2 Individuals of otherwise sterling character: The task of refining ourselves, of realizing the Torah’s vision for us as human beings, is long and arduous, but entirely possible to implement. The Torah itself testifies that fulfilling its instructions “is not in heaven...not beyond the sea...but very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, [making it easy for you] to fulfill it.” Moreover, at each step of the way, God assists us in navigating the subtle pitfalls that threaten to thwart our progress. In the words of the sages, “When someone sets out to purify himself, he is assisted from above.”
This principle is demonstrated clearly by the phenomenon of tzara’at, which affects only individuals who have refined themselves as much as they can using all the resources available to them: the study of the Torah; the practice of its commandments; introspection; repentance; the cultivation of ethical conduct in business and personal life; the development of mature faith, trust in God, devotion to one’s Divine mission and alacrity in performing it, and so on. Utilizing all these tools to the fullest, the individual might eventually purge all the dross from his psyche, thereby transforming himself into an altogether righteous person, who no longer has to wrestle with evil. Such a person’s life-challenge is now to constantly ascend to ever higher levels of Divine consciousness and to inspire others to emulate his example.
On the other hand, after the individual has exhausted all these tools, some subtle evil might still remain, lurking so deep within the individual that he might never become aware of it on his own. When this is the case, God signals him to this effect by afflicting him with tzara’at. (It is therefore understood why tzara’at no longer occurs: since the destruction of the Temple, it is simply not possible for us to refine ourselves so consummately that the only imperfections left within us are those that are signaled by the onset of tzara’at.)
When the only evil remaining within a person is of such a subtle nature, it can only surface in very superficial, unpremeditated behavior. The archetype of such behavior is gossip, which often takes the form of a casual remark that slips through otherwise innocuous conversation. Speech is indeed a superficial activity, and it is therefore relatively easy to control—this being the reason why it is one of the first aspects of our lives that we are bidden to refine. But it is also an expression of the soul, and therefore, unrehearsed speech can at times betray the inner recesses of the heart.
For these reasons, tzara’at afflicts in particular people who are guilty of nothing else but gossip, and it appears on the superficial elements of their lives: their skin, their clothing, and their houses. These entities are three increasingly external layers that envelop us: our skin is our innermost layer of “clothing,” tailored perfectly to our bodies; next come our actual clothes, also cut to fit our bodies but not as precisely as our skin; and finally, our homes, into which we “fit,” conducting our essential life-activities within them, but which are the least-precisely tailored to us physically.
Tzara’at first affects the outermost “garment,” the house, because at first, gossip is entirely superficial. If the individual does not take this cue and neglects to purge himself of his inner, residual evil, tzara’at breaks out on his clothing, indicating that his unrestrained gossip has given the deep-seated evil it expresses the chance to seep into him from the outside, so to speak, so that his behavior is less superficial than it was originally. If he ignores this cue as well, tzara’at breaks out on his skin, indicating that this evil, although still superficial, is now part of him. At this stage, he must be ostracized from society, and hopefully this demonstration of the consequences of his behavior will inspire him to mend his ways.
Since tzara’at is intended to cure the individual of his hidden evil, the diagnostic and purification rituals must be overseen by a priest. The priest is the earthly embodiment of God’s infinite loving-kindness, which alone is able to uproot and weed out this otherwise inaccessible evil. Furthermore, it is specifically the priest’s speech that frees the sufferer from his defilement, for in order to counteract the expression of the sufferer’s inner evil via his unrectified speech, the priest must employ his power of holy speech to elicit the inner goodness of God’s infinite loving-kindness.
For only they are authorized to pronounce someone or something defiled: It is important to note that until the priest pronounces an individual defiled, he is not considered to be so, even if he exhibits all the indicative symptoms. Thus, before the pronouncement of the priest, these symptoms do not reflect defilement; indeed, very similar symptoms—and in some cases, even more serious ones—can indicate freedom from defilement.
Significance of Lesion Colors
Significantly, the principal color of the lesions that necessitate the demolition of his house, the burning of his clothes, or his banishment from the community until he repents. In this context, the sin of gossip for which tzara’at is the corrective punishment can be seen to be a superfluity of what could have (and should have) been good—or even holy—but instead degenerated into the opposite: We are all acutely aware of how powerful our speech is in forging social ties and promoting peace, and whether we are conscious of it or not, this is why we relish social conversation, clarifying issues with each other until we reach mutual understanding. When, however, a hidden drop of residual haughtiness insists that our reputation or esteem take precedence over the advancement of social harmony, some gossip or slander is inadvertently released in the heady excitement of conversation.
This explains why the Messiah is referred to as being afflicted with tzara’at. The messianic Redemption, the ultimate exodus from Egypt, will be characterized by a complete release from all limitations that nowadays constrict the revelation of holiness and Divine consciousness, similar to the overabundance of holiness manifest in the symptoms of tzara’at.
For only they are authorized to pronounce someone or something defiled: As we just pointed out, it is the priest’s pronouncement—rather than the appearance of qualifying symptoms per se—that render the person ritually defiled. This fact puts considerable onus on the priest, especially in light of the consequences of his pronouncement: the ritually defiled individual must be banished from society, even from the company of other ritually defiled people. This total ostracism is not required in the case of any other type of defilement.
The Torah therefore specifically requires a priest to make this pronouncement. The priests are all descendants (and therefore spiritual heirs) of Aaron, whom we have seen (and will see further) both embodied the ideal of brotherly love and promoted brotherly love among the people. God therefore refers to the priests as His men of loving-kindness and grants them the privilege of blessing His people daily. Moreover, the blessing tradition requires them to recite before pronouncing this blessing is “Blessed are You, God, our God, He who has sanctified us with the holiness of Aaron and commanded us to bless His people, Israel, with love.”
