhaps yielding to the action of gravity or under its own weight, strives downward. Therefore he makes impure everything that is under him. And the person who touched the bed on which the one with the discharge had lain has taken on this infection with impurity, but not to the same degree as the one with the discharge himself; he will be impure until evening.

Here too the word basár (flesh) is used, about which we said in verse 2 that it is a euphemism for the sexual organ. For certain reasons we cannot say unambiguously whether this is so. There is a dispute among the commentators, among the interpreters, whether here too the word basár is a euphemism and refers to the sexual organ (although, one would think, why would anyone touch someone else's sexual organ?) or whether flesh in general is meant by it. Why this question arises, we will read in verse 11 and explain.

So, a person who touches the basár of the one with the discharge goes through the same purification.

What is meant is not that the impure person went and started spitting at passersby for some reason, God forbid. This is a situation where two people were talking, and a drop of saliva flew out of the mouth of the impure one and landed on the person he was talking with. The person he was talking with also becomes impure and is purified in exactly the same way.

This can be a saddle that is used on a horse, or on a donkey, or on a camel, in order to ride, sit astride (lirkóv).

That is, even if there were some clothes or something else under the saddle, they too become impure, because this impurity, as we said, goes downward.

Here there is an amazing addition – everyone will be impure whom the one with the discharge, who has not washed his hands, touches. And in verse 7 we read that everyone who touches the one with the discharge will be impure, without any connection to hands at all. That is why a divergence of readings arises with regard to the word basár. If we say that in verse 7 only the sexual organ is meant, then it is clear that the one with the discharge will touch things with his hands, and therefore, if he washes his hands, that will be enough. Others say that both there and there flesh is meant, the flesh as a whole. But hands are very important for a person, they have, as it were, a separate status. And so that this one with the discharge would have the possibility to somehow exist in this world, he is given such a mercy that, having washed his hands, he can touch things, prepare food for himself or for others, touch others and do some of the work most necessary for himself.

We have said that the special property of earthen vessels is that they can be neither melted down nor remade into something else. They cannot be repaired, therefore they are only broken. Since they cannot be corrected in the physical world, they cannot be corrected in the spiritual world either.

Let me remind you once again that only earthen vessels are beyond correction from the point of view of impurity, because they are beyond correction altogether. A wooden vessel can be remade into something, changed, therefore it can be purified, and the Torah again repeats this distinction.

But everything comes to an end, and this period of discharges ends. What does a period of discharges mean? When there is some single case, it is not classified in any way: the person saw something once, made a mental note of it and began to watch himself. But when a person saw that the discharge recurs, say, two or three times over two or three days, then this is already a recurrence, and that is exactly what it means that the person has discharges.

One more thing that needs to be said. Nobody at all knows that the person has such a problem. He does not go to the kohen, he does not interact with the neighbors, he does not show his organs to anyone. Only he alone knows that he is impure. But if he makes everything around him impure, it will be hard for him to be purified and, most likely, the purification may turn out to be impossible. If at the same time he touches other people, keeps in contact with them, then he will make other people impure too. If in such an impure state he enters the Temple, enters the holy place, then expect trouble. And in this way his purification lies entirely on his conscience, becomes entirely his responsibility. That is why such a detailed, repetitive instruction is given, so that the person would not turn to lawyers, to the kohanim with some nuances every time. Everything was spelled out for him in detail for self-diagnosis. In this case, unlike tzara'at, which only the kohen determines, in this case both the diagnosis lies on the person, and the responsibility for healing lies on the person, and the non-acceptance of his own impurity also lies on the person. The Most High disposed the person toward purity, placed in the person the desire to be pure, gave the person the commandment: “Be holy, for I am holy.” And therefore He gives him the possibility to control his purity himself.

We too can ask ourselves each time how much we forgive ourselves some impurity that is not visible to others, how ready we are to be purified of that impurity for which nobody will ever, anywhere, rebuke us, except, of course, our heavenly Father.

A person must not simply wait seven days, not sit in impurity for seven days, as it is said in other cases, but count off seven days, that is, count day by day. And each day will be special for him. What at first seems hard to attain, the Torah breaks down into steps. When we climb to some height by a staircase, by steps, we can climb to a greater height than in a standing jump. And the Torah says that these seven days in which a person is cleansed – these are seven stages of correction. The sages saw in this seven-day period a basis for presenting it as a kind of process.

At the first stage, on the first day, a person admits his impurity to himself and says: “There is a problem, I will isolate myself. Why will I isolate myself? Because everyone I touch will be impure. I must withdraw, I must understand that I am tame, that I am impure. I will constantly feel this problem, and I will act taking into account the situation that I am impure. I can no longer have contact with everyone. And, of course, to lead people to God, to be a witness of something positive – that I also cannot do for now.” This is the first day, when a person realizes that it would be good for him to be alone for a while, at least in the spiritual sense. The one with a discharge is not separated from his family, he can be at home, he can eat what he is given, he can do everything he needs to at home, but he must switch on an inner work within himself.

And then, on the second day, he searches out the signs of his illness, because the signs are unknown to the one with a discharge, he must find out the problems, he must find what is hindering him. He is afraid, he gets angry, he is wrathful, he takes offense. He must find that thing, that situation, which is the root of his sins. Sin in itself – it is like a fruit that grows on a tree, like an apple that has grown on an apple tree. And the tree has a root. If a person repents only of a specific sin, of specific actions in this world, he is, as it were, throwing the windfall from the apple tree out of his yard. But apples will fall again, and there will be new windfall, because he has not cut down the tree. On the second day he searches out the tree.

