The laws of negai’im, or plagues, are presented in two separate Torah readings. In Tazria, negai’im for a person are defined; in Metzora, the purification process of a person is described. Metzora also describes both the definition and the purification of negai’im for houses. Of all the possible impurities – obstructions to holiness – negai’im are the most severe. Nevertheless, the appearance of negai’im provides a unique opportunity for spiritual elevation – the chance to do teshuvah. The inner connection between the negai’im of houses and that of people is the retroactive redemption of teshuvah.
This week’s Torah portion contains the laws of negai’im. Negai’im, translated as plagues or leprosy, actually are blemishes that appear on the skin, on clothes or on houses. These physical discolorations reveal a spiritual imperfection. The laws of negai’im apply only when the Beis HaMikdash, the Temple, is standing and the kohanim are offering sacrifices. Though not applicable now, these laws of negai’im will become a practical issue imminently, with the coming of Moshiach.
But, they must also have a current relevance. The inner, spiritual significance of any aspect of Torah remains eternally valid; this is true even when, for whatever reason, the physical expression of that significance is temporarily suspended. That we do not, for this brief moment, have a Beis HaMikdash, does not affect its value or importance. What was true before the destruction, and will be true after the rebuilding, must also be true now, during the exile and its last moments.
The laws of negai’im seem ordered in a peculiar manner. Last week’s reading, Tazria, describes the appearance and dimensions of the negai’im, explaining which blemishes make a human being or clothing ritually impure. It also explains how to determine if the negai’im – the so-called plagues – are still active, that is, when the person may be purified. But the purification process isn’t discussed until this week’s reading, Metzora. On the other hand, this week’s portion also discusses all the details of negai’im in houses.
Thus, the laws of negai’im are structured as follows: in Tazria, negai’im for a person; in Tazria, negai’im for clothing and the purification therefrom; in Metzora, purification of a person from negai’im; in Metzora, negai’im for houses and the purification therefrom.
The laws of the human being are divided between the two Torah readings and separated by the laws of clothing. Since the laws for houses follow a person’s purification ritual, we may conclude there is an inner connection between houses in general and the ritual purification of the person.
Now, the negai’im of houses have an unusual description: it says G-d Himself will place the negai’im on the houses. Two contradictory explanations are given for this: one is that the inhabitants hid their gold in the walls; breaking down the houses with negai’im revealed the gold. The other is that the idolatry of the Canaanites was so foul, it penetrated their very houses. To remove the loathsome spirit of idolatry, the houses that had to be destroyed were marked, as it were, with negai’im.
Of course, not all the houses had negai’im and not all of them were destroyed. As there are various levels of impurity, so the degree to which it penetrates an object varies. In most cases, simple acts which took possession of the house, such as putting up a mezuzah, sufficed to remove the impurity and remnant of idolatry. But sometimes the spirit of abomination is so deep it cannot be elevated without destroying its “housing.” And yet, the “treasures of gold” are located precisely there.
This concept applies to negai’im in general: of all the possible impurities – obstructions to holiness – negai’im – the so-called plagues or leprosy – are the most severe. Nevertheless, the appearance of negai’im provides a unique opportunity for spiritual elevation. They are an unusual occurrence with a special purpose. A person is afflicted with negai’im so that he will do teshuvah. When a Jew returns, removes the last vestige of his acts of impurity, he reveals the “treasure of gold” within his soul. A Baal Teshuvah – one who has repented – stands higher than a complete tzaddik. Thus, it turns out that negai’im – the severest form of impurity – initiate the highest elevation.
We can apply this idea to our own times and situation: the length and severity of the current exile surely is the harshest and most severe the Jewish people have experienced. It follows that, as with the person and houses afflicted with negai’im, there is a treasure of gold, the highest spiritual and physical elevation, hidden within the adversity. The highest levels of holiness inherent in man and the world, originally concealed, can be revealed only through the process of rectification, of teshuvah.
This indicates the intimate and integral connection between teshuvah and Redemption. As soon as there is teshuvah, there is Redemption. Further, the Sages declare that teshuvah motivated by love transforms deliberate transgressions into meritorious acts. Obviously, in the days of Moshiach, all Israel will achieve this status.
Still, there is a problem, echoed in the structure of the Torah readings. We must distinguish between the individual and the object, between the one afflicted and the affliction itself, between the person and the negai’im. Last week’s reading, Tazria, dealt with the negai’im, while this week’s reading, Metzora, deals with the purification of man. So Teshuvah purifies and elevates the individual, raising him to a level higher than the tzaddik. But, it seems, the deliberate transgressions remain transgressions. Things that are loathsome and impure remain so; the prohibited act remains forbidden.
We know from the prophets that the blemish and iniquity last only until the day when “death will be swallowed up forever,” when Moshiach comes and the spirit of impurity will be removed forever. Still, we can anticipate the Redemption, foreshadow the coming of Moshiach, through a teshuvah so great that it transforms transgressions into merits. Not only is the individual elevated and purified, but the evil is nullified. Therefore, the essence of the transgression, the sinful act changes.
There is a remarkable implication to all this: every transgression contains within it an element of the permitted. Since teshuvah transforms, and teshuvah is a mitzvah, there must be an aspect of the permitted and holy within the prohibited and sinful.
Obviously, there is nothing remarkable about a case where a practical reparation is possible. For example, if one does not tithe properly, that mistake or oversight is easily corrected.
However, an act that violates G-d’s Will remains a violation of G-d’s Will. One cannot deliberately transgress a commandment and expect teshuvah to rectify the situation. Indeed, one who says, “I will sin and repent” is not given the opportunity to repent. Therefore the sin, the deliberate transgression, has no element of the permitted. It should remain essentially evil.
And yet, teshuvah affects not only the person, but the transgression itself. Remarkably, it causes a retroactive redemption. It transforms past evil, turning deliberate, willful sins and desecration into actual merits. Other transformations are conditional, and so always possessed the possibility of change from one state to another. For instance, a sale may be reversed because of a change in circumstances or failure to meet a condition. In this case, the altered status existed in potential from the start. Teshuvah, though, affects that which was not conditional, but at first was completely and irrevocably sinful.
A Jew can transform the past because he is in essence attached to G-d, who transcends the boundaries of time. A teshuvah from the depths of the heart calls forth that essence. The great love of a Jew for G-d places him beyond the confines of past, present and future. That which was can be transformed into that which should and will be.
In the natural order, man cannot purify himself from his negai’im, which is why the subject is divided between two portions. Purification comes through teshuvah. But the Jewish people, in a state of teshuvah, can break the walls of the houses, reveal the hidden treasures of G-dliness. By destroying the houses of idolatry, the previously concealed spiritual and material gold can be used to build a new house, the house of G-d, the Third Beis HaMikdash.
(Based on Likkutei Sichos 27:107-115)
