Rav M. Elon

The parashot of tum’a (impurity) and tahara (purity) may seem irrelevant to us, yet it is specifically now, with Yom Ha’Sho’a (Holocaust Remembrance Day) approaching that we will deal with the issues of tum’a and tahara – dealing not with their practical application, but rather with the nature of the battle between them.

We will open with some of the Halachic bases of the laws of tzara’at, our aim being to understand the philosophical and conceptual basis of these laws. (‘Tzara’at’ is generally translated as ‘leprosy,’ though it must be understood that tzara’at is a specific skin affliction like no other, that is a physical manifestation of a spiritual illness.)

The verses of our parasha state:

“And God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon saying: ‘If a person will have a s’eit, or a sapachat, or a baheret on the skin of his flesh, and it becomes an affliction of tzara’at – he shall be brought to Aharon the kohen, of to one of his sons the kohanim.’”

(Vayikra 13:1,2)

S’eit, sapachat, and baheret are types of tzara’at. (“S’eit” is probably a type of tzara’at that is a raised lesion on the skin.)

Thus, when a person notices that his skin has been afflicted with one of the variations of the tzara’at, he approaches the kohen, who is the only individual qualified to render him pure or impure – even though anyone may offer his opinion as to whether a skin lesion is in fact tzara’at or not, and thus requires the kohen’s investigation thereof.

This is indeed the Rambam’s halachic ruling:

“Anyone, aside from the non-Jew and the ger toshav (non-Jew resident in Israel who as accepted the seven Noahide Laws), including a one-day old child and slaves, may be afflicted with tzara’at afflictions; and anyone is permitted to see these afflictions, only one does not judge his own afflictions.”

(Rambam, Hilchot Tum’at Tzara’at, 27:29)

We must note that the Rambam’s words “and anyone is permitted to see these afflictions” does not refer to the physical appearance of the tzara’at lesions that able to be observed by the human eye, but rather refers to judging the Halachic status of the lesions. The Rambam thus rules that the Kohen Gadol, if he be ignorant with regard the Halacha of these lesions, is entitled to confer with a Talmid Chacham on this matter – yet he and only he is entitled to rule whether the afflicted person is ta’me (impure, contaminated) or tahor (pure) as a result of the appearance of the skin disease. (We have not quoted this point from the Rambam.) This is a very interesting point in and of itself, yet we will not discuss this now.

Returning to the verses:

“The kohen shall look at the affliction on the skin of his flesh: If hair in the flesh has changed to white, and the afliction’s appearance is deeper than the skin of the flesh – it is a tzara’at affliction; the kohen shall look at it and declare him ta’me.”

(ibid. v. 3)

In other words, if the hair inside the wound has turned white, then the person is ta’me.

Yet if the hair has not become white, then:

“And if it is a white baheret on the skin of his flesh, and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, and the hair has not changed to white, then the kohen shall quarantine the affliction for seven days.”

(ibid. v. 4)

In this case the kohen places the person into quarantine, for now the affliction must be kept under surveillance to monitor its development – will it change to white, or will it remain its original color. We thus learn an important principle in the laws of n’ga’im (skin afflictions) – when something turns white, it indicates tum’a. Therefore when a the hair within a nega (skin affliction) turns white, the afflicted individual becomes ta’me.

We will now omit a few verses,

“If a tzara’at affliction will be in a person, he shall be brought to the kohen, The kohen will look, and behold, it is a white s’eit on the skin, and it has changed hair to white, or there is healthy, live flesh within the s’eit: It is an old tzara’at in the skin of his flesh, and the kohen shall declare him ta’me, he will not quarantine it, for it is ta’me.”

(ibid. v. 9-11)

Once again we witness the principle that when a nega has become white, it then causes the person to become ta’me. However the verses then describe a situation which is rather surprising:

“If the tzara’at will erupt on the skin, and the tzara’at will cover the entire skin of the affliction from his head to his feet, wherever the eyes of the kohen can observe it; the kohen will look, and behold – the tzara’at has covered his entire flesh, then he shall declare the affliction to be tahor, for having turned completely white, it is tahor.”