And on the third day he identifies this tree. He admits to himself that he has a sense of self-importance. That he is greedy. That he perhaps loves his own pleasure more than God. That the world must be the way he wants it, and from this comes anger. And there can be a multitude of such causes. To identify the problem, to admit the problem to oneself – that is the hardest thing. And there is mercy in the fact that a person does not have to do this before someone else, although, of course, he can call someone who will help him sort it out, but this is not obligatory. As a rule, admitting one's problem publicly is much harder. This happens in ordinary everyday situations too. One man published popular-science books on various diseases: high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and so on. And all the books sold out, except one such as, for example, herpes. No one wanted to take a book called “Herpes” in the store and go with it to the checkout. It is embarrassing, such a person can be understood. And again one can look at oneself, see some herpes of one's own that one does not want to show (like that little book), and thank the Creator that we have such a mercy, that we do not have to show anything, that we can sort things out with ourselves. So, the person has identified the problem and asked the question.

On the fourth day, on the basis of this question one can do teshuva. In Hebrew the word teshuva means both answer and repentance. To repent means to receive an answer. And the person begins to look for an answer. He says: “I cannot blame the world for what happens around me, because behind everything that happens in this world stands the Creator. If I blame the world, I will be blaming the Creator. And therefore I believe that as soon as I correct everything that depends on me, He will correct what does not depend on me.”

Then, on the fifth day, when the person has realized this, he must, as Yeshua says (Luke 14:28), sit down and count the cost (like a man who builds a tower). The person must ask himself: “Do I even want to change this situation at all?” And make a choice in favor of changing it.

And on the sixth day he takes some actions, takes some steps, at least symbolic ones, in order to change something.

And then on the seventh day (I can say from experience that this is most often how it happens) a re-examination takes place. We encounter some situation in which we see that the impurity that was in us no longer manifests itself, it has gone.

And in this way the seven days pass that must be counted off. One can take any other plan for oneself, another scheme, I have simply given one of the possible ones.

So, the person has counted off seven steps of cleansing and then bathed in living water. Living water is water that bubbles, that moves, water from a spring. There are springs near which there are such special pools; in the land of Israel there are many of these. He must go there to be cleansed, and he can go to any mikva to be cleansed. Water symbolizes flowing life, and the problem of the outflow of life is connected with the flow of life, and it is corrected where life flows.

The eighth day. We have already spoken many times about the fact that in the “sevenfold” world the eighth day belongs to the world to come. The eighth day is the establishment of the Temple, it is the transition into a renewed, perfect world. And for our one who is being cleansed, this too is a breakthrough to holiness, a breakthrough to an entirely different level. The eighth day is the day of his rebirth.

The burnt offering (ola) is brought in gratitude for the fact that the cleansing has been completed.

A person simply has a nocturnal emission, an unintentional emission of seed, which can be a consequence of sexual development (this often happens with teenagers), under the influence of something seen, heard and so on. That is, we are speaking about a person who can explain the emission of seed by some natural causes. If this has happened to him, then he, having washed himself with water, will be impure until evening.

That is, the impurity extends not only to the body, but also to the clothing on which the seed gets. Why is a person who has an emission of seed or who has a discharge from the sexual organs considered impure? What makes him impure? We have spoken about the fact that impurity arises where life departs from, where a person who could give life through his sexual organs has lost vital force, the force that gives life has left him. In this place impurity arises, as also in childbirth, when life itself departs from the woman, as in all other cases.

What conclusions can we draw? First of all, if there is some area where a person must work with himself, this means that we have no right to interfere there, we have no right to interfere in the personal affairs of our neighbor. Our neighbor has the boundaries of his spiritual purity, and even when we see a problem, we have no right to rebuke him until he himself takes up this inner work. And one must be aware and ask oneself whether we have the right to violate his boundaries. And one more thing: even if we have some shameful problem that we cannot talk about, this does not mean that we cannot correct it, that we cannot work on it. Before the Most High there are no shameful topics, and out of any situation there is a way out, out of any situation there is a path to the Most High.

With God's help, you and I continue studying the weekly portion Metzora. Our conversation will be on a topic that it is almost not customary to talk about. We will talk about discharges from the genital organs of a woman. Since ancient times, already in the book of Bereshit, we read that this is spoken of by hint. “The usual thing, the women's thing,” Rachel said to her father. Today it is called critical days, these things, simply things, or women's things. Girls have come up with many euphemisms for this period of their indisposition. But the Most High Himself, as we read at the beginning of chapter 19, invited two leaders of the Jewish people, Moshe and Aharon, each of whom was over eighty years old, and commanded them to tell the people publicly, before all the people, about the impurity connected with the genital organs. Therefore we too will talk about this topic openly, but as delicately as possible.

Let us begin reading from verse 19 of chapter 15:

The word nidda means estranged, distanced. It is important to note that this concerns only bleeding from the woman's genital organs. What is the matter here? The female body is wonderfully arranged. Every month, whatever happens, an adult woman prepares to become a mom. In the woman's uterus a special bloody-mucous layer builds up, which is called the endometrium. In it, as in a storehouse, there is everything necessary for the first period of the fetus's existence. When a fertilized egg cell gets into the uterus, it must, by design, attach itself to this endometrium, and all the reserves that are in the uterus will work to feed this egg cell. At the same time, in this layer there are also certain identification marks. If something is not right, if something foreign tries to implant itself, the endometrium vigilantly guards the house and will not let every egg cell cling to the walls of its house. If, for example, a cat becomes pregnant, then only when the egg cell has gotten into the cat's uterus does it begin to build something, to gather, and to prepare hastily for its pregnancy. With a woman everything is completely different. Every month a married and an unmarried woman prepares, builds a little nest for the future child. A month passes, and the food in the storehouses loses its freshness, the little house has to be rebuilt. And therefore the old structure in the form of the endometrial layer separates from the uterus, rushes toward the vagina and leaves the woman's body. This is how what we call menstrual bleeding appears, because what comes out really is mainly blood: over the whole period of menstruation 100–150 grams of blood come out. This blood is special, it is thick, it does not clot, because the endometrium consists of blood and mucus. The mucus is alkaline and, getting into the blood, does not let it clot; because of this there are also some lumps, clots in these discharges. Only such thick blood, which does not oxidize, blood that comes out of the uterus itself, only this blood makes a woman impure. Therefore we specially make this point, so that a woman could check herself.

