The second thought I would like to share is based on two Sefornos in Parshas Tazria. The parsha discusses people-tzaraas, then garment-tzaraas, and finally house-tzaraas. The Seforno writes on the pasuk beginning “If there shall be a tzaraas affliction in a garment....” (Vayikra 13:47) that without a doubt, the Torah is speaking here of an unnatural phenomenon. By the laws of nature, garments do not develop tzaraas. Jackets or shirts do not suddenly develop these kinds of supernatural negaim (blemishes). Rather, the Seforno writes, these negaim appear on garments or on houses to alert the owners that they are doing something wrong. The Ramban also writes that these tzaraas afflictions are a punishment for specific aveiros (sins). The Gemara in Maseches Eruchin (15b-16a) presents an entire list of aveiros, for which negaim appear. They appear for slandering, for haughtiness, for stinginess, etc. When a person is afflicted – either his person or his clothing or his house – it is a message from the Ribono shel Olam. The Ribono shel Olam is trying to tell you something!
The Seforno writes that this is a manifestation of Hashem‘s mercy upon His nation. These “blemishes” should not be viewed as a punishment but rather as a great present that the Ribono shel Olam is granting us. He shows His compassion to us by informing us that we are doing something wrong. In fact, we are taught that the garments of goyim do not become impure via the appearance of negaim. That is because the Ribono shel Olam does not take care of them as much as He takes care of us.
Sometimes people don’t understand why “bad things” are happening. However, that should not be the case with tzaraas because we are given a list of potential causes in that Gemara in Eruchin. If someone encounters tzaraas on his person, garment, or house, he can look up that list and say, “I must be doing one of these things wrong.” This is a Divine favor. As the Seforno writes, “It is G-d’s mercy upon His nation that He provides us with such warning signs.”
The Seforno adds another idea in Vayikra 14:36. By the pasuk about house-tzaraas, the Torah writes that the homeowner should empty out his house before the Kohen comes to proclaim the house and all its contents tameh (impure). Imagine if someone has been living in a house for forty years and has accumulated forty years’ worth of junk. Now he needs to clear all of it out of the house! Part of the reason for this, the Seforno writes, is that in the time it takes to clear out the house, the homeowner will have a chance to reflect and to ask himself, what is going on here? – and to hopefully do teshuvah.
This idea can provide an insight into the following pasuk: “And the one who owns the house shall come and say to the Kohen as follows ‘k’nega (something like) a nega (blemish) appeared to me in my house.‘” (Vayikra 14:35). Rashi quickly points out why the homeowner can only say “k’nega“. Even if the homeowner is a talmid chochom who knows precisely that it is a tzaraas nega, he may not enunciate definitively that it is such, but must leave that declaration to the Kohen.
Why is this so? Perhaps it should be viewed as a lesson in humility. Part of what causes the tzaraas affliction is gayvah (haughtiness). However, the sefer Imrei Daas by Rav Nosson Lieberman offers a different but beautiful interpretation of the expression “K’nega appeared to me in the house.”
The Mishna (Shabbos 2:5) says “Someone who extinguishes the candle (on Shabbos) because he is afraid of idolaters or robbers, because of an evil spirit, or so that someone who is sick should be able to sleep, he is not culpable (because it is a melacha she’ayno tzreecha l’gufo). However, someone who extinguishes the candle because he wants to save the candle (k’chas al ha’ner) or save the oil or save the wick – he is culpable.”
The Vilna Gaon asks why the Mishna uses the expression “k’chas al ha’ner“, “k’chas al ha’shemen“, etc.? Again, there is this prefix “k’” (as if) as we have by “K’nega nir’eh li ba’bayis“. The Vilna Gaon answers: You are worried on Shabbos that this extra bit of candle, oil, or wick is costing you too much? It is not costing you anything! The Gemara says (Beitzah 16a) that a person’s financial income is determined for him from one Rosh Hashana (New Year) until the next Rosh Hashana, except for what he expends for Shabbos and Yom Tov and what he spends on teaching his children Torah. In other words, a person’s budget is fully determined on Rosh Hashana with the three aforementioned exceptions. In these three areas, if he spends more than was included in the Heavenly allocation, he is given more; if he spends less, he is given less.
We just finished Pesach. Most of us spent a fortune on Pesach, thousands of dollars. I think the Pesach market today is literally over a billion dollars for Pesach foods, products, etc. It is a big business. Everyone is complaining, “Oy! I spent a fortune on Pesach.” This is not true. A person’s expenses for Shabbos and Yom Tov are not part of his Heavenly annual allocation.
This person is worried about how much the oil is costing him. He believes it is costing him too much. However, it is really not costing him a penny! Therefore, says the Vilna Gaon, it is k’chas – as if he is trying to save. But it is only like he is trying to save, for in truth, he is not saving anything because it is not costing him a dime.
The Imrei Daas says that the k’ prefix has the same interpretation over here by tzaraas: k‘nega appeared to me in the house. It is really only like a nega that appeared. Someone looks at his wall and moans, “Oy, vay iz mir” (woe is me)! He sees a nega in his house, meaning that besides having to take all his belongings outside, the Kohen will perhaps come and proclaim the house tameh and order the wall torn down! What could be worse? But in fact, it just looks like a nega, but it is not really a nega because really the Ribono shel Olam is just sending a message. As the Seforno writes, this is a manifestation of Hashem’s mercy upon his nation. This is really good news. You are doing something wrong, and rather than it affecting your body, it is affecting your house. Your roof should go rather than your skull. That is why the pasuk says k’nega appears to be in my house. We are sometimes troubled when bad things happen. We question, “Why is this happening?” Tzaraas is something that happens, but we do know why it happens, and we can just fix those things, and the problem will be solved. It is sometimes hard to look at the nega as rachamei shamayim (heavenly mercy), but that is what the Seforno says it is. It is not real tzores. It is rachamei shamayim.