(ibid. v. 12,13)

In other words, in the event of the skin affliction of the tzara’at entirely covering his body – “the tzara’at will cover the entire skin of the affliction from his head to his feet, wherever the eyes of the kohen can observe it” - then when the entire affliction turns white, the verse rules: “it is tahor.”

This is quite astonishing – for if the tzara’at covers only part of one’sbody, and the hair in the nega turns white, then the person is contaminated and thus ta’me; why then when the tzara’at covers his entire body, and the lesions are all white, is his tzara’at tahor?

The Rambam explains this halacha as follows:

“One who is ta’me, who is then covered entirely by the tzara’at – is then tahor.

If one lentil’s worth (a very small measure) of live flesh is revealed – he is then made ta’me.

If he is then recovered entirely by the tzara’at – he is tahor, (one lentil’s worth) is then revealed – he is made ta’me, (this is so) even (if this occurs) one hundred times.”

(Rambam, ibid. 7:5)

Let us take note of the very interesting terminology that the Rambam uses.

The moment that the tum’a, the tzara’at appears covering a person’s whole body – he is then tahor. Yet if one lentil’s worth of live, healthy flesh appears amidst the tzara’at, in other words a small part of the tzara’at reveals a small amount of healthy flesh under it – or to word it slightly differently, the moment a bit of hope appears – then he is ta’me. And then again, if his body becomes completely covered, he is then tahor again; and the moment some healthy flesh appears amidst the tzara’at – he is once again ta’me. And this continues, “even one hundred times” in the words of the Rambam.

It is incredibly astounding that when the tzara’at completely covers one’s body, without leaving even one iota of healthy flesh – he is tahor, yet where there is one small amount of healthy flesh, one last sign of healthy life, and possibly of hope – he is then ta’me!

In order to attempt to properly understand this law we will turn from the world of Halacha to the world of Aggada (Homiletics), and from that perspective we will illuminate the law that we have before us, with its deeper meaning lurking behind it.

In the world of Aggada, our Sages understand the topic of nega’im as hinting to the different empires that subjugated and ruled Yisra’el.

The Midrash states:

“S’eit – this is Babylon, as the verse states: ‘You will recite this parable about the king of Babylon: How has the oppressor come to an end, the arrogance been ended?’ (Yeshayahu 14:4.)”

(Vayikra Raba 15:9)

The Midrash continues elaborating on the other names and kinds of tzara’at:

“Sapachat – this is Maddai (Medes,) which gave forth the wicked Haman who strikes like a serpent, as the verse states: ‘On your stomach shall you move,’ (Bereshit 3:14.)”

And then on to baheret:

“Baheret – this is Greece, who would illuminate her decrees against Yisra’el saying to them: ‘Inscribe on an ox’s horn that you have no part in the God of Yisra’el.’”

Finally, the Midrash expounds on “nega tzara’at,” the “affliction of tzara’at,” which is the most severe of the afflictions:

“Nega tzara’at – this is Edom, who derives its strength from the old man.”

In other words, Edom, which is Esav, derives its strength from the fact that it is a member of the family of Yitzchak our forefather. Esav however gave expression to these inherent genetic strengths in the realm of evil.

The Midrash then concludes with the following exposition:

“‘And it will become a nega tzara’at (tzara’at affliction)’ – for in this world the kohen examines the nega’im, but in the World to Come God says: ‘I will purify you,’ as the verse states: ‘Then I will sprinkle pure water upon you, that you may be purified,’ (Yechezkel, 36:25.)”

We thus see that the various forms of tzara’at hint at the different nations that subjugated and oppressed Yisra’el, (in the Midrash Yisra’el is referred to as the person afflicted by the tzara’at,) until the divine promise for the future, that God will ‘heal’ His nation, and save Yisra’el from all those nega’im-nations that afflict her.

We will return to this Midrash, yet in order to complete the picture we have before us, let us examine the words of the Gemara on the verse we questioned: “for having turned completely white, it is tahor.”

The Gemara states:

“As Rabi Yitzchak said: (The Messiah) the son of David will only come when the empire becomes apostasy.”

(Sanhedrin 97a)

What is Rabi Yitzchak’s source upon which he bases his opinion? Rava answers this:

“Rava said: ‘What is the textual source for this? ‘For having turned completely white, it is tahor.’”

