Last week, in Parshat Shmini, we read the story of Nadav and Avihu, who brought an offering that HaShem didn't ask for, and we learned all about what makes certain animals kosher and others not kosher. In this week's parsha, Tazria, we'll learn about the important mitzvah of brit milah, and about the laws of a strange disease called Tzara'at.
Welcoming a New Baby Boy
After HaShem taught Moshe which animals, birds, and fish were kosher, He gave Moshe another very important mitzvah: "On the eighth day after a Jewish baby is born, he must have a brit milah (circumcision). This will be a mitzvah for you and all of your descendants, throughout every generation."
This commandment continues the tradition that started when HaShem commanded Avraham, the first Jew, to circumcise himself, which he did when he was 99 years old. At that time, HaShem told Avraham that from then on, all Jewish boys must have a brit milah at eight days old, to show that there is a special, unbreakable bond between the Jewish people and HaShem.
At a brit milah celebration, the new baby boy is brought in and welcomed by the family and guests with the words, "Baruch haba!" These words literally mean, "blessed is the one who has arrived, but they also have special hidden meaning. The Hebrew word haba is spelled with the three letters hey-bet-aleph, whose numerical values add up to 8. So when the guests welcome the baby, they are actually saying, "Welcome to the boy who has a brit milah when he is eight days old!"
The baby sits on the lap of the sandek -- someone special, such as his grandfather or great-grandfather, perhaps - in a special chair called kisei shel Eliyahu, "Eliyahu's chair." It is said that the prophet Eliyahu is present at every brit milah - so there is a special seat in the room named for him.
The mohel says a special blessing for the baby before he does the brit milah, and then the baby's father says another blessing during the brit milah, thanking HaShem for giving us the commandment to bring baby boys into the Jewish people through circumcision. Finally, just a few minutes after the baby was carried into the room, he is given his Hebrew name. Everyone shouts "Mazel tov!" and blesses the baby to grow up to be learned in Torah, to get married and have a family of his own, and to do good deeds -"L'Torah, l'chuppah, u'l'maasim tovim!"
Then everyone joins in a festive meal to celebrate the new baby's arrival and his official beginning as part of the Jewish people. Besides fulfilling the mitzvah of brit milah for a baby boy, in the time of the Mishkan (and later, the Beit HaMikdash), the mother of a newborn boy or girl also showed her gratitude to HaShem by bringing a special korban.
Pssst . . . Did You Hear?
HaShem gave Moshe instructions about an unusual disease called Tzara'at. This was a skin condition that gave the person a status of being impure. The word Tzara'at (also pronounced Tzara'as) sounds very much like the English word "psoriasis," which is indeed a skin condition that probably got its name from the Hebrew. But although many people assume that Tzara'at was psoriasis, it was not. In addition, Tzara'at is often mistranslated as leprosy, but it was actually a completely different disease.
What kind of spiritual flaw would cause Tzara'at? Usually it was lashon hara, which literally means, "a bad tongue," and refers to speaking badly of others. (Even if the information is true, it's considered lashon hara.) Gossiping - spreading negative information about other people - makes a person's neshama (soul) impure.
Since a person can't tell that his soul is impure, he needs a physical sign to warn him that something is wrong. That's why HaShem gave the sign of Tzara'at. By affecting the outside of a person, Tzara'at is a warning that something isn't right on the inside.
Tzara'at on Clothes - Warning Bells!
Sometimes, before giving a person Tzara'at on his skin, HaShem would give him a gentle warning by bringing Tzara'at on his clothes! If a white article of clothing developed green or red spots, the owner had to take it to the Kohein to be checked. The Kohein would lock up the clothing for one week, and then checked it again. If the spots had gotten bigger during the week, the clothing was impure and was burned.
Seeing Spots
If a person whose clothes got Tzara'at didn't get the message and change his ways, he might look in the mirror one day and see . . . spots! Immediately, he would wonder, "Could it be Tzara'at?"
Call the Doctor!
Only a Kohein could diagnose Tzara'at, so if someone saw one or more white spots on his or her skin, he or she would go to a Kohein to find out if it was Tzara'at. A person who had Tzara'at was called a Metzora. The Kohein would examine the person, and if he felt it was Tzara'at, he would send the person away for a week in the hope that he would do teshuva and correct his faults - which would make the Tzara'at miraculously disappear. The following week, the Kohein would examine the person again, and if there was still Tzara'at, he would give yet another week for the person to correct himself.
Since Tzara'at was a spiritual disease - a symptom of a deeper, underlying spiritual problem - the Kohein was like a spiritual doctor. He was specially trained to know how to tell the difference between various kinds of spots, which might be one of many shades of white.
Time Out
When a Kohein determined that someone had Tzara'at, that person had to leave all three camps where the rest of the Jews lived, and go out and be all by himself. (In the time of the Beit HaMikdash, he would have to go outside of the walled city.) He sat with his mouth covered with a scarf, as a reminder that he was there because he had been careless with his speech and had spoken lashon hara. No one could come within four amot (about 8 feet) of him, and if someone came close, he had to warn the person to stay away. Anyone who even came close to someone with Tzara'at would become impure.
While he sat outside, he would have plenty of time to think about why HaShem had given him Tzara'at, and he had a chance to change his ways and start doing better. If HaShem accepted his teshuva, his Tzara'at would disappear. Then he could call a Kohein to examine him, and if the Kohein announced that it was completely gone, the person would purify himself by offering a special korban. By the time he finished going through this whole experience, he would have learned a very valuable lesson: to guard his speech very carefully!
Through Tzara'at, HaShem gave a signal to the Jews when their behavior wasn't right. They then had a chance to correct the flaws within themselves, and reach a greater spiritual level. So even something that seems to be something bad was actually for a very good purpose.
In next week's parsha, Metzora, we'll learn more about Lashon Hara, and about houses that got Tzara'at. A house with a disease? Find out all about it next week.