So, the monthly cycle is connected with the fact that a major renovation has begun, and in the woman's uterus a rebuilding begins. And since the little house was intended for a living child, for an embryo, was intended to give life, then when it leaves the uterus, impurity appears. Every time life departs, impurity appears. If this blood flows out not in connection with the rebuilding of the endometrium, it is no longer considered blood that makes a woman impure; this is important. If there are some little wounds on the cervix or on the walls of the vagina, this does not make a woman impure. There are women with whom one can consult about this, women who are open to this, who were brought up in this society, who are ready to ask whether some spot makes her pure or impure. And, accordingly, there are those who are ready to go down into the very intimate, to deal with such complex and, at first glance, squeamishness-inducing questions as female purity and impurity. Besides this, every adult woman knows that she has discharges that almost every day soil her underwear or the hygiene products she uses. These discharges come from glands that are located in the cervix, and glands that are located at the entrance to the vagina (Bartholin's glands). And this is a secretion that is produced not in the vagina itself, but passes through the vagina and washes it, a kind of special cleansing agent for the hygiene of the genital organs, which makes it possible to get rid of bacteria that got there by chance, of some fungi (except for those bacteria that are supposed to live there). And so all these little spots: white, yellow, brown, all spots connected with the discharge of secretion, also do not make a woman impure. Only the discharge of menstruation – this is what we are talking about now.

So, a woman whose menstruation has begun becomes impure for seven days from the moment she saw blood (even if she saw menstrual blood the size of a grain of rice); she is forbidden to her husband. In those times when there was the sanctuary, she was forbidden to enter the Holy. This does not mean, God forbid, that she is forbidden to go to gatherings, to take part in prayers, to take part in the worship service, in praise and so on. She needs more covering, more love, more sympathy. The Most High is everywhere, His glory fills the whole earth. And there is no need to hide the poor impure woman from the Most High, to put her out of sight, to put her in the trunk of the car or on the roof, God forbid. Those who propose this should remember that then the men too must be pure, and that is impossible, because today all are impure with the impurity of death, and there is no red heifer so that all could be purified. And there is no need to single out a woman in some way in connection with her impurity, because there is no sin in this at all, because this is a natural property of human nature, so that we can bear children. And only to her husband is she forbidden at this time. In our time the law is so.

But the Torah tells about the period when there is the Tent of Meeting, when there is the Temple. How and what happens with a woman during menstruation in this period, when her husband can eat from the sacrifice that he brought, or, if he is a kohen, he constantly eats from the sacrifices and so on. And therefore one must observe the laws of purity and impurity.

One can remind once again that the impurity that comes out of the genital organs of a man or a woman tends downward; it makes impure everything that is below.

That is, if a person spread ten mattresses on top and put a pea between them, or simply threw down a blanket and sat on top, then he will not have to wash his clothes; here the impurity is less, and he will simply be impure until evening.

For this there is the punishment karet (cutting off), and we will read about this in another place. But here it speaks only of impurity; the Torah does not speak about punishment here. As long as the woman still has to remain in nidda, so long he too will have to remain in this impurity. If she has five days left, then he too has five; if four, then he too is to be in impurity four days.

This is what concerns menstruation, that is, the natural bleedings that occur in a woman once a month.

There is also another problem: in the attachment of the endometrium, in a certain damage to the cervix, when some growth arises there that begins to bleed, and then blood comes out of the uterus not during menstruation or not only during menstruation. This blood is precisely uterine, but not the blood that comes out of a little wound that happened to form somewhere. And this blood too makes a woman impure. It happens that a woman suffers from such bleedings for many years. We read about this in the Gospels, when a woman touches the clothes of Yeshua in order to be healed of such bleeding. In such a case the matter is no longer only that the woman is not permitted to her husband. This causes very many inconveniences and sufferings, because when the uterus twitches in connection with the discharge of the endometrium or part of the endometrium or some corrosion, this jerks all the neighboring nerves. Therefore the woman has constant pains – now in the abdomen, now a pain that can radiate into the legs, that can radiate anywhere, because the whole bundle of nerves is constantly agitated, constantly twitching. And this is not only ritual impurity, the impossibility of entering the Temple, the Holy Place, the impossibility of being with her husband, it is also constant wandering pains. This is what that woman who suffered from bleeding for twelve years went through. And here is what the Torah says about this.

Let me remind you that nidda is the state of a woman during her monthly period. And further on we read a rule that is, on the whole, similar.

In the commentary on verse 13 of our chapter 15, where it spoke about the purification of a man with a discharge, I told in detail how the seven days are connected with inner purification and what it means at all to count seven days.

And once again the eighth day comes for us.

Only in the case where this was a discharge outside the monthly period does she bring offerings for it: chatat for purification and ola (burnt offering) as thanks for the LORD having purified her, just as in the case of a man who has a discharge. After an ordinary monthly period no offering, of course, was needed.