That is to say that the textual support for the principle that the Mashiach ben David (Messiah descendant of King David) will only come at the hour of greatest darkness, when “the empire becomes apostasy,” ie. apostasy will rule, is in our verse – “having turned completely white.” Indicating that then the tu’ma has taken control of the entire body without leaving any healthy, tahor flesh in sight - specifically then “it is tahor.”

We must understand what exactly this means, and what lies at the foundation of this deep concept.

In his book “Chiddushei Aggadot” - “Innovative insights on the Homiletics” - The Maharal of Prague removes the mystery and obscurity of this issue, clearly elucidating the topic. We will examine his words bit by bit.

The Maharal writes:

“‘Rava said: ‘What is the textual source for this? ‘For having turned completely white, it is tahor.’’ – It seems very illogical that he should present a proof from this verse, which deals with tzara’at.”

(Chiddushei Aggadot, Sanhedrin 97a)

In other words the Maharal says that to expound a verse to do with tzara’at in a manner associating it with the coming of the Mashiach ben David seems rather farfetched. Then the Maharal begins to reveal the aperture through which the true understanding can be found.

“And furthermore one must know a deeper issue, that the tzara’at is man’s absence, for the metzora (one with tzara’at) is considered as dead, as the verse states: ‘Let she not be like a corpse… with half his flesh having been consumed,’ (Bamidbar 12:12.)”

“Man’s absence” means the negation of man, the voiding of his presence. It is the Maharal’s opinion that the metzora is considered as dead, (which is derived from Miriam’s episode of tzara’at, when Moshe pleads with God to heal her, begging that “she not be like a corpse.” In any event, the fundamental perception of tzara’at is that is and expression of evil, death, and lacking.

The Maharal continues:

“And when the evil comes from God – there is nothing bad from God, rather this is in order to nullify the evil in the world, and it is for this reason that God brings evil into the world.”

In other words, since God is the source of good, and His sole desire is to bestow good – it is impossible for evil to stem from Him. If we encounter evil in the world – its purpose is to affect good.

“And this is when (the tzara’at) is in his entirety, for there are no half measures from above, and thus the entire affliction having turned white, it is tahor, for this is the evil which comes from God, and this (occurs) in order to nullify and rid the evil - then it is tahor.”

We will deal with the Maharal’s words shortly.

The Maharal then concludes:

“And there is also a concept of great wisdom in this matter, yet it is impossible to write any more.”

Now we will reflect on his words, and explain them.

Evil exists in the world, unfortunately a great deal of evil. This evil is not from God, but rather stems from human beings’ errors. The evil that “comes from God,” in the words of the Maharal, is the perceived evil that stem from God – its aim is to nullify the evil already existent in the world; for nothing but good emanates from God, and therefore the perceived evil we encounter stemming from God, has ‘good’ as its objective.

However evil that emanates from heaven is severe, for there are no half-measures when dealing with God – in essence when the evil existent in the world meets the perceived evil emanating from God – the power-base of the evil is entirely uprooted, and thus becomes good. The encounter of the evil in the world with its roots, which are always good, (for everything is positive and good at its roots, and the evil only appears once they materialize in the world,) and thus the encounter causes the evil to become good.

This simple truth even has bases in the world of physiology.

In order to battle certain viruses and develop the immunization against them, we make use of the very virus itself which we inject into one’s body. This is done under controlled conditions, and then when the body encounters this evil intruder – it reveals the positive force that is held within the virus. This is possibly the classic example of how evil whose purpose is good appears.

In summary of all we have said then, at the roots-level, everything is good. Evil appears after progression and development in the world. In order to uproot all evil that manifests in the world, evil then appears from Heaven. This evil’s purpose is for good (for there is no evil from God,) and it acts as a vaccine, which itself consists of the virus, (that perceived evil within it,) that then awakens one’s immune system, thus leading to the positive consequences.

