Tzaraat   צרעת

IN

PRE-MESSIANIC

TIMES

The Ailment of

Part 1:  What is Tzaraat?

Tzaraat – Quick Facts

• A skin disease.

• Skin turns bright white.

• Unnatural. Physicians wouldn’t have a clue. 

• Very impure. Person with Tzaraat is expelled from the community. 

• Seen in Biblical times. Not after.

Terminology

• “Tzaraat”  =  the disease

• “Metzora” = a person who has Tzaraat

• “Nega” = an instance of Tzaraat 

• Tzaraat is often translated as “Leprosy”

• But it’s for lack of a better term.

• The English dictionary has Leprosy as something different.

Tzaraat in the Torah

• The Torah deals with Tzaraat extensively.
• 117 verses in total: (Leviticus 13–14)
  • Tzaraat on the person  (13:1–46)
  • On his clothes  (13:47–58)
  • On his house  (14:33–48)
  • Purification process  (14:1-32, 49–53)

A Thing of the Present

• Tzaraat is an ancient ailment.
• But the Torah is not a history book.
• It contains teachings for all times.
• There’s something big for us here. 
• Today.

The Sins of the Metzora

Tzaraat is a punishment for negative speech.

But

• Negative speech has been a wide-spread problem…
• Throughout the ages…
• Why haven’t we seen any Tzaraat cases?

Hefty Criteria

To be susceptible to Tzaraat you need to have:

1. Self perfection 
2. Not a trace of bad inside your heart  

Top Notch People

• Can’t find them today.
• Like Moses, Miriam and King David. 
• They all had Tzaraat.
• Indeed such people are intrinsically separate from the community – 
• In a positive sense:  
• Much higher than the rest of the community.

That's where the problem is...

There are two types of religious challenges:

To Escape the Material

• That’s the basic challenge in life:  
• To be spiritual in this material world.
• On many levels: 
• From just managing to remain within Jewish fold 
• To maintaining an unscratched soul.
• Although an uphill battle, you’re moving in one direction (up).
• That’s the challenge for most people, to overcome their material impulses. 
• But not for someone like the Metzora.  
• It’s no sweat for him.

No. 1

No. 2

To Impact the Material

• Escaping physicality is only good preparation for impacting it. 

• We’re here to spiritualize this lowly world, not to abandon it.

• That’s a harder challenge as you need to maintain balance between two polar themes:

• Removed from worldly matters (up) while dealing with them (down).

Starting to Keep Kosher

• Before he used to eat everything (except pork)

• Then he’s come closer to his roots 

• Now he takes great issue with non-Kosher food.

• Beautiful!  But wait – 

• Friction emerges with his family/ friends. 

• They haven’t tapped into what he’s discovered yet. 

• So he’s giving them a hard time about it…

• And you can guess what their reaction is  :(

• That didn't paint a pretty picture.

Example:

A Good Prayer

• Reaching excitement in prayer… 

• Positive energy.  Keep it up! 

• Well, the world out there has a different take on life…

• Descending from the heights of prayer into the world is dangerous.

• With hard landing, patience could be easily lost.

• Getting upset after prayers when things are not the way they should (negative energy).

Another Example:

The Ultimate Gap

• People who have mastered the first challenge:

• Nothing bad left in their heart, 

• Nor love for any physical leisure,

• They’re in a higher, incomparable league,

• “Outside” the community – 

Turning people OFF is another.

Failure to turn people ON is one problem.

Elite Energy

• Those elite people have powerful (wow) stuff

• But because it’s so intense –  

• How can they relate it to the regular folk?

• It can be too much for them to handle.

• Can easily wow them the wrong way.

• Turn them off.

• Moses, Miriam, King David – all had issues with expressing themselves to others.

• Their greatness was misunderstood…

Speech is "Ill"

• Speech is where the problem lies.

• The Metzora is missing the right communication tools. 

• So instead of the pleasure (ענג = Oneg) he’s supposed to bring out – 

• We see an undesirable Tzaraat (נגע / Nega)

• Same letters. 

• It’s just the order that’s stuffed up.

Skin Only

• Tzaraat shows up on the person’s skin. 

• His outmost part. 

• As inside he’s all good.

• Skin is what people see. How he appears to others.

• That’s where the problem is.

Bright White

• Tzaraat appears as bright white spots.

• The phenomenon itself is good (white), 

• And even super (bright).

• But because it’s SO bright – 

• It dazzles others, 

• Destructing them from appreciating its real beauty.

The Metzora's Purification

• The introduction verse to the purification process:

• “זאת תהיה תורת המצורע ביום טהורתו” (Leviticus 34)

• Literally:  “This will be the law (Torah) of the Metzora on the day of his purification”

• Herein lies the solution:

• The Torah (תורת) will enable the Metzora’s purification (טהרתו) 

Why the Torah

• Torah = Divine reason. 

• Able to bridge the gap between Heavenly stuff (Divine) and physical reality (reason).

• Torah is the critical medium that contains the high levels of the Metzora 

• And expresses them in a way that the lowly person can understand.

• The Metzora should invest his energies in “Torah teaching”, 

• As opposed to reproach, argument, or no interaction at all.

Humility

Essential Ingredient

• The expulsion of the Metzora from the community – 

• It’s humiliating.

• Mmmm, there’s a message here…

• That’s what he’s missing!

• His Torah teaching has to be with humility,

• To be relative even to the lowly simpletons (hyssop).

It’s not easy for a tall cedar tree to feel small like a hyssop.

The Metzora is right up there.

Are we asking him to fool himself that he’s not?

It depends where you're looking from.

• The inner dimensions of the Torah describe the greatness of G-d.

• That’s the real height.

• Compared to which the Metzora isn't really more significant than any other person on the street…

• This realization is also “humiliating”, but with a positive spin.

How Does it Look Now?

• Once healed,

• The Tzaraat does not go away!

• We want his high levels to stay.

• But not the negativity and misconception associated with their initial expression.

• So the Tzaraat itself remains,

• Albeit in pure form. 

• (The verses describe which form is pure/impure)

• The Nega transforms into Oneg (pleasure).

Summary

What's Tzaraat got to do with Moshiach?