Parshat Metzora In Memory of Shimshon Ben Shalom

Chassidus on the Parsha - Parshas Metzora

זֹ֤את תִּֽהְיֶה֙ תּוֹרַ֣ת הַמְּצֹרָ֔ע בְּי֖וֹם טׇהֳרָת֑וֹ וְהוּבָ֖א אֶל־הַכֹּהֵֽן׃

This shall be the ritual for a leper at the time of being purified. When it has been reported to the priest,

In the Holy writings of the Noam Elimelech, he brings a question in the name of the sages prior to him regarding what the need is to bring the leper to a Cohen? If a person needs serious medical attention it's good for them to seek after a professional healer/doctor.

And a further wonder can be found in the writing of the sages below -

בבא בתרא קט״ז א:ט״ו

דָּרַשׁ רַבִּי פִּנְחָס בַּר חָמָא כֹּל שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ חוֹלֶה בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ יֵלֵךְ אֵצֶל חָכָם וִיבַקֵּשׁ עָלָיו רַחֲמִים שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר חֲמַת מֶלֶךְ מַלְאֲכֵי מָוֶת וְאִישׁ חָכָם יְכַפְּרֶנָּה:

Bava Batra 116a:15

Rabbi Pineḥas bar Ḥama interpreted a verse homiletically: Anyone who has a sick person in his home should go to a sage, and the sage will ask for mercy on the sick person’s behalf, as it is stated: “The wrath of a king is as messengers of death; but a wise man will pacify it” (Proverbs 16:14).

As we can see above, the concept of going to a wise person does not just apply to the Leper, rather the advice seems to be regarding any human with an affliction of some sort. So we must understand what connection a wise man has towards healing one with an affliction in cases when it seems that an afflicted human should seek out after a doctor.

And I said to explain with the help of Heaven that we can see in the Holy Writings of our Sages and Ramban expands on this -

רמב"ן על ויקרא כ״ו:י״א:א׳

ונתתי משכני בתוככם ואם בישראל והשלכת אותה מלפניך להיות כל בניה לבושים בגדים צואים נגאלים והנה הברכות האלה כפי פשוטן עם היותן רבות כלליות בענין המטר השובע והשלום ופריה ורביה אינן כמו הברכות שברך כבר בקצרה (שמות כג כה) וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך והסירותי מחלה מקרבך כי שם יבטיח במאכל ובמשתה ושיהיה לברכה עד שלא יארע שום חולי בגופינו ועל כן יהיו כלי הזרע שלמים ובריאים ונוליד כהוגן ונחיה ימים מלאים כמו שאמר (שם פסוק כו) לא תהיה משכלה ועקרה בארצך את מספר ימיך אמלא

Ramban on Leviticus 26:11:1

AND I WILL SET MY TABERNACLE AMONG YOU -
And so did the righteous ones act at the time when prophecy [existed], so that even if a mishap of iniquity overtook them, causing them sickness, they did not turn to the physicians, but only to the prophets, as was the case with Hezekiah when he was sick... This is also the meaning of their saying: “People should not have to take medicaments, but they have become accustomed to do so.” but since they accustomed themselves to medicaments, G-d has left them to natural happenings... But when a man’s ways please the Eternal, he need have no concern with physicians.

That the sickness of the body is directly connected to a sickness within the soul. That the sickness of the body comes from some sort of iniquity that is attached to the soul. And this isn't recognizable on the surface right away, rather throughout time is strengthens through this blemish in the soul and then starts to damage the body, and from this symptoms of physical sickness begins.

And behold, it is brought down in the name of the Holy Rabbi, the Chozeh of Lublin, May he be remembered for Eternal life, that he once said to a man - "You are asking all these different questions, but your soul is speaking a totally different language" Hence, a person steeped in physicality and the body cannot see or hear things outside of the physical, and it appears to himself that he is suffering in the physical, so therefor when he comes to seek medicine, he seeks only medication for his body, and in reality that medicine he seeks wont be what really helps him, and the advice here would be to go to a sage to understand the nature of his suffering and to find out what within his soul is off and needs to be fixed, and to show him the path he must go on, and the actions he must take, and through this, his physical ailments will heal as well. However, a person doesn't always understand all of this, and therefor incumbent to go to a wise man to open his eyes and to fully understand what his ailment is about, and to know exactly what remedy he needs for his sickness in order that he regains strength in order that he/she returns to us in full.

And this is the explanation of the sages when it was taught - "Whoever has a sick person in his home, go seek out a sage to request mercy for you, which means that the sage will instruct him on the proper and straight path to do that which is considered good in the eyes of HaShem, and by means of this, he returns in full form from that damage done to his/her soul, and have a full spiritual healing, and through this his body becomes healed as well.