There is one very interesting difference. If we look at the text, we will not see that it says here that the woman must wash herself after such a purification; the washing of the woman is not mentioned here. Although by law she washes herself (and today she washes herself). In general it must be noted here that today's law has been changed, because there is a problem with checking, there is a problem with counting, and today women act a little differently. But we are reading the plain meaning of the Torah. So then, here there is no mention of washing, although washing is implied. Even though we openly discuss some anatomical things connected with a woman, we do not want to say: “And now she is going to go and wash herself, and now she is going to go to the míkva.”

There are things that are understood but not discussed. The Talmud says this about it: “Everyone knows why a bride goes under the chuppá, why she withdraws in private with the groom, but this is not discussed. Whoever begins to discuss it makes his mouth impure, as if he fills his mouth with carrion.” A woman tries to go to the míkva in such a way that nobody notices. And around this there is a certain curtain of intimacy and modesty. And the Most High Himself, when He gives instructions, does not mention this. We know that the Most High, that our God, He is the All-Seeing God, He can see everything. But this does not mean that He looks at everything. Sometimes, if a woman is washing, changing her clothes, making herself pretty, doing something she is shy about, ashamed of (she is ashamed even before a human being, let alone before God), God is ready to lower the eyes, the Merciful One does not look at this. That is why He also does not say that she must go and wash herself. God also does not peek into a woman's neckline when she bends down: although He is the All-Seeing God, the Merciful One, He is also the Tactful One. Along with the fact that God initiates, starts an open conversation about intimate things, He does not say here how to carry out the checking of the woman. He does not tell the woman how to prepare for the washing. He does not tell the woman: “Go and wash yourself,” because there are boundaries to what is talked about in society and what is not talked about. And God respects the modesty of a woman, her right to intimacy, her right to embarrassment. And all the more we, simple people, must learn to respect the right of sisters and brothers, and not always strive to uncover every nakedness. The Torah will say much more about this.

When we touch something, if we are impure, then we soil this “something.” When we try to touch the Most High in impurity, we cannot soil the Most High, but we can die from touching Him in impurity. Therefore the Most High says: “Keep them away from impurity, remove them from impurity, so that they can survive in My presence.” This, of course, concerns us too, because we want, we pray, that the LORD would live in us, we hope that He lives in us. And when He lives in us, we too must strive for purity and holiness, preserve purity and holiness and keep away from everything impure.

And the Torah concludes the topic, as usual, by again repeating what was spoken about from the beginning of chapter 15.

Thus the Torah sums up what it was talking about.

Chapter 14 of the book of Vayikra gives a detailed instruction about the purification of a person who has been healed of tzara'at, about exactly what offering he must bring. But in verses 21–22 there is a certain proviso:

21. But if he is poor and does not have sufficient means, then let him take one ram as a guilt offering for waving, to purify himself, and one tenth of an efa of wheat flour mixed with oil, as a grain offering, and a log of oil.

22. And two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whatever his hand reaches, one of the birds as a sin offering, and the other – as a burnt offering.

It is clear that the Most High can give, to put it in modern language, a discount to a poor person. Glory to the LORD, He does not make money on our sacrifices, He does not need them. He needs neither our gold, nor our silver, nor our rams, nor our bulls. Therefore a poor person can bring a more modest offering. But the Torah speaks here in an amazing, repetitive language. Usually the Torah is sparing with words, but here the Torah says this: “But if he is poor, and does not have sufficient means…” It is clear, after all, that if a person is poor, then he does not have sufficient means, and if he does not have sufficient means, then he is poor. So what is this really about, and how should this repetition be understood?

In the original, for the word that is translated as poor, the Torah uses the word dál. It means not only a poor person, but also a person who has become poor, a person who has lost his usual level of income, one could say, a billionaire who has become a millionaire. Strange as it may seem, this surprises very many people, and even outrages some. But according to Jewish tradition, according to Jewish wisdom, a person who has become poor, even if he has not become destitute, may and should be helped to return to his former material state. After all, at his material level he helped and served the people, and the error that happened can be corrected, some situation in his life can be corrected. For him this is a material healing.

But there is also another side: a person may feel poor. As soon as something can be gotten at a discount, the desire immediately arises to take advantage of this discount. And a person may think: “Hooray, great, I don't have to bring a big offering, I can bring a small offering.” And here again one needs to read closely into the original text of the Torah. The Torah literally says: “If he has become poor and his hand does not reach…” That is, a person from any material level must stretch out his hand, make some effort, in order to act like a rich person. This concerns not only sacrifice, it is a general principle of life for us. When it seems to you that you are weak and cannot do something, try to reach it with your hand. Make an effort to reach out your hand to some donation, to the fulfillment of some commandment, to the writing of some book, to some action, to showing love to someone. It is incredibly hard – to stretch out your hand, but it also brings joy, when you can say: “Hooray, I reached it, I managed! Even if I am poor and even if a discount was due to me, I reached it, I was able to do something, and this something can raise me to a higher level. Perhaps through this stretching of the hand forward, through this attempt to reach, I will no longer be poor and weak.”

The Torah motivates a person to stretch out his hand to the level above, to stretch his hand to the next level, to the next step, to the fulfillment of another commandment, to other opportunities, to other horizons, to study on another level, to knowledge on another level, to a relationship with the Most High on another level. The Torah says to a person: “Even if you are poor, do not stop, reach out with your hand, perhaps you will reach something greater. Do what your hand reaches – not what is at the place where you stand, but what your hand has reached, there will be your level.”

May God grant that we all understand this, take it in and use it in everyday life.

