Thursday, April 11, 2019
Metzora #1- Purification Process
In this weeks parsha, it talks about a person who is inflicted with tzaraat and the purification process. In פסוק יא, it says, “וְהֶֽעֱמִ֞יד הַכֹּהֵ֣ן הַֽמְטַהֵ֗ר אֵ֛ת הָאִ֥ישׁ הַמִּטַּהֵ֖ר וְאֹתָ֑ם לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד”. What does it mean to put the person “״לפני ה׳? Isn’t Hashem everywhere? Rashi comments on this and says that he should be put at the gate of the Mishkan but not inside the courtyard since he is not pure.
What are other reasons for each step of the purification process for a person who has tzara'at?
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The Siftei Chachamim writes that this process happened at the Shaar Nicanor. This gate was in the eastern section and a person who stands there and faces the west sees the entrance to the Sanctuary, and that is considered “before Hashem.” The inside space of the Shaar Nicanor was not as holy as the rest of the Beit Hamikdash so that the metzoro, who could stand there in order to put his hand inside in order to finish the tehora process. I like this idea because it shows that there is a space for the people with tzaraat to go in the beit hamikdash in order to become holy again.
ReplyDelete-Meira Book
The Ohr HaChaim says One who’s not fully atoned for, can’t really go into the courtyard of the BHMK that’s made for the public. The Torah commands that this person going through the process of becoming pure should stand outside (by the Nikanor gate). The Torah entrusts with the Kohen to make sure that the (מטהר) former person afflicted with tzaraat doesn’t cross into the courtyard. He cannot even stretch his hand in to do smicha on the sin offering. (He could only put his head through so that the kohen could place oil on his right earlobe and his right thumb.) The kohen had to do this to prevent the מטהר from accidentally crossing in with an important body part. I think this part of the purification process makes a lot of sense because they want to be careful and make sure that no one becomes impure from this person who is almost ready to rejoin the community.
ReplyDeleteJen Felder
ReplyDeleteChizkuni comments that וְאֹתָ֑ם לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה literally means together with them before Hashem. The sheep on the previous discussion should be brought as a Korban to Hashem before the purification process.
What I took from the Chizkuni's comment was that every step before being "asked"/the action of purification is important. Especially when being afflicted with Tzarat we should bless Hashem with a Korban as a reminder that the situation is bigger than our physical selves.
It is easy for a hypocrite to mislead innocent people by accentuating his good qualities.
ReplyDeleteConsequently, as long as part of the leper’s body has still not been plagued, or it’s not obvious he is completely infected, people may see good, healthy things in him and be influenced by him. Once leprosy has broken out over his entire body and he has to shout that he has it, he no longer is able to conceal it, everybody will and stay away from him.
שערי שמחה - לוח ארז
Is logical that the goal would be to persuade people to avoid him.
When it says stand before Hashem, the person who is effected whould stand before the gate of Nikanor in the Beit hamikdash.
ReplyDeleteMaybe stand before Hashem is a way to say that you sinned in front of Hashem and that the person should not only do teshuvah for himself but really focus on what he did to go against Hashem.
Ariella Rosencrantz
ReplyDeletehttp://www.harova.org/torah/view.asp?id=1792
Rav Yonatan Horovitz says that even though tzarat habeged seems the most mild, but it affects your clothing. Clothing is a representation of how we are perceived by society. This shows us that we have to pay attention and care about interpersonal relationships.
I think this is a great idea because it applies today and shows we have to pay attention to our relationships with our friends.
http://www.harova.org/torah/view.asp?id=1792
Meira Cohen
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ou.org/torah/parsha/rabbi-fox-on-parsha/parshat_tazria_3/
Spiritual improvement is the cure for Tzara’at. This teaches us that our moral and religious behaviors determine our relationship to Hashem. The person suffering from tzara’at learns an essential lesson. These behaviors have a real effect on their life.
The condition cant be fixed until the person is declared unclean and begins the process of repentance and spiritual cleansing. Knowing this process helps to prevent a person from sinning in the first place. The person can only begin the process of purification after the declaration of the Kohen. In other words, one must first accept the status of being unclean. Then one may begin the process of purification.
I like this idea because when you think about the effects of your actions, it helps you make a better choice. If people knew the punishment/ teshuva process of their sin, it prevented a lot of people from winning.
Rav Yonatan Grossman explains the reasons for each step of the purification process for a person who has tzara'at. He explains that the purification from the disease falls on the shoulders of the Kohanim for a certain reason. Not only are the Kohanim responsible for the Mishkan, but also because, in this way, the "sinner" will be taught to accept higher religious authority than his own. The person must go before the Kohan, who will examine the disease which has spread on his body, and the Kohan will decide what his religious status is to be. The priest controls the whole process of healing from ritual impurity.
ReplyDeleteI think this makes sense. The person who has Tzaraat is probably so embarrassed to go in front go the Kohan and be told he did something wrong. It makes sense that this would be the reason for this step.
https://www.etzion.org.il/en/plague-tzaraat
Julia Rose
ReplyDeleteThere are many different commentaries on the significance of each step of the purification process. One of the stages of the purification process involves 2 birds. One is supposed to get 2 birds he is supposed to kill one and free the other one after a certain amount of time. Rav Shlomo Ganzfriend comments on this stage. He asks a couple questions. He asks why there has to be 2 birds and why one has to be killed and the other one can stay alive. He says that one bird representing us speaking lashon horah and the other bird represents us speaking good things for example talmud torah. The reason that there has to be 2 birds is because if there was only one then maybe we would think that the only way for us not to speak lashon is horah to not speak at all. The reason that one bird has to be left alive is to show us that we can use our speech for good as well.
I really love this idea because it shows the significance behind this process and inspires us to use our mouths to speak torah and not for lashon horah.
Abby Pollack
ReplyDelete“he is to take two unblemished sheep and one ewe;” Nachmanides points out that the Torah did not state what is to be done with these three animals except to say that one of the male sheep mentioned is to serve as a guilt-offering, the priest having heaved it before Hashem. In verse 19 the Torah does state that the metzura is to offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, without referring to a specific animal. Seeing that we had learned in Parshat Vayikra that every sin offering, if consisting of the species sheep, consists of a feminine species, it is clear that the ewe is to serve as the sin-offering and the remaining male sheep as the burnt offering.
I find this answer interesting because I never thought about it before as to why there are 2 females and 1 male.