In 13:10-17, the passukk says if a nega tzoraas is brought to the kohein, and he sees it and it has raw flesh, the tzoraas is old in the flesh, the kohein (declares it) impure, and iof it flourishes and covers the skin, etc etc etc..
Parshat Tazria
Rashi says "tzoraas is old" means it is an old wound that looks healed but underneath it is full of pus, you should not say because on top it is healing so it is tahor, but it is still tamei..
If you get into an argument, for example, with someone (your wife, husband, friend, etc.), and you let it slide. You let it go, maybe 5 years, 10 years 20 years, a week, whatever. So you have built over it many new experiences and relationships. You might think that because on top everything looks good and healthy, so everythign is fine.
but that is not true. Until the original wound is actually dealt with and repaired, it is beneath the surface festering,. You can only ignore it for so long.
The tzoraas is tamei despite the signs of healing above, because the original wound was never dealt with.
If you fight with your spouse and move on without repairing that wound, you will always bear some ill will. Even if it looks like everythign is healed, that is only on the surface, but down below the wound is festering. You have to get rid of it at the source and nip it in the bud.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Tazria: creating a rift
Parshat Tazria
At the end of tazria, the passuk in 13:46 says "All the days he has the Nega, he will surely be impure, he shall sit isolated, outside of the camp will he sit."
Rashi on the passuk says that he has to be isolated even from other people who are tamei sitting outside the camp. Even outside the camp he is by himself. Rashi asks what is different about the tzoraas that he cannot even be with other tamei people?
Rashi brings from Chazal that because he spoke Lashon Ha'Ra, thereby causing a division between husband and wife (and between person and friend), he therefore has to sit isolated, separate from others.
A husband and wife are meant to be together. Even if they do not always agree on everything, and they will not, there should not be a division among them. Despite different opinions on some matters, they need to work together for a unified purpose. They are one.
Anything that comes between that, anything that causes a division between them and makes a break in their unity, anything that causes a rift between them, has to be rejected.
And that is why Rashi says a Metzora is so bad. Because he caused a rift between man and wife. He broke that unity that is so essential for marriage, for Jewish continuity.
At the end of tazria, the passuk in 13:46 says "All the days he has the Nega, he will surely be impure, he shall sit isolated, outside of the camp will he sit."
Rashi on the passuk says that he has to be isolated even from other people who are tamei sitting outside the camp. Even outside the camp he is by himself. Rashi asks what is different about the tzoraas that he cannot even be with other tamei people?
Rashi brings from Chazal that because he spoke Lashon Ha'Ra, thereby causing a division between husband and wife (and between person and friend), he therefore has to sit isolated, separate from others.
A husband and wife are meant to be together. Even if they do not always agree on everything, and they will not, there should not be a division among them. Despite different opinions on some matters, they need to work together for a unified purpose. They are one.
Anything that comes between that, anything that causes a division between them and makes a break in their unity, anything that causes a rift between them, has to be rejected.
And that is why Rashi says a Metzora is so bad. Because he caused a rift between man and wife. He broke that unity that is so essential for marriage, for Jewish continuity.
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