The name of our weekly portion Metzora is often translated as leper, but we have said more than once why this is wrong. If leprosy (lepra) in the medical aspect is contagious, then tzara'at, which we will talk about, has a spiritual basis beneath it. This is the only disease to which an entire weekly portion is devoted; metzora is one stricken with tzara'at. And, of course, the Torah is not a medical encyclopedia, but the disease tzara'at is the only disease that is described in it in such detail, and, unlike other diseases, tzara'at is not cured by doctors. There is no point for the sick person to turn to a doctor, there is no medical treatment for this disease, because tzara'at belongs to the spiritual diseases; I would say that this is theosomatics – the connection between God and the body.

 We know that traditionally it is considered that the cause of tzara'at is the so-called sin of lashon hara (evil tongue, evil speech). Nevertheless, the Talmud in tractate Arachin, folio 16a, says that tzara'at comes as a punishment for seven sins, for seven spiritual transgressions. These are evil speech, bloodshed, a false oath, debauchery, pride, robbery and envy.

Absolutely all these transgressions are connected with violating the boundaries of another person. One could object: fine – evil speech, fine – bloodshed, debauchery, robbery and envy are connected with violating boundaries. But how are pride and a false oath connected with this? A false oath is, in essence, slander. A false oath speaks against a person; in this it is like evil speech. And pride is connected with the fact that a person kind of puffs himself up, increases in size, and through this, accordingly, diminishes others. In this way pride too violates boundaries.

The midrash on our weekly portion gives another cause of the disease tzara'at. It says that yes, indeed, tzara'at comes as a punishment for seven sins, but it connects this with the book of Mishlei (6:17–19): “Here are six things that the LORD hates, even seven that are an abomination to His soul: proud eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that forges evil schemes, feet that run quickly to wickedness, a false witness who speaks lies and sows discord among brothers.” The word abomination is connected with the description of the disease tzara'at. Although the sources are different, nevertheless the list is similar. We see that tzara'at arises because a person takes a place that is not his own, steps up onto some level that he does not measure up to.

There are several interesting biblical examples of the disease tzara'at, and we will look at them. And we will begin with the least known case (it would seem, it is the Tanach, but still there are better-known cases and less-known ones). And we will begin with the case of King Uziyahu.

So, once upon a time there lived King Uziyahu. We read from the second book of Divrei haYamim, from chapter 26:

3. Uziyahu was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Yecholya, from Jerusalem.

So, as a mere youngster this man was already proclaimed king and, by and large, his whole conscious life he was on the throne. At sixteen he became king, he reigned fifty-two years, that is, from sixteen to sixty-eight he reigned in Jerusalem. He reigned right up to his death.

4. And he did what was pleasing in the eyes of the LORD, exactly as Amatzya, his father, had done;

5. And he sought God in the days of Zecharya, who instructed in the fear of God; and in the days when he sought God, God prospered him.

It would seem, a complete idyll. Here, at last, is a king, one of the few kings of Yehuda about whom the Tanach says that he did what was pleasing in the eyes of the LORD, a righteous king. There are actually not all that many such kings. Read the chronicles of the kings, you will see that by no means every king did what was pleasing in the eyes of the Most High. So, everything began well. Besides the fact that Uziyahu was a righteous king, did what was pleasing in the eyes of God, he was also an architect. There were many architects in the land of Israel. Buildings have come down to us from, say, Herod the Great. Herod the Great was a megalomaniac altogether (one who has delusions of grandeur); he fortified and built up everything he could, built all kinds of fortresses all over the land of Israel, and by this too he went down in history: this is one of the reasons why he is called the Great. But Uziyahu, unlike Herod, did not build for himself. He worked hard for his country.

10. And he built towers in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns, because he had much cattle. And in the lowland, and on the plain, and farmers, and gardeners in the mountains, and on Carmel, for he loved agriculture.

That is, the man built towers, built, apparently, water towers, made many cisterns in the wilderness, was engaged in land reclamation, brought the wilderness to life. You know that when the land of Israel comes to life, this is a sign that a righteous man is interacting with it. The land of Israel responds to righteousness with fertility, and this is what happened with Uziyahu. And he loved agriculture, he loved transforming his country. Besides this, this man was a surprisingly talented engineer. We read about this further on:

15. And he made in Jerusalem ingeniously devised machines, to be on the towers and on the corners for shooting arrows and large stones. And his name spread far, because he wondrously fortified himself and became strong.

So, he is also a talented weapons maker, who created, pay attention, defensive installations. That is, he did not go to war against anyone, he did not lay claim to anything. He wondrously fortified himself, says the Tanach, and became strong. He became strong in that, on the one hand, he turned the land into a blossoming garden, and on the other hand, he defended this land, this blossoming garden. He was blessed in everything, did what was pleasing in the eyes of the LORD, the LORD prospered him. And, it would seem, what more does a person need?

16. But when he became strong, his heart grew proud to his destruction, and he became a transgressor before the LORD, his God, for he entered the Temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

A person who succeeds in everything and whom God really helps in everything wants more and more of this help, more and more. And the reason for this is not greed, not envy, but pride, pride that went hand in hand with love for the Most High. And he decided that he would be talented in one more field: he decided to become a kohen, and by this he violated the will of his God. Remember, we talked about Nadav and Avihu (10:1–2), that they brought strange fire, which the LORD had not commanded. They did not, perhaps, do anything bad in itself, but they brought fire that the LORD had not commanded to bring. And just like this Uziyahu entered the Temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. This is the place where the kohen enters, and only the kohen, and the burning of incense takes place there. And even Uziyahu, though a king, but not a kohen, cannot enter the Holy.

Although, of course, in the East both the Pharaohs and most of the kings among those who surrounded Uziyahu – in Sumer, and in Akkad, and in Ur – were also priests. And if “the cards fell right,” then not only priests, but also gods. And it was an ordinary thing that a king enters the sanctuary, and all the more so such a talented king as Uziyahu. And so Uziyahu entered the Holy, to the altar of incense. That is, he lit incense on the altar of incense and was about to enter the Holy of Holies in order to burn incense there.

