(12) Then a spirit carried me away, and behind me I heard a great roaring sound: “Blessed is the Presence of GOD, in its place,”

...Many think that the metsora` is isolated because the disease spreads through contact. It seems to me that if the Torah were concerned with contagion, there are many other contagious diseases, yet the Torah does not make any rule for them--how could the Torah not have commanded something about the plague?

It seems to me that the change in the appearance of the skin was, in the thinking of the early generations, a sign of divine rebuke. In their view, the 'leper' was afflicted by God as a punishment for some serious sin on his part. Therefore, they separated themselves from him as from one placed under a ban by God.

Since [this understanding] supported the belief in divine providence, reward and punishment, the Torah upheld this belief and commanded that the 'leper' be isolated.

The Torah also commanded that one healed from tsara`at bring an offering, so that God's rebuke and ban, distancing him from appearing before Him, be removed at once...

(1) Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married: “He married a Cushite!” (2) They said, “Has GOD spoken only through Moses—and not through us as well?” GOD heard it.

(10) As the cloud withdrew from the Tent, there was Miriam stricken with snow-white scales! When Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she was stricken with scales [DR: that is, with tsara`at]. (11) And Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, account not to us the sin that we committed in our folly. (12) Let her not be like a stillbirth that emerges from its mother’s womb with half its flesh eaten away!” (13) So Moses cried out to GOD, saying, “O God, pray heal her!”

(5) GOD struck the king [Azariah] with a plague, and he was a leper until the day of his death; he lived in isolated quarters, while Jotham, the king’s son, was in charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

(5) If she bears a female, she shall be impure two weeks as during her menstruation, and she shall remain in a state of blood purification for sixty-six days. (6) On the completion of her period of purification, for either son or daughter, she shall bring to the priest, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a purgation offering. (7) He shall offer it before GOD and make expiation on her behalf; she shall then be pure from her flow of blood. Such are the rituals concerning a woman who bears a child, male or female.

(1) GOD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: (2) When a person has on their skin a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration, and it develops into a scaly affection on their skin, it shall be reported to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests. (3) The priest shall examine the affection on the skin: if hair in the affected patch has turned white and the affection appears to be deeper than the skin, it is a leprous affection; when the priest sees it, he shall pronounce the person impure.

(45) As for the person with a leprous affection: their clothes shall be rent, their head shall be left bare, and their upper lip shall be covered over; and they shall call out, “Impure! Impure!” (46) They shall be impure as long as the disease is present. Being impure, they shall dwell apart—in a dwelling outside the camp.

(1) GOD spoke to Moses, saying: (2) This shall be the ritual for a leper at the time of being purified.
When it has been reported to the priest, (3) the priest shall go outside the camp. If the priest sees that the leper has been healed of the scaly affection, (4) the priest shall order two live pure birds, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop to be brought for the one to be purified. (5) The priest shall order one of the birds slaughtered over fresh water in an earthen vessel;

(14) The priest shall take some of the blood of the reparation offering, and the priest shall put it on the ridge of the right ear of the one who is being purified, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot.

(31) You shall put the Israelites on guard against their impurity, lest they die through their impurity by defiling My Tabernacle that is among them.

...Now our Rabbis have said that [the reason for these offerings is] that at the moment that she bends down to give birth she rashly swears [because of the pains of childbirth]: “I will no longer have relationships with my husband” [so as not to conceive again]. The main purport of this statement of the Rabbis is that since she only swears on account of her pain, and the oath is moreover not capable of fulfillment, because she is subject to her husband, therefore the Torah wished for her to atone for that which came into her mind [and therefore commanded her to bring these offerings]. G-d’s thoughts, blessed be He, are deep, and His mercies are bountiful, for it is His desire to justify His creatures.

Question 6: Why did the Torah not command that some medical treatment be administered for the metzora` ('leper') such as an emetic, bloodletting, or some other therapy or, alternatively, a wondrous cure as the prophet Elisha did for Naaman the Aramean general, in order to amend the imbalance [of humors] he had caused? Instead, [God] commands that the metzora` be quarantined.

...Tsara`at represents a great imbalance of humors in a person. It is impossible for a person to recognize the loss of balance and the decay of humors other than through the means of the external signs that appear in the body...

The Torah provides so much instruction about tsara`at, which it does not do about other illnesses, not because the former is contagious, but rather because of the impurity of one affected by tsara`at, which can pollute others. This impurity relates to the soul, as the Torah states, "do not pollute your souls" (Leviticus 11:44). ...

The Torah does not relate the diagnosis of tsara`at to the priest on account of his understanding of natural science and healing. Rather, the priest is the one who provides instruction about impurity. He is the one who declares the impure impure and pure pure. Further, the offerings of the 'leper'are within the purview of the priest. ...

(3) 'אל אהרון וגו‎ [HE SHALL BE BROUGHT] TO AARON etc. — It is an enactment of Scripture that the uncleanness and purification of leprous plagues are pronounced only by the mouth of a priest (Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Section 1 9).

Reish Lakish says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “This shall be the law of the leper [metzora] in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest” (Leviticus 14:2)? This means that this shall be the law of a defamer [motzi shem ra].

(1) בדד ישב HE SHALL ABIDE SOLITARY —

Our Rabbis said: Why is he (the leper) treated differently from other unclean persons that he should abide solitary? They replied: Because he, by slanderous statements, (cf. Numbers 12:10) parted man and wife, or a man from his friend, he must be parted from everybody (Arakhin 16b).

(1) UPON THE TIP. The meaning of tenuch (tip) is understood from its context. Now, the one who is cleansed from leprosy, which is an affliction in the body, is similar to the kohen who is installed, for sin is like a leprosy in the soul. The thumb is the place of connection. It is the main component of all acts. The right thumb was selected because of the power of the right side. The tip of the ear is a reminder to listen to what God has commanded.

(1) Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was an important man to his lord and high in his favor, for through him GOD had granted victory to Aram. But the man, though a great warrior, was a leper. (2) Once, when the Arameans were out raiding, they carried off a young girl from the land of Israel, and she became an attendant to Naaman’s wife. (3) She said to her mistress, “I wish Master could come before the prophet in Samaria; he would cure him of his leprosy.”

(10) Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go and bathe seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be pure.” (11) But Naaman was angered and walked away. “I thought,” he said, “he would surely come out to me, and would stand and invoke the ETERNAL his God by name, and would wave his hand toward the spot, and cure the affected part. (12) Are not the Amanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? I could bathe in them and be pure!” And he stalked off in a rage. (13) But his servants came forward and spoke to him. “Sir,” they said, “if the prophet told you to do something difficult, would you not do it? How much more when he has only said to you, ‘Bathe and be pure.’” (14) So he went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, as the agent of God had bidden; and his flesh became like a little child’s, and he was pure.