The laws of family purity are derived from much of this parasha’s graphic discussion of bodily fluids. A product of the patriarchal times in which they lived, the Rabbis believed women were a dangerously seductive and corrupting influence on men, but in my reading I see both men and women described as separate-but-equally contaminated by the normal functioning of their reproductive organs. What does this say about relationships between breeders? And why does such a detailed biology lesson appear alongside contamination of the home?
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A metzora is a man or woman infected with tsaarat. Often mistranslated as leprosy, tsaarat is a spiritual affliction which manifests as discolorations not only on the skin, but also on clothing and the walls of a house. According to the Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 16:02), the word metzora comes from motzi shem ra, making a bad name, or defamatory statements about someone which are false. A person who commits lashon ha ra (derogatory but true communication about others and even oneself) also suffers from tsaarat.
In the last parasha, we read of the metzora being required to separate himself from the community until purified. This week, we learn that if the the disease has spread to the walls of the home, parts of the house may need to be torn away, and the wreckage carried off to be burned outside the city, in order to bring about the necessary purification and return to a more God-connected way of interacting.
A home, possessions, or clothing may reflect the inner qualities of their owner, or serve as a metaphor for the ego, which is a collection of defenses. In order to let God into our lives it is sometimes necessary to destroy existing structures and rebuild them with better, healthier materials.
In the haftarah, four metzoraim are sitting outside the city gates, debating whether or not to go in. They go into an Aramean camp expecting to need to beg for their lives, but instead find it abandoned. God had made the inhabitants hear an invading force coming to kill them, and the Arameans ran away, leaving behind all their valuables. The metzoraim find these articles in the tents there, and take them. They return to the gates of the city to report what they've found. So even while in exile from the community, the sinners are able to help their own people, which shows there is always the potential for teshuvah.
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