17. And Azarya the priest went in with him, and with him eighty priests of the LORD, excellent men.

The kohanim were alarmed. They were alarmed not because: “Whoa, now they will take our power away from us, the socialist fatherland is in danger!”, as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin would have said. That was not the reason why they were alarmed: they were afraid for the king and for the kingdom. We read further what they said to the king:

18. And they opposed Uziyahu the king and said to him: it is not for you, Uziyahu, to burn incense to the LORD; this is the business of the priests, the sons of Aharon, consecrated for burning incense; go out of the sanctuary, for you have acted lawlessly, and this will not be to your honor before the LORD.”

We have already said it, and we will repeat this important thing here now: a person must obey the Most High. Our keeping of the commandments is good where our will humbles itself before the will of the Most High. We cannot celebrate Shabbat on Wednesday and Yom Kippur in spring. Even if we say: “We want to dedicate this day to God,” God Himself chose the day that He blessed.

So, the kohanim said: “Uziyahu, act as is proper. You are the king, and you have your own dignity, your own glory; do not touch what belongs to the sons of Aharon. Even a simple descendant of Aharon has the right to enter the sanctuary; you do not.”

19. And Uziyahu became angry, and in his hand was a censer for burning incense; and when he became angry at the priests, tzara'at appeared on his forehead before the faces of the priests, in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense.

20. And Azarya the high priest and all the priests looked at him; and behold, he has tzara'at on his forehead. And they urged him to go out from there, and he himself hurried to leave, for the LORD had struck him.

21. And King Uziyahu was stricken with tzara'at until the day of his death, and he lived, he was in a separate house, and was cut off from the house of the LORD (that is, he could not enter the Temple). And Yotam, his son, was in charge of the king's house and governed the people of the land (the common people).

We know that one stricken with tzara'at must keep far from the camp, although his impurity is not passed on to others, and a kohen may touch him and does not become impure by this; this is part of the service.

22. And the rest of the acts of Uziyahu, the first and the last, were written by Yeshaya, son of Amotz.

23. Uziyahu rested with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the royal tombs, for they said: he is stricken with tzara'at. And Yotam, his son, became king in his place.”

And so we see the result: the person is not a villain, the person not only lives in peace with the Most High, but he is blessed by the Most High beyond measure. He is not just a person, he is a king in Judea, and despite this, when he violates the rights of the kohanim, encroaches on the priesthood, he receives tzara'at. In the Talmud there is this reasoning about it: if Uziyahu, who entered the House of the LORD out of love for the LORD, with good intentions, if he encroaches on the Temple and receives punishment, receives tzara'at, then how much more will the one be punished who tries to encroach on the Temple with evil intentions. In tractate Sota, on folio 9, it says: “Uziyahu and Haman (the very Haman whom we know from megilat Ester) set their eyes on what was not due to them. They did not get what they asked for, and what they had was taken from them.” As Yeshua said: “From the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” Whoever encroaches on what is not due to him reaps the fruits of his encroachment. And this is tzara'at, solitude, the creating of boundaries around oneself, when a person is forced to warn everyone that he is impure.

The midrash Vayikra Raba says that a heart that forges evil schemes from the book of Mishlei (6:18) is said precisely about Uziyahu, who wanted to rob the priesthood. Out of good motives he said: “I too want to bring flowers to someone else's wife, I want to enter the Temple: what, am I worse than some kohanim or other?” It seems the motive was good, he too wanted to serve the Most High, but it did not work out, because he tried to do what the Most High had not commanded to do.

 For healing from tzara'at, ezov (hyssop) and erez (cedar) are used – two completely different plants. The cedar is considered the tallest of all the trees that grow in the forests of Israel. The cedar is associated with pride, with exaltation, for the simple reason that it is taller than all the trees. About the cedar it is said in the Talmud that it is the proudest of the trees, the king-tree and so on; a multitude of folk proverbs are connected with this. On the contrary, about hyssop it is said that it is one of the smallest, the most modest of plants. Thus one can see that the treatment of one stricken with tzara'at is connected with the humbling of pride, with the fact that a person is forced to give up his pride and replace it with humility. A person stricken with tzara'at (metzora), is healed in one way: he is healed by doing teshuva (repentance). This is, in essence, the only medicine. And although the sages of the Talmud said that any disease, in principle, can also be healed by teshuva, healed by correction, yet tzara'at was created by the Most High as a demonstrative example of healing by teshuva.

It is interesting to note that in chapter 14 of our book, in verse 3, it says: “… and the kohen will see that the affliction of tzara'at has left the one stricken.”

 Pay attention: it is not the sick person who was healed from tzara'at, says the original, but the tzara'at was healed, freed itself from the sick person, as if it has a mission, some functions that it performs in order to prompt the sick person to correction. As soon as the one sick with tzara'at has corrected himself, the disease frees itself from the sick person and “goes free with a clear conscience.” Tzara'at, like a stick, like a belt, like a crutch, clings to the sick person and, forcibly for the world, forcibly for the world order, performs these functions. In a world where everything is demarcated, where everything is distributed, tzara'at, in principle, should not exist, just as it does not exist in the corrected world.

Interesting, too, is the offering itself that the healed person brings. He brings two birds, living, clean (shete-tziporim chayot tehorot). What does this mean? Why birds? The image of a bird is perceived as the image of such a chatterbox-twitterer. Birds twitter, birds whistle (metzaftzefim) or chatter (mefatpetim). Such verbs are connected with frivolity, connected with simplicity, but they are clean. That is, this is, one could say, a testimony to a person that he can and must speak, that conversation must exist, must sound, but conversation must be clean. The mouth is given to a person in order to speak, in order to proclaim the Word of God, in order to communicate with people, to do good to people with this mouth. And one may speak a lot, but conversation must be clean.

