With Appreciation to Rabbi Mitch Chefitz[1]

          Is there a doctor in the house? This is what I think of when I read Parshat Tazria-Metzora. Who among us loves learning about rashes, discolorations, pus, and scabs besides the dermatologist? However, there is something spiritually moving going on here. It is like when the Israelites complain about the lack of water three days after witnessing the miracle of the Sea of Reeds! God’s reply is כׇּֽל־הַמַּחֲלָ֞ה אֲשֶׁר־שַׂ֤מְתִּי בְמִצְרַ֙יִם֙ לֹא־אָשִׂ֣ים עָלֶ֔יךָ כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה רֹפְאֶֽךָ׃-“If you will heed your God יהוה diligently, doing what is upright in God’s sight, giving ear to God’s commandments and keeping all God’s laws, then I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I יהוה am your healer.”[2] God is not a רופא in the physical sense of directly treating afflictions but rather a רופא in the spiritual sense.

          This is the lesson from the Sfat Emet, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Alter of Ger. Whereas other rabbis use Tazria-Metzora to talk about lashon hara, the “disease” of evil speech, as I have done previously, the Sfat Emet goes in a different direction. He bases his comment on the following verse:

אָדָם כִּי־יִהְיֶה בְעוֹר־בְּשָׂרוֹ שְׂאֵת אוֹ־סַפַּחַת אוֹ בַהֶרֶת וְהָיָה בְעוֹר־בְּשָׂרוֹ לְנֶגַע צָרָעַת וְהוּבָא אֶל־אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן אוֹ אֶל־אַחַד מִבָּנָיו הַכֹּהֲנִים׃

When a person has on the skin of the body a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration, and it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of the body, it shall be reported to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests.[3]

          On this verse the Sfat Emet comments:

This verse concerns itself with plagues (afflictions) of the skin. It relates back to when the Holy One commanded Adam to make for himself a garment of skin (עור /o’r). In the Midrash you find it written as a garment of light (since the word for light (אור /o’r) is like the Hebrew word for skin-עור). As is known, it was because of the transgression (of eating the forbidden fruit) that it was necessary that Adam be clothed in such a coarse garment. This is the source of all base corporeality. [4]

            There is a pun here between the word אור, or light, and the word עור, or skin. When God finds out about Adam and Eve’s transgression, the first thing God does is dress them in כתנות עור,[5] garments of skin, as opposed to the כתנות אור, garments of light that they naturally have. Sfat Emet understands Adam and Eve as being creatures of light. He continues:

That’s why Moshe, our teacher was described (as descending from Sinai) with his skin radiant. He had refined the very nature of skin until it shone like a resplendent mirror. But we did not remain at that level (because of the sin of the golden calf). Therefore, the plague (of coarse skin) returned. It is written in the midrash, because of that sin, defects returned.

          Moses descended from Mount Sinai with great light which was covered over upon approaching the golden calf. Sfat Emet concludes, however,

It is also known that there are holes and holes (pores) in the skin. This is so you

should know it is possible for the light to shine through these imperfections. It is

only because of our sins that these pores are clogged, and that darkness covers

the earth. That’s why it says of the plague of tzaraat that it clogs things up.

Therefore, Aaron the priest and his sons were given the power of purification to

atone for the sin of the golden calf.

          Each of us is a creature of light able to bring more light into the world. The pores might be clogged by tzaraat because of our transgressions but we have the opportunity through teshuvah to restore some of the light that was there in the first place.  When we go off track, we can return to our original intention-to bring light into the world and emit light in whatever we touch. We always have the opportunity to do so-no one is too far gone.

One person who did so over the course of his life is David Flax z”l, father of our member Dana Kurzrock, whose first yahrzeit is this week. As I learned at Shloshim, David had a zest for life. One of the words he added in to Kaddish, which Dana added in his memory, is חיים טובים that we should have goodness in life. In striving to do so in his Long Beach Jewish community, David brought much light into the world, and we remember him fondly on this auspicious occasion. My prayer is that in David’s memory, we shake off the course garments of transgression so that, like David, our natural light will brightly shine through. Ken Yhi Ratzon, may it be our will to do so.

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[1] https://mitchellchefitz.substack.com/p/my-rosetta-stone?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2146687&post_id=162257184&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1npmze&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

[2] Exodus 15:26

[3] Leviticus 13:2

[4] Sfat Emet Tazria 1881

[5] Genesis 3:1