"Cleaning up our act" the day after

Parsha and its fulfillment - Parashat Metzora – Shabat Hagadol - Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - 5769

Parashat Metzora is a continuation of Parshat Tazria. In Parashat Tazria, the Torah deals with the laws of giving birth and the diagnosis of leprosy, and in Parashat Metzora, it deals with purity of the leper after he has been healed and found clean. Before he enters and returns to normal life.

The process of purification of the leper teaches us a significant and current principle in the week that follows a stormy election in which a lot of slime was thrown between the parties and the candidates. In order to stand on this principle, we must explain the significance of the sacrifices of the leper on the eighth day to his three-stage purification:

וּבַיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁמִינִ֗י יִקַּ֤ח שְׁנֵֽי־כְבָשִׂים֙ תְּמִימִ֔ים וְכַבְשָׂ֥ה אַחַ֛ת בַּת־שְׁנָתָ֖הּ תְּמִימָ֑ה וּשְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה עֶשְׂרֹנִ֗ים סֹ֤לֶת מִנְחָה֙ בְּלוּלָ֣ה בַשֶּׁ֔מֶן וְלֹ֥ג אֶחָ֖ד שָֽׁמֶן׃

“On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish, three-tenths of a measure of choice flour with oil mixed in for a meal offering, and one log of oil”. (Vayikra 14:10) וכבשה אחת. לְחַטָּאת:

וכבשה אחת - And one ewe-lamb for a sin-offering. (Rashi ibid).

And the Torah details the sacrifice of sin:

וְעָשָׂ֤ה הַכֹּהֵן֙ אֶת־הַ֣חַטָּ֔את וְכִפֶּ֕ר עַל־הַמִּטַּהֵ֖ר מִטֻּמְאָת֑וֹ וְאַחַ֖ר יִשְׁחַ֥ט אֶת־הָעֹלָֽה׃

וְהֶעֱלָ֧ה הַכֹּהֵ֛ן אֶת־הָעֹלָ֥ה וְאֶת־הַמִּנְחָ֖ה הַמִּזְבֵּ֑חָה וְכִפֶּ֥ר עָלָ֛יו הַכֹּהֵ֖ן וְטָהֵֽר׃

“The priest shall then offer the sin offering and make expiation for the one being cleansed of his uncleanness. Last, the burnt offering shall be slaughtered, and the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meal offering on the altar, and the priest shall make expiation for him. Then he shall be clean”. (Ibid 19-20)

Some ask why does the leper have to sacrifice a sin offering? What is the sin? and if you say it is atonement for the sin of Lashon Hara, then He was atoned by the punishment of leprosy itself.

So why does he have to be attoned with a Korban?

Maimonides wrote that the sacrifice is the completion of the process of atonement. (Rambam Sefer HaMitzvot -Positive Commandments, Mitzva 111). However, this does not mean that they do indeed come to atone for any sin, since the Gemara explicitly states: " But the sin-offering of a leper and his guilt-offering require libations, as they are not brought on account of a sin. The Gemara asks: Is that so? Leprosy develops on account of sin, so by extension the leper’s offerings are also brought on account of sin. The Gemara answers: There, from the time he contracts his leprosy he gains atonement for his sin through the plague of leprosy itself. Consequently, when he brings the offering, he brings it only in order to permit him to eat sacrificial food. (Sotah 15a).

The verse mentions the purpose of sacrificing a Chatat, which is not for a sin: "And atone the purifier of his impurity," as well as: "The priest shall atone for him and purify him." Hence the term 'Chatat' should not be interpreted as derived from the word 'sin' but from the word 'disinfection', which means purification from impurity and complete and final purification from the prior status. The leper experienced a traumatic event that has multiple consequences in a number of circles, mental, spiritual (impurity) and social (a kind of ostracism) and may continue to resonate even after its purity.

The Torah comes to teach us in the process of purity of the leper, how to 'disinfect', close a circle and "clean up our act" the "day after", without leaving 'residues' that do not allow a return to a healthy routine, to creation and life. The process of 'disinfecting' and cleaning is not always so popular. When we were soldiers, we did not like the cleaning tasks and the 'closing of the platform' after a significant workout. Although if we do not do so, the disorder and the chaos that is left of it may overshadow its results and the readiness to continue.

Even more so. In the previous Parasha we learned about the "offering of the parturient women". In which there was a joyous experience of creating new life but also an experience of pain and its spiritual influences. How the birth experience is summed up and changed, which will remain the only experience without the influence of the additional phenomena. This is the meaning of the Korban "Chatat for the parturient" in the previous Parasha (Vayikra 12: 1-8). For there too they asked whether it came to atone for a sin? What did the mother do to sin? On the contrary, a great mitzvah was performed by the woman who brought new life into the world! But Rashbi said that she had sinned because "when she knelt down to give birth, she jumped and swore that she would not need her husband" (Niddah 31b). However, Rabbi Yosef is already there to make it difficult and argues that in that case it should be a "Korban Shgaga" for she forgot and not a "Korban Yoledet".

This is how we asked to explain the words of the Braita: "the Sages taught: Who is wealthy? Rabbi Yosei says: Anyone who has a bathroom close to his table. (Shabbat 25b). In other words, after the positive action of eating, there is still the need to use the bathroom. Similarly, we find regarding the mitzva of the red heifer: "G-d commanded to bring a red heifer to redeem for the golden calf. The parable tells of a son that litters in the King's property, so the King said to bring his mother to pick up after him. The same way, Hashem said there shall be a heifer to atone for the calf". (Midrash Aggadah, Bamidvar 19, Siman b). We also find in Job that he offered sacrifices after the great feast, a great seven-day event of his sons. He came to "clean up" after them for fear that they might have committed a sin (Job 1: 4-5 and Aderet Eliyahu there).

This week, the election campaigns will come to an end, the results of which are still unknown at the time of writing. The elections are a supreme democratic move. We are fortunate that we were rewarded after thousands of years of exile and dependence on others. However, this system reached a climax of personal discredit and party slandering. "On the day after", we will have to return to a common routine. And still have the remaining trash. The remnants of the flyers and the ballot papers rolling through the streets. The remnants of the text messages, the venomous and offensive posters and the videos that incited one another.

We must 'disinfect' the public atmosphere of all these. Together with the burning of chametz and the cleaning for the Pesach that will come Letovah!