Let us recall one more story (from chapter 5 of the second book of Melachim), about the metzora Na'aman, who came from Syria (back then this was still possible). Since there he is a great military commander and a big shot, he surely turned to all kinds of Syrian shamans, psychics, magicians, witches, sorcerers and healers who heal with incantations (I think that quite a few magical operations were performed on him). He came from Syria to the prophet Elisha. And so, he comes to the prophet and expects that now the prophet will sprinkle some magic powder on him, or wave at him, waft smoke at him, blow on him somewhere, pray to his God, and the disease will leave him. Instead of this, the prophet commands Na'aman to immerse himself seven times in the Jordan, and to this Na'aman replies: “Was it worth traveling to Israel – not far on the whole, some 350 – 400 kilometers, but still – in order to hear such nonsense! I can immerse myself in water at home too; we, thank God, have rivers, and the water in them is way better than the muddy water of the Jordan.” To which the servants answer him: “And what does it cost you? What does it cost you, uncle Na'aman? Immerse yourself, see, maybe something will come of it.” And Na'aman immersed himself, received healing and through this came to believe in the God of Israel. Why did this happen? Why was he healed? Because obedience to the Most High is connected with accepting the Torah, with being within the law, with being in one's own place, on one's own level: for everyone there is some level to which God has admitted him. The high priest may enter the Holy of Holies, the kohen may enter the Holy, Israel may enter the courtyard. A woman has different rights and obligations than a man, and a man than a woman. Israel and the Gentiles also differ. Everyone has his own rights, and everyone on his own level obeys the Most High, and this is important. Without keeping the commandments there is no obedience; Na'aman was saved by obedience to the commandments.

In verses 8–9 of chapter 24 of the book of Devarim we read an interesting remark of the Torah, a command of the Torah: “Watch, in the plague of tzara'at carefully observe and do the whole law that the kohanim and the Levites will teach you. Carefully do what I commanded them. Remember what the LORD, your God, did to Miryam when you were going out of Egypt.” What happened to Miryam? Miryam came with accusations against Moshe, one could say, interfered in other people's business, showed disobedience and for this received tzara'at. The Torah here is not saying that if you have tzara'at, then go to the kohen and obey him. All the medicines that he prescribed to you, all the methods of treatment that he prescribed to you, do them. If he tells you to hop on one leg – hop, if he tells you to stand on your hands – stand. No, the Torah does not mean this. The Torah means that when you have tzara'at, when the Most High warns you that you are doing something impure, then come to the kohanim and check in what you are violating the law: not the specific law about the metzora, but the law in general. Find out, find out from the kohen in what you are disobedient. If God strikes you with tzara'at, check your deeds, check in what your disobedience lies. When Miryam returned and repented of her way, accepted that Moshe and Aharon really understand what they are doing, then through Moshe's prayer she was healed. That is, the Torah does not say: follow the doctor's instructions; it says: follow the teacher's instructions. And this is what heals from tzara'at.

The book Zohar tells a story about two sages who saw by a pool of water a man stricken with tzara'at, who had sores on his forehead and on his face. And the sages reasoned about how the Most High gradually warns a person, about how the Spirit rebukes. First the Spirit rebukes intimately, and the person is stricken where no one sees. Some darkening appears on his skin, some changes. Perhaps something happens to his property. God does not strike him himself right away; God strikes the person gradually, warning him. Some unpleasant little thing happened – go, get yourself checked. You did not get checked – something bigger happened. You did not get checked again – and this has already touched your body, already on your own body you could see some affliction. If you still do not look, do not keep watch, then God begins to strike visible places on your body, and at the very last stage He already displays a sore on the person's face. Or if a person has made an attempt on what is most Holy, like King Uziyahu, then, in order to testify to everyone who in this case is right and who is guilty, God immediately rebukes by the appearance of tzara'at precisely on the king's face.

In warning, God acts in a person's life gradually. Tzara'at can first appear on the house, on clothing, then – on the body in hidden places and on the body in open places. And similarly to this, one can fail to see certain misfortunes in our life that are hidden from our eyes. And only by looking closely can we make them out. Then they already become evident to us, but are still hidden from others. And the third stage comes, when God can reveal our shame, our disgrace to everyone. And this will be like the last stage of rebuke. But it is never too late to go to the kohen and check your deeds. Fortunately, today we have such a High Priest, to whom we do not need to travel far, do not need to travel to Jerusalem. And we can confess to Him, talk with Him, have fellowship with Him, measure ourselves against Him. And, having such a High Priest, we can be healed of our diseases, although in our time there is no longer tzara'at either in the land of Israel or outside the land of Israel. And it is not there not because we have outgrown it, but on the contrary, because we do not grow up to it, because we are not capable of accepting such a level of rebukes.

One way or another, when you feel some kind of failure in life, go, ask, talk, look for the answer in the teaching of Yeshua, pray to the Most High, ask to be shown where your mistake is, what you are doing wrong, search in your deeds. If you have rummaged through your deeds and have not found it, then accept this as sufferings out of love. But if the sufferings increase and become evident to others, then it is no longer a matter of sufferings out of love.

This is the important lesson we can take away from the weekly portion Metzora.

The Hebrew word metzora denotes a person sick with the disease that in Hebrew is called tzara'at. In the Torah tzara'at – this is both the whitening of the skin, and the loss of hair, and a change in the color of the eyes. Tzara'at can be on houses, and on clothing. In general, tzara'at is some kind of disease that does not exist today.

