A metzora, a person afflicted with tzaraas, must remain outside the community encampment until his tzaraas heals. The isolation reflects his sorry spiritual state. Tzaraas is a punishment for lashon hara, speaking derogatorily about others, which causes strife and conflict.
Holiness, in contrast, is characterized by unity and harmony. The metzora’s association with strife, the polar opposite of holiness, requires that he be separated and isolated from the rest of Bnei Yisrael’s holy camp.
This gives even more depth to the Torah’s statement that the metzora “will be brought to the Kohen.” The verse is difficult to understand literally, for it is the Kohen who approaches the metzora and not vice versa, as the impure metzora may not enter the camp. Moreover, why does the verse specify that the metzora and not vice versa, “shall be brought,” instead of saying that he will go on his own?
With these words, however, the Torah is hinting that the spiritual rehabilitation of the metzora is not merely a possibility, but an eventuality: “He shall be brought to the Kohen” whether he desires to be purified or not.
The metzora, completely distanced from the Jewish camp, is also symbolic of a person so utterly removed from holiness that to willingly return to a Jewish lifestyle seems entirely unnatural for him. In fact, he may desire just the opposite. Nevertheless, the Torah foretells and guarantees that “he shall be brought to the Kohen”—even a person as distant as a metzora will ultimately do teshuvah and return to G-d and His ways. For, as is explained in Tanya, before the coming of Moshiach, G-d will arouse a spirit of teshuvah in the heart of every single Jew, bringing him to the “Kohen,” as it were, for purification, even if he is not on the level of seeking teshuvah on his own.
—Likkutei Sichos, vol. 7, pp. 100–102
