Metzora: Life's Pain

The episode in Torah portion this week commences with a disease called metzora. While the exact english name of the disease is not clear, metzora was a consuming whitish skin lesion that was likely contagious. The kohen, as judge, determined whether the disease was the dreaded metzora or not.

"...he shall be brought to the Kohen. Then the Kohen will go out...."

So what was the truth? There is a contradiction here: Did the kohen go out to the metzora? Or did the metzora go out to the kohen? What actually happened?

The general consensus of the Sages is that the metzora went to kohen. Why would they say that the metzora goes out to kohen? Because, they said, the afflicted must accept their condition before they can reach out for help. There are times when the loneliness of sitting in pain becomes so unbearable that all we want to do is sit and cry. All strength leaves us, it seems to just evaporate out of our pores, so that we remain alone, shivering, frightened, and feeling totally helpless.

There are other times when we just ignore the toothache, pretend that there is no lump or go on using the aching leg. It is critical to reach out your heart toward those who can offer help. We need someone to sit and hold our hand and take away the awful isolation. Help will only come when we venture out and seek it.

A simple example is when we are ill we need to see a doctor. We require assistance to get through the malaise. In our more complex universe, far more ailments cannot be assuaged by a paid professional. An operation or a prescription for drugs may not be the cure for what pains us. Those are the times we need to be strong enough to reach out beyond our ego and call for comfort. That is why the Sages tell us that when we are hurting we need to reach for help, not withdraw into a pitiful state of separation and perhaps ultimately self-loathing.

We have a family to support us. We form communities so that we will not have to endure the pain alone.

But it is the responsibility of the community not to wait for that to happen. For this reason, the kohen also needs to go out to the metzora.

Talmud teaches that the “metzora needs healing." 1 Is this true? Is this what the Torah reading is about? Healing the afflicted? Does the kohen facilitate healing? Is he doctor as well as priest?

It does not appear that the kohen effects healing at all. All he does is assess the afflicted one. The kohen ventures out to examine the metzora and determines whether this is an abrasion, a scar or the disease. If he finds them to be contaminated, the metzora is then exiled to outside the community. Rabbi Harold Kushner has taught that the healing to which the Talmud alludes is about the kohen making the time to physically go out and visit the afflicted himself. Such an act makes the one who has the lesions feel like they are important enough to be visited by Aaron and his progeny. That the head of the religious community goes out himself facilitates healing.

Idea: Maybe when we call someone who is sick we are performing a greater symbolic task than we even know.

Even a kohen can become metzora. What happens then? The kohen must go to another kohen. Is that difficult? Is it hard to admit to our weaknesses?

Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, a great nineteenth century moralist, made a powerful observation: A person has one eye weaker than the other. The weaker eye sees the faults in others, whereas the stronger eye sees your own faults.

It requires no special gift to be critical of others. For far too many people criticism comes easily. To be self-reflective, though, takes strength of character. Never let pride stand in way of wholeness, reaching out for healing, said Salanter.

“Life and death come from the mouth,” states the Talmud. In fact, the metzora disease is believed to come as a Divine punishment for engaging in slander. The action of a penitent soul would be to bring two birds to God once they have realized their sin.

One of the sacrificial birds was released while the other offered on the altar. Why was a bird brought and not another kind of animal, say, a lamb? Because a bird does not stop singing. Its voice continues to flow out its throat. In much the same way, the words uttered by the metzora flowed unceasingly. They never stopped to think about the damage they were doing or the sin they were committing.

The Sages also ask why one bird was killed and the other released. Midrash Lekach Tov provides an insight. The midrash declares that there are two kinds of speech. One kind of speech is when we bring good things to the world by monitoring what we say and thinking before speaking. The other is when we can bring destruction into the world by reckless, thoughtless words. One bird needs to die just as the evil thoughts expressed need to be to be extirpated. That does not mean though that we are to keep silent, never saying a word, for fear of saying something bad. Words can also bring great harmony. Just as one of the birds goes free so too when we offer healing and goodness our words fly and generate.

1 Megilla 8B

D'var Aher

The Torah states, “When you arrive in the land of Canaan, which I give to you as a possession, I will place a plague of leprosy on a house that you possess in the land.” Lev. 14:34)

Really?  God would do such a terrible thing to the new inhabitants of the land?  It is important to read behind the linesfor this text is most sacred.

It was said that the Canaanites placed their riches - gold and silver- in the walls of their homes.  Hearing that rumor might make anyone, the Israelites in our tale, anxious and desirous of gaining the land swiftly at any cost.  

As any thinking person knows, there is no gift that does not come with a price tag.  We have all heard stories about how families self-destruct when coming into large wealth.  It can become a plague that rips apart lovers, parents, partners and children. Therefore God warned the Israelites that terrible things lurked there if they were not careful.  

Yet another lesson is inside God’s warning, as well.  The pursuit of wealth for its own sake distorts the most important aspects of life like helping our neighbors, caring for the unfortunate and underprivileged. The pursuit of wealth or anything that solely feeds the ego is antithetical to everything that the Torah teaches.  We are to seek holiness, not accolades.  We are told to bring purity in our lives, not selfish gain.

If we desire blessing we become a blessing.

“Love God with all your might,” we are taught. This means that we are to pursue Torah, become one with it, help each other come closer to God and live kindness.

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