Last week’s parsha, Parshas Tazria speaks of the laws of how one becomes a Metzora, one who has tzaraas, a spiritual disease with a physical manifestation. This week, Parshas Metzora begins with discussions of the purification process.
It seems counterintuitive that the names of the Parshiyos belie what’s really happening in them. While Parshas Tazria sounds like it will be a fruitful and productive topic, it speaks of one of the most destructive episodes in Jewish life. Parshas Metzora, on the other hand, speaks about someone turning themselves around and having a rebirth.
Becoming purified from this disease involves changing themselves and getting away from the actions that made them get the blemish. It would make sense for the two parshiyos’ names to be reversed!
There is a deep lesson here. The person who views the world negatively and casts aspersions everywhere THINKS he is wise and astute. He recognizes the insidious nature of people he thinks others miss, and so considers himself to be giving life to the uninformed!
Only when he identifies himself as the Metzora, the one who is blemished, does he have the opportunity to begin repairing the damage and purifying himself. When he is ready to acknowledge that HE is the problem, he is finally ready to deal with it and put it behind him.