And here, when considering the important meaningful day that we are currently experiencing – we will mention chilling testimony of the level of evil that man is capable of reaching. But first we will consider the historic background:

In 1944 Nazi Germany was in a process of retreat back to her boundaries. The Allies were striking the Axis of Evil, and the soldiers of the Third Reich were dying in their thousands. During this retreat, when one would imagine each and every soldier was essential to the evil German war-machine, the Germans exterminated all of Hungarian Germany, which numbered approximately three hundred thousand, continuing what had been unnervingly termed “The Final Solution.” The following description relating to the murder of the Jews of Rhodes and the surrounding islands.

“Sixty years ago, on the 19^th of July, 1944, the Germans gathered the two-thousand Jews of Rhodes and Kos. After being detained for a number of days, they were loaded onto ships headed for Athens. During the eight day journey, the ships stopped at Leros, collecting the single Jewish resident of the island. On reaching Athens, everyone was loaded on a train, and four weeks after their initial assembly they reached Auschwitz-Birkenau. Almost every person who survived the torturous journey was murdered immediately on reaching the camp.”

(From a publication of Yad Vashem.)

We must consider the depths of evil to which that lowly nation who murdered our brothers had sunk. As long as there was one Jew who had not been dealt with – it was impossible to progress. The ships stopped at that one island, Leros, in order to collect one more representative of the Strength of Israel (God;) for those monsters, as long as there was one representative of the Jewish nation, of the Strength of Israel, the world was under threat. Therefore the state of its military forces was of no consequence, the battle against God’s representatives must continue.

Now we must acknowledge that as a nation we paid a very heavy price for the ideology that we developed, an ideology which then developed after the Holocaust, and was strengthened even more after the Yom Kippur War. At the base of this ideology is the fear of once again being in the situation where we feel that we are under existential danger. Therefore we prefer to die in one thousand terrorist attacks, seeing them as independent, individual obstacles, rather than admitting or feeling that an existential war is being waged against our nation. For then we would be admitting that our very existence is in danger.

Therefore we prefer to deal with the dangers that threaten us as individual, independent obstacles – whose solution is thus particular and quick. We prefer to ignore the awareness that the enemy from Auschwitz and the enemy from Gaza are insatiably thirsty for our blood. For them, as long as there is one representative of the Strength of Israel in the world – the war has not been completed. Both do not desire our existence.

But this is vital. Specifically the understanding and the recognition that Am Yisra’el is presently involved in a war over its very existence is precisely what must fill our nation with strength. For when there is a war over our very existence – God’s Providence will not rest until is evident that “the Strength of Israel does not deceive nor change His mind,” (Shemu’el II 15:29.)

As long as there are sporadic battles here and there we are unable to know their outcome, but when there is an all-encompassing war – then we already know the outcome from the outset.

This is the unbending truth that we must hold on high. Unfortunately however, sometime we are led astray by leaders who suffer from “the existential danger” trauma. Thus they prefer to play down the problem, or to find suitable solutions “for the current term of office,” rather than admitting to the simple understanding that there is no difference between the enemies from Auschwitz and those from Gaza.

God brings evil into the world so that we understand where the roots are from; in order that we understand which viper it is whose head we must crush. Then we will understand that the evil is far smaller than we originally thought - simply then we allowed the evil to spread like a cancerous growth that threatens the entire body.

In the past we have mentioned the verse from Megillat Esther:

“And many of the people of the land converted to Judaism, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.”

(Esther 8:17)

We mentioned the question posed by Rav Shlomo Alkavetz (in his commentary to Megillat Esther, ‘Manot ha’Levi’) – if large numbers of people converted out of fear for the Jews, then this is not true conversion, for they converted out of fear. We also mentioned his beautiful answer, which is the deep understanding of the p’shat (literal text,) that the people of Persia converted for the fear of the Jews had fallen not on them, but rather on those Amalekites, those anti-Semites scattered throughout Achashverosh’s kingdom.

Now that the various states in the Persian Empire were rid of the vipers among them, the other residents were free to do as they pleased and connect with the religion of Yisra’el. Again we must note that the total number of anti-Semites that the Jews killed in all the one-hundred and twenty-seven states was approximately seventy-six thousand people. This is a relatively small number in relation to one-hundred and twenty-seven states; still evil of this scale, was such that it was able to overrun the world causing its moral decay. However when these evildoers were moved aside – the world returned to its high moral standing of “And many of the people of the land converted to Judaism.”

