Tazria-Metzora 5726
Alef.
1. a) The Tora refers to diverse phenomena by sharing the same term/name.
b) It is not a natural phenomenon.
c) Other people speak in ways that are much more egregious than anything that Miriam had done (and therefore they are opening themselves to considerably more punishment as well.)
d) The first symptom/instance of Tzora’at will affect the individual’s home/house.
e) The Tora is using the same terminology (for Tzora’at affecting not only the body, but also clothing, furniture and houses) to note the similarity in these phenomena, but not that they are literally the same.
f) It (when Tzora’at affects one’s body) is the final stage of Tzora’at, its greatest manifestation and its strongest manifestation. These are all matters that the Tora (as opposed to science or medicine) describes, in accordance with what we have mentioned.
2. The Midrash interprets Moshe’s temporarily experiencing Tzora’at as the second of the three signs that HaShem Empowers him to perform in order to convince the Jewish people that God has Sent him,1 as a punishment for Moshe’s casting aspersions upon the people’s readiness to believe him: Shemot 4:1 “And Moses answered and said: 'But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say: The LORD hath not Appeared unto thee.'”2
3. RaMBaM did not believe that the identical sort of mold or fungus that affects inanimate objects like clothing, furniture or the walls of houses would also affect animate entities like the human body.
4. Tehilim 73:9
They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
Arachin 15b
Further said Resh Lakish: One who slanders makes his sin reach unto heaven, as it is said: They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
The simple meaning of the text is that people who speak badly, do not confine themselves to targets on earth, but attack Heaven as well. The Derasha in the Gemora that RaMBaM quotes is that there is a slippery slope phenomenon at play whereby slandering this-worldly targets leads to slandering other-worldly entities. If this were truly the case wouldn’t the order of the verse be reversed, i.e., first there would be mention of slandering things in this world, followed by slandering things in the Higher Worlds?
Beit.
VaYikra 14:34-42
When ye are come into the land of Canaan, which I Give to you for a possession, and I Put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession. Then he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying: 'There seemeth to me to be as it were a plague in the house.' And the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go in to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house. And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and the appearance thereof be lower than the wall; then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look; and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place without the city. And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place. And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.
Yeshayahu 28:16
Therefore thus Saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I Lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a costly corner-stone of sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.
There does not appear to be all that much relevance in these Halachot if Tzora’at is a miraculous phenomenon which no longer occurs during the period of Hester Panim. The Midrash’s allegorical interpretation allows for the verses to be interpreted in a manner that makes them pertinent, addressing the present state of exile and absence of the Temple as well as the Promise of a future redemption.
Gimel.
ו אֶת־הַצִּפֹּ֤ר הַֽחַיָּה֙ יִקַּ֣ח אֹתָ֔הּ וְאֶת־עֵ֥ץ הָאֶ֛רֶז וְאֶת־שְׁנִ֥י הַתּוֹלַ֖עַת וְאֶת־הָֽאֵזֹ֑ב וְטָבַ֨ל אוֹתָ֜ם וְאֵ֣ת ׀ הַצִּפֹּ֣ר הַֽחַיָּ֗ה בְּדַם֙ הַצִּפֹּ֣ר הַשְּׁחֻטָ֔ה עַ֖ל הַמַּ֥יִם הַֽחַיִּֽים׃
As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.
1. According to R. Hoffmann, the simple meaning of the text is that a bird is “shechted” over running water.
2. ChaZaL interpreted the verse as stating that the living bird is immersed in a combination of the blood of the “shechted” bird and running water.
3. In BaMidbar 28:10, the whole burnt offering for Shabbat is offered together with the Tamid whole burnt offering, indicating that “Al” can be interpreted as “together with”. So too in VaYikra 14:6, “Al HaMayim Chaim” could be “together with running water.”
4.
תרגום אונקלוס
(ו) ית צפרא חיתא יסב יתה וית אעא דארזא וית צבע זהורי וית איזובא ויטבול יתהון וית צפרא חיתא בדמא דצפרא דנכיסתא על מי מבוע:
תרגום יונתן
(ו) יַת צִפְּרָא חַיְיתָא יִסַב יָתָהּ וְיַת קֵיסָא דְאַרְזָא וְיַת צְבַע זְהוֹרֵי וְיַת אֵזוֹבָא וִיטַמֵשׁ יַתְהוֹן וְיַת צִפְרָא חַיְיתָא בְּאַדְמָא דְצִפּוֹרָא דִנְכִיסָא וּבְמֵי מַבּוּעַ:
כתר יונתן ויקרא פרשת מצורע פרק יד פסוק ו
(ו) את הציפור החיה יקח אותה ואת עץ של ארז ואת צבע השני ואת האזוב ויטבול אותם ואת הציפור החיה בדם של הציפור שׁנִשׁחטה ובמי מעין:
Targum Yonatan follows ChaZaL “ובמי מבוע”. Targum Onkelos is non-commital, transferring the word from the biblical text as is: “על מי מבוע”.
5. Since in v. 51, “ו” appears rather than “על”, the commentator assumes that they are synonymous.
6. Since “השחוטה” (zakef katan) and “על” (tipcha) are separated by the Ta’amim, it supports ChaZaL’s position as opposed to R. Hoffmann’s.
Daled.
ז וְהִזָּ֗ה עַ֧ל הַמִּטַּהֵ֛ר מִן־הַצָּרַ֖עַת שֶׁ֣בַע פְּעָמִ֑ים וְטִ֣הֲר֔וֹ וְשִׁלַּ֛ח אֶת־הַצִּפֹּ֥ר הַֽחַיָּ֖ה עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃
ח וְכִבֶּס֩ הַמִּטַּהֵ֨ר אֶת־בְּגָדָ֜יו וְגִלַּ֣ח אֶת־כָּל־שְׂעָר֗וֹ וְרָחַ֤ץ בַּמַּ֨יִם֙ וְטָהֵ֔ר וְאַחַ֖ר יָב֣וֹא אֶל־הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה וְיָשַׁ֛ב מִח֥וּץ לְאָֽהֳל֖וֹ שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִֽים׃
And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let go the living bird into the open field. And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean; and after that he may come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven days.
1. Actions that will prevent ritual purity from being achieved by the Metzora:
a) Sprinkling the water/blood mixture upon the M.’s body
b) Shaving body hair
c) Washing body
Actions that will not prevent the achievement of ritual purity by the Metzora:
a) The sending away of the live bird
b) Washing clothing
2. Since in v. 7, the etnachta is on the word “Pe’amim”, effectively separating it from“VeTiharo” (Zakef Katan), it allows for the latter to be seen as the beginning of a list of elements that are not completed until one comes to the word “VeTiher” in v. 8. Consequently, the purification process is not complete until all of the rituals directly affecting the Metzora’s body are completed.
3. Rather than being connected to the verse that comes afterwards, the intent is that the process of purification is not completed until at least some of the elements in the verse that follows are also completed.
And the LORD Said furthermore unto him: 'Put now thy hand into thy bosom.' And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. And He Said: 'Put thy hand back into thy bosom.--And he put his hand back into his bosom; and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.-- And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
Shemot 4: 29-31 “And Moshe and Aharon went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aharon spoke all the words which the LORD had Spoken unto Moshe, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had Remembered the children of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.”
It was when they came a second time, that the people refused to put their trust in them:
Ibid. 6:9
And Moshe spoke so unto the children of Israel; but they hearkened not unto Moshe for impatience of spirit, and for cruel bondage.
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