The Ailment of

Tzaraat רעתצ

IN PRE-MESSIANIC TIMES

Part 1

www.AboutMoshiach.com An introduction toSIGNS of Moshiach

Contents

• What is Tzaraat• Who is susceptible to it Part 1• Its cure

• How it applies when Moshiach comes

Part 2

• “Terminal Tzaraat”, and how it too applies before Moshiach comes

Part 3

Tzaraat – Quick Facts

• A skin disease.• Skin turns bright white.• Unnatural. Physicians wouldn’t have a clue. • Very impure. Person with Tzaraat is expelled

from the community. • Seen in Biblical times. Not after.

Terminology

• “Tzaraat” = the disease• “Metzora” = a person who has Tzaraat• “Nega” = an instance of Tzaraat

• Tzaraat is often translated as “Leprosy”• But it’s for lack of a better term.• The English dictionary has Leprosy as

something different.

Tzaraat in the Torah

• The Torah deals with Tzaraat extensively:• 117 verses in total: (Leviticus 13–14)

– Tzaraat on the person (13:1–46)

– On his clothes (13:47–58)

– His house (14:33–48)

– Purification process (14:1-32, 49–53)

A Thing of the Present

• Tzaraat is an ancient ailment.• But the Torah is not a history book.• It contains teachings for all times.• There’s something big for us here. • Today.

The Sins of the Metzora

Tzaraat is a punishment for ill speech.

(Talmud, Arachin 15b)

But

• Ill speech has been a wide-spread problem…• Throughout the ages…• Why haven’t we seen any Tzaraat cases?

Hefty Criteria

To be susceptible to Tzaraat you need to have:

1. Self perfection 2. Not a trace of bad inside your heart

(Likutei Torah 22b)

Top Notch People

• Can’t find them today.• Like Moses, Miriam and King David. • They all had Tzaraat.• Indeed such people are intrinsically separate

from the community – • In a positive sense: • Much higher than the rest of the community.

That’s where the problem is…

There are 2 types of religious challenges:

1. To Escape the Material

• That’s the basic challenge in life: • To be spiritual in this material world.• On many levels: • From just managing to remain within Jewish fold • To maintaining an unscratched soul.• Although an uphill battle, you’re moving in one

direction (up).• That’s the challenge for most people, to overcome

their material impulses. • But not for someone like the Metzora. • It’s no sweat for him.

2. To Impact the Material

• Escaping physicality is only good preparation for impacting it.

• We’re here to spiritualise this lowly world, not to abandon it.

• That’s a harder challenge as you need to maintain balance between two polar themes:

• Removed from worldly matters (up) while dealing with them (down).

Example (for an ordinary person):

Starting to Keep Kosher…

• Before he used to eat everything (Except pork)• Then he’s come closer to his roots • Now he takes great issue with non-Kosher food.• Beautiful! But wait – • Friction emerges with his family/ friends. • They haven’t (yet) tapped into what he’s discovered. • So he’s giving them a hard time about it…• And you can guess what their reaction is… • That didn’t paint a pretty picture.

Another Example

A Good Prayer…• Reaching excitement in prayer… • Positive energy. Keep it up! • Well, the world out there has a different take on

life…• In fact, polar opposite.• Descending from the heights of prayer into the

world is dangerous.• With hard landing, patience could be easily lost.• So he gets upset after prayers when things are not

the way they should (negative energy).

The Ultimate Gap

• People who have mastered the first challenge:• Nothing bad left in their heart, • Nor love for any physical leisure,• They’re all good,• They’re in a higher, incomparable league,• “Outside” the community – • They struggle with the second challenge (to impact

the world).• The gap between them and the rest is too great…

Failure to turn people on is one problem.

Turning people off is another:

Elite Energy

• Those elite people have powerful (wow) stuff• But because it’s so intense – • How can they relate it to the regular folk?• It can be too much for them to handle.• Can easily wow them the wrong way.• Turn them off.• Moses, Miriam, King David – all had issues with

expressing themselves to others.• Their greatness was misunderstood…

Speech is “Ill”

• Speech is where the problem lies.• The Metzora is missing the right

communication tools. • So instead of the pleasure (ענג = Oneg) he’s

supposed to bring out – • We see an undesirable Tzaraat (נגע / Nega)• Same letters. • It’s just the order that’s stuffed up.

Skin Only

• Tzaraat shows up on the person’s skin. • His outmost part. • As inside he’s all good.• Skin is what people see. How he appears to

others.• That’s where the problem is.

Bright White

• Tzaraat appears as bright white spots.• The phenomenon itself is good (white), • And even super (bright).• But because it’s SO bright –

• It dazzles others, • Destructing them from

appreciating its real beauty.

Purification

• The introduction verse to the purification process:

• “ המצורע ביום זאת תורתתהיה טהרתו ” (Leviticus 34)

• Literally: “This will be the law (Torah) of the Metzora on the day of his purification”

• Herein lies the solution:• The Torah (תורת) will enable the Metzora’s

purification (טהרתו) (Etz Hayim, Shaar Rachel and Leah, Ch.7)

Why the Torah?

• Torah = Divine reason. • Able to bridge the gap between Heavenly stuff (Divine)

and physical reality (reason).• Torah is the critical medium that contains the high levels

of the Metzora • And express them in a way that the lowly person can

understand.• The Metzora should invest his energies in “Torah

teaching”, • As opposed to reproach, argument, or no interaction at

all.

Humility – Essential Ingredient

• The expulsion of the Metzora from the community –

• It’s humiliating.• Mmmm, there’s a message here…• That’s what he’s missing!• His Torah teaching has to be with humility,• To be relative even to the lowly simpletons.

Humility – How

• It’s not easy for a tall cedar tree to feel small like a hyssop.• The Metzora is right up there.• Are we asking him to fool himself that he’s not?• Well, the inner dimensions of the Torah describe the

greatness of G-d – • That’s the real height.• Compared to which the Metzora isn’t really more

significant than any other person on the street…• This realization is also “humiliating”, but with a positive

spin.

How Does it Look Now?

• Once healed,• The Tzaraat does not go away!• We want his high levels to stay.• But not the negativity and misconception

associated with their initial expression.• So the Tzaraat itself remains,• Albeit in pure form. • (The verses describe which form is pure/impure)• The Nega transforms into Oneg (pleasure).

Summary (So Far)

Literal Sense Deeper Sense

Not since Biblical Times Very high level required.

Cause is Ill Speech Because he is so high – problems with expression.

On the skin Only external (inside – all good). What people see.

Bright white spots White is good but too bright is problematic (dazzles).

Very impure He has immense energy – can do a lot of damage if not conveyed appropriately.

Expulsion from community Because too high – doesn’t belong in amongst others.

The Torah (= process) of purification

Torah will enable the purification.

Purification through Cedar-wood and hyssop

Metzora to remain a cedar but adopt humility of hyssop.

Not all Tzaraat instances are impure

Tzaraat in reality is a good thing. Just needs to be in a pure form.

What’s Tzaraat got to do with Moshiach?

Coming up next.