In the encounter with Amalek we meet the root of evil in the world. The common denominator of all our encounters with Amalek, (when Yisra’el left Egypt, after the praise sung at the sea, in R’fidim; afterwards during the era of Sha’ul and Shemu’el; and then later during the era of Mordechai and Esther,) is that these encounters do not occur as a result of a conflict whether territorial or demographic. These encounters occur simply because Amalek refuses to allow the Jewish nation to exist in the world,

When Amalek attacks Yisra’el R’fidim, Moshe tells Yehoshu’a

“…choose a number of men for u, and go out and do battle with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the mountain with the staff of God in my hand.”

(Shemot 17:9)

 

The next encounter with Amalek occurs after Sha’ul battles Amalek, but does fulfill God’s command. God reveals Himself to Shemu’el at night, telling him:

“I regret that I made Sha’ul king, for he has turned away from Me, and has not carried out My commands… Early in the morning Shemu’el went to meet Sha’ul.”

(Shemu’el II 15:10,11)

In the encounter during the era of Haman and Mordechai Esther request:

“If I have found favor in His Majesty’s eyes, if it please Your Majesty to grant me wish and accede to my request, let Your Majesty and Haman come to the feast which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do Your Majesty’s bidding.”

(Esther 5:8)

The structure which repeats itself is “tomorrow,” or “the morning” which in this verse indicates the start of the next day, (even though according to our Sages Agag had relations with the maidservant that night, thus continuing the seed of Amalek, it would seem that Shemu’el understood that the defeat of Amalek in particular, and in general one’s view of life – must patiently wait for the tomorrow; this being even more important that the immediate smiting of Agag.) The struggle between Yisra’el and Amalek must be decided “tomorrow.”

This is the insight we gain from the struggle with Amalek.

There the “today” people, and then there are the “tomorrow” people. There are those entirely focused on the present, and then there are those concerned with eternity, and Amalek is defeated through fusion with that eternity.

It is interesting that in the story of Megillat Esther, after the first feast that Esther made of Achashverosh and him, Haman sees that “Mordechai did not rise or even stir on his account,” (ibid 5:9,) Haman is filled with rage. After recounting the incident to his allies and Zeresh is wife, Zeresh suggests the following:

“Let a stake be put up, fifty cubits high, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordechai hanged on it.”

(ibid 5:14)

Zeresh suggest that Haman wait until morning, but Haman is unable to contain himself, and immediately prepares the stake. But that same night the revolution begins, while darkness covered the land, sleep deserted the king – “The sleep of the King of the World,” in the words of our sages.

The impetuous, impulsive culture of Amalek begins to fall before the eternity of the tomorrow of Yisra’el, and the results are known.

At the start of our shi’ur we mentioned the words of our Sages that relate the various types of tzara’at with the different nations that subjugated Yisra’el. During the Holocaust, which took place at the eve of Am Yisra’el’s return to her land, we encountered that absolute evil, evil that does not come from this world - evil, which in the words of the Maharal stems from the Heavens, the Nazi animal which took the efforts to gather one single Jew on a small island. But specifically then, when everything is so all-encompassing, specifically then, when the tzara’at covers the Jewish nation’s entire body, when it seems there is no hope, specifically then: “it is tahor.” In other words - specifically when the very existence of the Jewish nation is under threat – then we are assured of God’s intervention, teaching the entire world that the Strength of Israel does not deceive.

Let us state this in a clear fashion: we are in existential danger.

This is the source of our strength and our support – for then we are assured that the Strength of Israel does not deceive.

In the battle over eternity, one must awaken the power of eternity; in the words of our sages, eternity – “this is Yerushalayim.” The eternity which awakens tonight, on Yon ha’Sho’a, will give us the strength for the days of resurrection of Yom Ha’Atzma’ut and Yom Yerushalayim, for we know that there is no evil from God, and whatever evil descends from God is in order to remove the evil from the world. Whether we desire it or not, we have been chosen to reveal the content of the eternity within the world, bringing the world to the state of:

“Then I will sprinkle pure water upon you, that you may be purified.”

(Yechezkel, 36:25)

 

Translated by Sholem Hurwitz.

Copyright Keren Yishai/Rav M. Elon