Our sages teach that the affliction described in Parshas Tazria/Metzora is not a bodily disease but a physical manifestation of a spiritual illness. A type of punishment designed to show the offender that he must change his ways. The primary cause of this affliction is slander. The malady is named tzara'as, a discoloration that can appear on the skin, hair, clothing or even a house.

The Torah teaches that the afflicted person should be brought to Aharon the priestor one of his sons for examination to determine whether the affliction is, in fact, tzara'as. The great Torah commentator, Rashi, states that only a priest can pronounce a person pure or not pure because the affliction is a supra-rational decree of the Torah. Chassidus teaches that the priests, like the first High Priest Aharon, were men who where inherently kind and always blessed the Jewish people with love. Therefore, they were entrusted with the power to pronounce someone impure, have him put outside the camp, isolated from the rest of Jewish community.

From this we learn that if one feels that another has acted improperly, one must first check his own motives to see if his desire to chastise another is being done purely out of love. Both Rashi and Rambam teach that tzara'as first appears on the walls of the offenders house, then his clothes and finally on his body. The affliction can be remedied at any stage through repentance and a change in the person's ways. In the case of tzara'as we can clearly see the mercy of HaShem and the love He has for us.

The Torah also teaches that when the Canaanites heard that the Jewish Nation was entering Canaan, they hid their gold and silver in the walls of their homes before they fled. So now the Jewish people are living in these homes, a priest comes and pronounces a home impure and orders the discolored stones to be removed. All this because the new owner was in the first stage of tzara'as. Upon removal of the stones, the offender finds a fortune in gold and silver inside the wall. Punishment or blessing you decide?

Again we can learn a beautiful lesson here. The next time you look at another person, look past the outward manifestations, look a little deeper and see the precious Jewish neshamah that lies within. 

We all have a mission and a responsibility as Jews to make this world a dwelling place for G-d and to reveal the G-dliness that already exists here.

Learn a little more Torah.
Do one more mitzvah.
Love one another.
L'chaim l'chaim,

r. yaakov ephraim parisi