The Torah requires a metzorah to dwell in isolation outside of the Jewish camp (בדד ישב מחוץ למחנה מושבו). The Gemara (Arachin 16b) explains that although other tamei [ritually impure] individuals do not have to separate themselves from the community, the metzorah is uniquely divided from his family and neighbors because his lashon hara split spouses and friends apart. This teaches us that social isolation is considered a harsh punishment and that being part of a larger group is far preferable. On a spiritual level, what is the nature of the punishment of living alone and unable to join with others?
Rav Mordechai Druk recounts that before the fall of the Iron Curtain, there were Jews in Russia who secretly assembled in clandestine basements to study together and strengthen one another in their commitment to religious observance. Over time, one such gathering grew so large that their underground meeting room could no longer contain them all.
One week, several new interested participants arrived during the shiur (Torah class), but there was simply no room for them. In the room, there was one longtime member whose religious background was so weak that he was unable to follow what the teacher was talking about. Some of the other attendees began murmuring that perhaps he should leave to create space for somebody else to enter who could better understand the shiur.
The man discerned what was being said about him and asked for permission to address the room. After everyone quieted down, he stood up and rolled up his sleeve, revealing that his arm was full of scars. He then proceeded to tell them the origin of his injuries. He was once sitting in a café in Moscow where, unbeknownst to him, a group of revolutionaries were meeting to plot future activities.
Suddenly, the KGB entered and began beating everyone in sight. The man held up his arms in self-defense and explained that he was innocently eating lunch and was not part of the insurgent gathering. Rejecting his defense, the KGB policeman told him, “If you are sitting with the group, then you are part of the group,” and began striking him on his arms, causing the scars that he still carried.
Returning his focus to the overcrowded Jews around him, the man told them that even if he could not grasp the religious concepts that they were learning about, the KGB had taught him that simply sitting together with them made him part of their group, and just as being linked to the revolutionaries caused him permanent scarring and pain, so too he was confident that sitting with the Jewish “revolutionaries” would earn him eternal blessing and reward.
Although his comrades had assembled that night to hear a lecture from their spiritual leader, the primary message they took home was the unscheduled one delivered by an unlearned attendee, who was warmly welcomed to future gatherings and never again asked to leave to make room for more “worthy” participants. (R’ Ozer Alport)
