Devar/5769/Tazria-Metsora
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עברית
English
And the priest shall look, and, behold, if the scab be spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is leprosy. (Lev 13:8)
Only a kohen may establish the person as tamei or tahor (ritually "impure" or "pure", respectively), by means of his speech alone. No non-kohen may establish the tsara`at (translated as "leprosy", which is inaccurate) -- rather, only the offspring of Aaron the kohen may do so. And as it states further on: 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." (Lev 14:35) -- the homeowner says "as it were a plague", not "there is a plague" -- since he is not permitted and is unable to establishe the affliction on his own, even if he were an expert in tsara`at.
If tsara`at were a natural disease, as those who have yet to open their eyes imagine, the Torah would have given every man the ability to establish that a particular affliction is tsara`at, in order to distance the source of the contagion from the community. But the affliction of tsara`at is one of God's mercies, may He be blessed, Who placed a sign and a wonder on the Jews in order that they might see it and fear Him, and restrain themselves from evil speech.
The kohen causes the person to be tamei or tahor by means of his speech alone -- measure for measure. Just as the person brought upon himself the affliction by means of his evil speech, so the kohen comes and establishes him as tamei by means of his good speech. If the person repents and mends his ways, he will be cured of the affliction -- but he cannot become tahor again except by the agency of the same kohen who rendered him tamei -- who knows the precise degree of his affliction.
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