Metzora תרל”ט

פ’ תזריע מצורע

במדרש מצורע מוציא רע.
The Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 16:4) explains that the word metzora is related to the words motzi ra, one who takes out bad.
כי בכ”ד יש תערובת טו”ר. וכן באדם. ומ”מ כמו שהוא בשורש הטוב גובר על הרע. כי מידה טובה מרובה.
This is because everything contains in it a mixture of good and bad.
So too in man (there are opposing forces). Nevertheless if one is connected to the source, then the good will automatically overcome the bad. Just as it states that the attribute of good is stronger than the bad.
אבל צריכין ליזהר שלא להוציא הרע מן הכלל.
However we need to be careful not to allow the bad to come out of its place.
(See above תרל”ב the idea of bad is to spur s to control our desires and overcome it).
וכן כתיב נצור לשונך מרע כו’ בקש שלום הוא הביטול אל הכלל וכן כתיב בטהרת מצורע שתי צפרים חיות. המים החיים.
Similarly (in relation to evil talk) the pasuk states (Tehillim 34:14-15) “Guard your tongue from evil, seek out shalom”. Shalom here refers to nullifying one’s desires to the klal (the source and principle reason of our mission).
so too in the purification process of the metzora, one requires living birds, and sprinkles the blood on living (flowing) water.
(Both these ideas represent connecting back to the source.)
הכל לחזור להתדבק בשורש. וכשהוא בתוך הכלל יכול ליתקן:
For the whole idea is to return and connect back to the source. When one is subsumed in the klal, then one is able to make the necessary reparations.

ברש”י עץ ארז ואזוב. שנתגאה וחטא ישפיל עצמו כאזוב כו’.
Rashi (Vayikra 14:34) explains that the reason why the metzora’s purification process is with a cedar tree branch, an ezov, and a tola’as thread, is to represent the idea of one who sinned and was haughty (represented by the tall cedar tree) should lower himself like a worm (tola’as).
ולמה לי ארז.
Now why should he bring a cedar tree branch (which represents haughtiness, the purification process is the opposite of haughtiness, we should rather stress the lowliness of man)?
רק ע”י הגיאות צריך לבוא לשפלות ביותר כשבא לתשובה וע”י שבא לו הכנעה ע”י הגיאות ניתקן החטא. וע”י שמשפיל עצמו מתכפר לו.
However it is actually through the original haughtiness that a person had (which caused him to sin) that it should bring him to even more humility. It is through becoming more humble by realising that he was haughty, one does teshuva, and repairs the original sin. Fot it is through humbling oneself that one gains atonement.
(This is in line with the idea the Sfas Emes explains in Elul, that if one says they will sin and do teshuva, they have corrupted the teshuva process by sinning with it, and therefore they cannot do teshuva on that sin.
So too here conversely, by ‘corrupting’ the sin of haughtiness by using it to spur one to do greater teshuva, one won’t come to sin through that again).

א”כ כ”א יחטא ואח”כ ישפיל עצמו.
However if this is so (that the haughtiness will lead to humility when one repents), then people will just sin and then become humble afterwards (and do teshuva)?
אך באמת אין החוטא יכול להשפיל עצמו. ובוודאי מי שיכול להשפיל עצמו כאזוב ותולעת בלי ספק ניתקן החטא מקודם. והוא צדיק גמור ובעל תשובה.
However the truth is that one who sins, cannot actually humble himself. And clealy if one is indeed able to lower himself like a worm and and ezov, he undoubtedly has already repaired the sin, and he is on the level of an absolute tzadik (by being so humble) and like a ba’al teshuva (by repairing his sin)
וכן כל עניני התורה סימנים כענין שאמרו המעביר על מדותיו מעבירין לו על כל פשעיו. א”כ כל פושע יהי’ מעביר ע”מ אבל לא יוכל לבוא לזה כ”ז שלא תיקן החטא:
The same principle applies in other aspects of the Torah when there the Torah gives a siman (a sign that this is so).
Just as the Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 17a) states, “One who forgoes his reckoning, with others for the injustice they have caused him, forgoes punishment on all his sins”. If so (we can ask the same question) let any sinner just forgo his reckoning with others and be forgiven?
However (as explained above) one is not actually able to attain this level (of properly forgoing one’s reckoning) without actually completely repairing the original sin.