And on this way of thinking we can understand why the leper travels to see the Cohen/Priest, as it is taught by the sages -

רש"י על ויקרא י״ד:ד׳:ב׳

טהרות. פְּרָט לְעוֹף טָמֵא, לְפִי שֶׁהַנְּגָעִים בָּאִין עַל לָשׁוֹן הָרַע שֶׁהוּא מַעֲשֵׂה פִטְפּוּטֵי דְבָרִים, לְפִיכָךְ הֻזְקְקוּ לְטָהֳרָתוֹ צִפֳּרִים שֶׁמְּפַטְפְּטִין תָּמִיד בְּצִפְצוּף קוֹל (ערכין ט"ז):

Rashi on Leviticus 14:4:2

הרות‎ט CLEAN ...Because the plagues of leprosy come as a punishment for slander, which is done by chattering, therefore birds are compulsory for his (the leper’s) purification, because these chatter, as it were, continuously with a twittering sound (Arakhin 16b).

This is also embedded within the word Metzora (name of a leper and this weeks Parsha) which can be broken into two words, Motzi-Ra - which means spewing evil, in regards to the evil and slander that comes spewing out of ones mouth.

And it says in the Talmud -

ערכין ט״ו ב:ז׳

ואמר ר' יוסי בן זימרא כל המספר לשון הרע נגעים באים עליו שנאמר (תהלים קא, ה) מלשני בסתר רעהו אותו אצמית וכתיב התם {ויקרא כה } לצמיתות ומתרגמינן לחלוטין

Arakhin 15b:7

And Rabbi Yosei ben Zimra says: Anyone who speaks malicious speech will be afflicted by leprous marks coming upon him, as it is stated: “Whoever defames his neighbor in secret, I will destroy him [atzmit];

And with quick assessments one may think that an affliction that comes his way is the result of the body and requires bodily healing, and our sages have revealed to us the roots of the matter that it has nothing to do with the body, rather its a disturbance of the soul that evolved into a disturbance of the body. And if a person pursues all the mechanisms to heal his body, it wont lead to the desired results and wont be much help at all, and now it makes total sense why the leper has to go to the Cohen.

And behold, the advice that we need to be warned about is to not talk about forbidden things, as the sages of Israel taught on the verse in Pslams -

חולין פ״ט א:י׳

אמר רבי יצחק מאי דכתיב (תהלים נח, ב) האמנם אלם צדק תדברון מישרים תשפטו בני אדם מה אומנותו של אדם בעולם הזה ישים עצמו כאלם יכול אף לדברי תורה תלמוד לומר צדק תדברון

Chullin 89a:10

Rabbi Yitzḥak says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Do you indeed [ha’umnam] speak as a righteous company [elem]? Do you judge with equity [meisharim] the sons of men” (Psalms 58:2)? The verse is interpreted as follows: What should be a person’s occupation [umanut] in this world? He should render himself silent as a mute [ilem]. If so, one might have thought that he should render himself as a mute even with regard to words of Torah. Therefore, the verse states: “Speak as a righteous company,” indicating that one should speak the righteous words of Torah.

This language of a profession implies an expert in a specific area, as whoever is an expert in a specific field, it can be called one of his professions.

And Rashi extracts and paraphrases from here the following -

רש"י על חולין פ״ט א:י׳:א׳

האמנם אלם - אומנות יפה היא האילום אבל צדק דהיינו דברי תורה אותו תדברון:

Rashi on Chullin 89a:10:1

A beautiful profession would be silence like the deaf, but righteous would be to also be able to talk words of Torah

From this we see that we should hold onto the attribute of silence, it is a great skill and its very wise. As we see it was frequently said from the mouth of the Admor Saba Kadisha the Baal Ahavat Yisrael from Viznitz, may his merit rest upon us, "A person should accustom himself to not talk, and do not become frequent and accustomed to it, and never give up on the pursuit of the path of silence, and if you feel burnt out from all the silence, rest a little and further your silence'

And behold we see that the attribute of silence is a wonderful and wise profession, so certainly a person should invest his energy to learn and come to this exalted level of skill, and though this learning and accustoming oneself to silence, your soul will heal, and then your physical afflictions will start to leave you alone. And this is why they had to go to the priest, as he is the doctor of the soul who can teach you reason and logic, and then subsiquently heal you from your physical affliction.

And this is why the verse says "On the day of your purity come to see the Priest" בְּי֖וֹם טׇהֳרָת֑וֹ וְהוּבָ֖א אֶל־הַכֹּהֵֽן׃ - as the first letters of each of those words in Gematria (including the counting of the letters and the whole words) add up to the Gematria of Shetika (Silence), to teach us that the job of the priest is to teach us the life skill of silence, and through this one will become purified via his soul afflictions, and by default his bodily afflictions will follow suit.

Harry Rozenberg

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