We see from the text of the Torah that a person sick with this disease must withdraw outside the camp. Commentators have often put forward the version that this is connected with the fact that tzara'at is a contagious disease. We must admit that such a version is in no way supported in the Tanach. Moreover, we also do not see any evidence that tzara'at is a disease with a fatal outcome, that people die from it. In chapter 5 of the second book of Melachim there is a story about Na'aman (this text is usually read in synagogues together with our weekly portion). This Na'aman is a Syrian (Aramean) army commander, and at the same time he is sick with leprosy. In chapter 5, in verse 18, it is written that he takes part in ceremonies and the king leans on his hand. That is, the king does not withdraw, does not avoid contact with a person who is sick with this disease. From this one can conclude that tzara'at is not a contagious disease. It causes a great deal of inconvenience to Na'aman, who is sick with it, it is not aesthetic, it is irritating, but it does not prevent him from living and holding an important position that requires serious activity. In the same book, in chapter 7, there is a story about four men who sit outside the walls of a Samarian city. And these men say that they are afraid of dying of hunger or of the Arameans coming and killing them. But they are not afraid of dying of tzara'at. They even hide money for the future, that is, they do not expect death from this disease at all. One can say that the command for the sick person to withdraw is not connected with his having a contagious disease.

The sages said that the root of the disease tzara'at is punishment for sin, and they name seven causes, seven transgressions, the punishment for which is this disease tzara'at: evil speech, bloodshed, vain oaths, debauchery, rudeness, robbery and envy. This is not just some invention of the sages. They take the cases of the disease tzara'at, see the sin written in the Tanach, and systematize this knowledge. In the sages' opinion, it turns out that tzara'at is not just a disease, it is not even the result of sin, it symbolizes sin, that is, its appearance shows that the person is sinful. Therefore a person sick with this disease is called tame (impure), and this impurity is generated by sin.

If we look at what kinds of impurity are described in the Torah, we will see that there are three main kinds of impurity. The first kind is the impurity of the dead, that is, impurity from touching a dead person, a dead animal, carrion and all kinds of creeping things, insects and so on. The second kind of impurity is impurity connected with various discharges. These are all possible discharges of seed, such as gonorrhea, or an involuntary emission of seed, or women's bleeding and so on. The third kind of impurity is the impurity of skin diseases connected with tzara'at. And every time some person becomes impure, there is some place from which he must withdraw. Depending on what kind of impurity a person has, there are places into which he may no longer enter with this impurity. If a person is impure from touching the dead, he may not enter the Holy of Holies, the Holy, that part of the Temple which is the Holy. In the second case, when a person suffers from some discharges, he may not enter the allotment where the Levites serve, that is, this is the second circle; thus two circles may no longer be entered – neither the Temple itself, nor where the Levites serve.

What do these three kinds of impurity denote, what do they symbolize? And the sages, again examining the Tanach, come to this conclusion: the first kind of tum'a, which is connected with the dead, symbolizes a transgression in the area between man and God. This is when a person, for example, is negligent in prayer or does not fulfill another commandment, which does no harm to anyone, but spoils the relationship between the person himself and God. The second kind of impurity, which shows itself in discharges, is connected with a person's crime against himself. How can this be? When, for example, a person drinks and gets drunk to the point of losing consciousness or falls into some other temptations, he becomes impure, because he was originally chosen to be a holy vessel. The third kind of impurity is connected with crimes between a person and another person. And for this the punishment is the most serious, because a person who has committed such a crime must go outside the camp altogether. There is no place for him in Israel with such a sin, since the sins that he commits can harm his neighbors. He is, as it were, dangerous to society, and precisely for this reason he is in isolation until purification.

The attitude toward those stricken with tzara'at was very harsh. There were, for example, rabbis (the Talmud tells about this) who, on seeing such a person, would start throwing stones at him. And there were many such cases, and therefore life was very hard for the sick person. There could be no cure for this disease. The rabbis did not intervene and had no contact with those stricken with it, unlike some other cases of healing. It is told, for example, about Rabbi Ami, who would not enter a street along which someone stricken with tzara'at had once walked. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, when he met such a person, made his students pelt him with stones, saying: “Get out of the city!” The Talmud discusses: at what distance may one approach the sick person? And some say that the closest is two meters. But the final decision of the Talmud is that one may not come closer to him than 50 meters. And the Midrash tells that one stricken with tzara'at must perish forever, for him there is no healing. But we see that in chapter 8 of the Gospel of Matthew it is told that Yeshua not only heals the leper, He touches him (8:2–3). That is, tzara'at was a disease that only a miracle could cure. And this is proof of the supernatural power of Yeshua. He forbids the healed man to tell about what happened, and sends him to the kohen, because for the kohanim of that time a leprous person was considered dead, and such a testimony for them is a testimony of the possibility of resurrection from the dead. And we also see one more thing here: in our time, healing from impurity can also happen through turning to Yeshua. And one more lesson. In the understanding of Jewish tradition, the most terrible of all transgressions are considered to be those that are directed against people. We often think that offending a person is, as it were, a lighter sin than committing a crime against the Most High. But Jewish tradition thinks completely differently. It is precisely the one who commits a crime against people who has no place in modern society. We see what happens in communities of believers: a person who constantly quarrels with his neighbors is admitted to take part in communion, but a person who smokes is not admitted to communion. And here one needs to double-check: are the priorities in the values of such a community set correctly? Not only in this particular case, but in general, as an approach to life.

Related materials: stenogram of the portion Tazria, audio talk on the portion Metzora, ritual impurity and weekly portions of the Torah.