בפסוק כי תבואו כו’ ונתתי נגע כו’. וקשה מה בשורה היא זו.
(Vayikra 14:34) The pasuk states that when Bnei Yisrael will come to Eretz Yisrael the houses may also be inflicted with tzara’as.
It is difficult to understand what sort of message the Torah is teaching us.
ופירש”י שהטמינו כנענים כו’. וקשה וכי היה צריך הבורא ית’ אלה העצות ולמה נתן לכנענים זאת המחשבה להטמין ושיצטרכו בנ”י להחריב הבתים.
Rashi explains that the Cananites hid their treasures in the walls of the houses (and when they would have to destroy the inflicted walls they would discover the treasures).
However this too is difficult, why did HaShem need to create such a roundabout method of getting the Cananites to hide treasures in walls, and then Bnei Yisrael having to destroy them?
אמנם וודאי גוף הענין נגעי בתים הוא פלא גדול והוא אות ומופת על קדושת בנ”י שמביאין קדושה וטהרה גם במקומות מושבותיהם.
However, clearly the idea of an affliction on houses (inanimate objects) is a great marvel, and it is indeed a sign of the holiness of Bnei Yisrael that they bring holiness and purity to the places in which they live.
ויש ללמוד ק”ו דכתיב אבן מקיר תזעק וכפיס מעץ יעננה על החטא שקורות ביתו של אדם מעידין.
We can learn a Kal Vachomer from the pasuk (Chavakuk 2:11) “A stone shall cry out from the wall, and a rafter shall answer from the woodwork (The gemara in Ta’anit 11a xplains) that the walls of a person’s house testifies against him.
מכ”ש מדה טובה מרובה שהצדיק צריך להביא הרגשת קדושה בכל השייך אליו וגם בצומח ודומם.
If so, (that a person is affected by inanimate objects) how much more so on the positive side, for the good is always far greater than the negative, it is imperative on the tzadik to bring a feeling of holiness to everything that is connected to him, in the realm of growing and inanimate objects.
והנה בנ”י כן עשו שהוציאו ארץ כנען מיד הטומאה והכניסוהו בקדושה שכשנקרא ארץ ישראל השרה הבורא ית’ שכינתו בבהמ”ק.
This is what Bnei Yisrael did, by removing the land of Canaan from the impure forces, and elevating it into a state of holiness, that it was called ‘Eretz Yisrael’, and HaShem placed his presence there, in the Beis Hamikdash.
וזה בכלל ובכל מאודך שצריכין להביא לכל הנכסים הארת הקדושה.
This is all a part of the commandment of “And you shall love HaShem…with all your possessions”. That one needs to bring a light of holiness into all of one’s possessions
ומצד זה יכול להיות טומאת נגע צרעת גם בבתים. וזאת הבשורה טובה שיוכלו לתקן כל המקומות ג”כ.
It is because of this (the heightened level of holiness that brings about a much greater sensitivity to impurity), that there can now be an impurity on the houses. This is actually the good message that HaShem was telling Bnei Yisrael, that we are able to repair all the physical places too.
והוא באמת מטמוניות. שבכל דבר הגשמיי ביותר. מוטמן בו ניצוצי קדושה ביותר.
This indeed is a ‘hidden treasure’ for every physical thing contains sparks of extreme holiness.
וגם לפי פשוטו הי’ נסיון גדול לסתור כל הבנין ע”י שחפץ איש הישראלי להיות שורה קדושה וטהרה במקומו. ובאמת איתא כי המטמוניות מצאו כדי שלא יהיו נפסדין בסתירת הבנין:
Furthermore, according to the simple explanation, it was indeed a difficult test for those afflicted to destroy the entire house, due to one’s to bring more holiness and purity in one’s place.
Indeed it states (Zohar 3:50b) that the reason why HaShem made it that they would find treasures in the walls, was so that they would not abstain from destroying the houses that were impure.