One of the primary topics in Parashat Tazria is colors. Colors and the slight differences between shades of the same color are a central aspect of recognizing and deciding on whether a person has been afflicted with t z a r a’a t, the Biblical disease known by translation as “leprosy,” but which is very different from the modern-day disease by this name.
The first and most important color is white. In all, the sages identify four types of white, which are identified in the verse, “If a person develops a wool-white spot, a white-shaded spot, or a snow-white spot on the skin of his flesh” (תאשורשברועוהביהי ים כדא תרת הבת או חפס או). Though the verse seems to indicate only 3 shades of white, the sages write,
The signs of a lesion [t z a r a’a t] are two which, in fact, are four. The bright spot [בהרת] is bright white like snow; secondary to it is the sign that is as white as the lime of the Temple. The rising [תאש] is as white as the membrane of an egg; secondary to it is that which is white like wool, the words of Rabbi Meir. But the sages say: the rising [תאש] is white like wool and secondary to it is that which is like the white of the membrane of an egg.
After white we encounter black, yellow, and reddish. The white appears on the naked skin. The yellow appears where hair grows. The white appears where there is a skin lesion, while the yellow appears where hair grows and is not called a lesion (עגן) but rather a netek (קתן). Black hair is a sign of purity, and that the person is healthy. Finally, the reddish color appears in reference to a burn that develops a lesion.
Why is white the color of an impure lesion? Usually, people associate white with purity. However, to be too white (like the four white shades of t z a r a’a t that we just saw) means that a person is too self-exonerating. He is always right and everyone else is wrong. Being “white,” being self-exonerating is the hallmark of Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law and his mother Rebeccah’s brother. Laban’s name literally means “white.” He is also called Laban the Aramean (ימראאה), which the sages permute to spell “the deceiver” (יאימרה).
Just like the color white divides into two main shades and two secondary shades, so Laban had four daughters: two daughters from one mother—Leah and Rachel—and two daughters from a maidservant—Zilpah and Bilhah. All four of these are of course the holy counterparts of the four types of white that indicate a state of impurity, following the principle that “this opposite this has God made” (יםה־לאהשע הת זמת זם אג).
Again, to be “white” means to self-exonerate, to dismiss one’s mistakes. When we consider that the gematria of “snake” (שחן) is the same as “Mashiach” (יחשׁמ), then we come to understand that the positive side of the primordial snake is the king of the generation who—like King David—is willing to acknowledge his mistakes. When King David lifted up his hands, acknowledging, “I have sinned,” he rectified Adam’s sin, as the verse indeed alludes to Adam, “If a person develops a wool-white spot,” which in the original Hebrew refers to a person as “an Adam.” Adam’s sin was not so much that he ate from the Tree of Knowledge, but that he blamed his wife for his actions. The most important lesson every husband should take from Adam is not to blame his wife. All the world’s troubles began with blaming the woman. If Adam had simply spontaneously admitted his guilt, everything would have been forgiven. It is this shunning of blame that causes t z a r a’a t.
The first topic in parashat Tazria—the conception of a child from both parents [see the first portion]—is also related to colors, because the sages tell us that the father gives all the white in the child and the mother gives all that is red in the child.
The three colors we have mentioned, white (ןבל), yellow (בהצ), and “black” (רחש) all have three letters in Hebrew and the sum of their values is the same as the name of our Torah portion, Tazria (יערזת).
Chasidic teachings explain that the reason for all cases of t z a r a’a t is the presence of the mother principle, Imma, without the presence of the father principle, Abba. Let us explain this in a straightforward psychological way. If a person grows up in a household where the mother is constantly giving all she must provide a good upbringing, dedicated chinuch, as we say in Hebrew, but the father does not contribute to the upbringing then the children suffer. This affects both the boys and the girls, but especially the girls. If the father does not partner with the mother, then not only do the girls not come out as good as they could have, but they also suffer.
In the language of Kabbalah, instead of the girls being blessed, and coming out like Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah, they emerge like their impure counterparts, whose names we will not mention.
The conclusion is that both mother and father need to be present together in the home. They need to cooperate and share the burden of bringing up the children. This is a great Torah principle that is gleaned from the Torah’s discussion of t z a r a’a t.
Since the value of “Tazria” (יערזת) is equal to the names of the three main colors associated with t z a r a’a t and the full phrase is, “A woman when she produces seed” (יערזית השכ), we can associate colors with the feminine. The one color that did not appear in our gematria is “reddish” (תמדמדא), which in t z a r a’a t appears only together with white. In other words, there is no reddish by itself, only when it is mixed (כתופ) with white, as the verse states, “a snow-white spot streaked with red” (תמדמדא אנבת לראת הב). Thus, the reddish that comes with the white is a sign of father and mother that do not separate, this in contrast with the yellow and the black that also symbolize states of sickness and health, respectively, but do not mix.
The sum of “white” (ןבל) and “reddish” (תמדמדא)—using the spelling in which they first appear—is the value of the opening statement of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, “the foundation of all foundation, the pillar of all wisdoms” (תמוקחד הומעת ודוסוי ד הסוי), a number that we endear and which is also the triangle of 48, alluding to the 48 attributes with which Torah is to be possessed. The sum of the masculine version of these two colors—תמדמדן אבן—is 776, the same as “the coming of Mashiach” (יחשׁמת היאב).
(from a shiur given on 18 Adar 5773)
