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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

A driver is sitting in traffic on a busy highway. He suddenly notices a man walking from car to car. The man approaches him and politely asks him to lower the window.

“What’s going on?” asks the driver. “Why are we standing still?”

“Near the next exit, terrorists have taken the prime minister, the president, and some government ministers hostage. They threaten to pour gasoline on them and set them on fire if they don’t get a million dollars. We are going from car to car asking for donations.”

“How much is each driver giving?” asked the driver.

“About a liter…”

PURE MYSTERY

This week, we read parshas Tazria-Metzora which deals primarily with the laws of tzoraas and purification. The beginning of the parsha enumerates various types of tzoraas and gives them names (se’eis, sapachas, baheres). The Torah teaches us the sign of impurity of a white hair, the laws of the first quarantining and the second quarantining, and about the spread of the affliction. All this in seven verses, in chapter 13, from verse two through verse eight.

In verse nine, another section begins which is written in the style of a new topic, “If a person has an affliction of tzoraas he should be brought to the kohen,” as though until now we hadn’t spoken about tzoraas. And in this (second) section, the Torah teaches us the sign of impurity of “healthy live flesh” and the law about “if it turned entirely white, it is pure.”

The question that cries out is why does the Torah separate the topics? What difference is there between a sign of impurity of a white hair and the spread of an affliction, and a sign of impurity of healthy flesh in tzoraas? Why are they written separately and in the style of a new subject? After all, until now we dealt with the subject of tzoraas and its signs while… now, we are dealing with the subject of tzoraas and its signs! Why separate rather than connect them?

As the parsha continues, we find this division into separate sections several times such as the laws of a blister or burn-scar as well as the laws of a bald spot in the hair of the head or beard, but there it’s clear because it’s talking about a new type of affliction that we haven’t spoken about yet. But it is most surprising that the Torah seems to relate to the first two sections as separate topics.

In a deep sicha, the Rebbe addresses this textual difficulty and unexpectedly connects it to the future Geula. But before we delve into the solution, let us analyze a conceptual query in the laws of tzoraas. As mentioned before, one of the laws that the Torah introduced in the second section that we spoke about is the law that if it turns completely white, it’s pure. That is, a person who is completely covered by tzoraas, who goes to the kohen, is pure! That sounds odd, doesn’t it? A little white spot makes a person impure for at least a week while whiteness that covers the entire body makes him pure?!

The mystery doesn’t end here. The law is that, “someone who comes initially all white is impure,” and only someone who was impure with tzoraas previously, and then the tzoraas spreads to cover his body, is pure. That sounds absurd, no? The pure ones are impure and the impure ones are pure? What’s going on here? It sounds like the red heifer!

As always, the Rebbe can turn the manifestly illogical into the eminently reasonable. The Rebbe makes it contingent on the dispute between Rashi and the Toras Kohanim [beraisos arranged on the book of Vayikra]; alternatively, between the world of pshat (”the simple meaning of the text”) and the world of halacha. The Rebbe presents an interesting fact, namely that Rashi, in his commentary on the Torah, does not mention this law (that only if the metzora turned white while already in a state of impurity, is he pure) even though this law is seemingly needed in the simple understanding of the text, since it explains the repetition and superfluousness of several words, as brought in Toras Kohanim and in the poskim.

PURE AND SIMPLE

The reason for this, says the Rebbe, is very simple. It’s because, according to Rashi, in the simple meaning of the text, even one who initially appears all white, is pure! Because, according to Rashi, the pure state of “all white” is not a scriptural decree, without reason, that goes against logic. On the contrary, according to Rashi (along with other biblical literalists, each for another reason) the logic and explanation for this law is simple, the spreading of tzoraas all over the body shows that this is not a skin disease or internal infection of a certain part of the body but the nature of this particular person’s body! That’s just the way it is, he is by nature (at least for now) white!

Since this is a rational and simple reasoning which demonstrates that the nature (of the skin) of this specific man is to be white, there is no reason to distinguish between whether he appeared this way initially or it spread while he was already in a state of impurity. Therefore, according to the literal reading of the text, they are both pure.

As opposed to the world of halacha, the purity of “all white” is a law without reason, a scriptural decree that you cannot question. Therefore, in the world of halacha, we can differentiate and say that if it appears in someone pure, he becomes impure and if it appears in someone impure he becomes pure. Without reasoned exegesis and without explanations. That’s what the Torah says and that’s what halacha paskens (as for questions – ask them on Seder night).

We can now also explain the textual difficulty in the structure of the verses. The reason that the second section is treated as if it were a new topic is because it really does contain a great novelty. That is, that the legal definition of ‘nega’ only applies when the tzoraas is in a certain part of the body but when the entire person is white, it’s not in the category of an “affliction of tzoraas” because that is the nature of the person, so that the laws of tzoraas and the need for purification don’t apply.

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 97a) says, “Ben Dovid will not come until the entire kingdom turns to heresy.” The Sages find proof to this from this verse, “he turned entirely white; he is pure.” As Rashi says there, “When the affliction spreads all over the skin, so too, when the entire kingdom turns to heresy, the Geula will come.” It sounds frightening and rouses feelings of panic. Who wants to live with such a kingdom and such a government? How can this terrifying government be a sign of the coming of the Geula?

But as we saw previously, the Rebbe finds the logic in every amazement and the explanation to every question. Based on the above, one can look at the law of “it turned completely white” in two opposite ways. Likewise, we can say in connection to the “kingdom (or government) of heresy” in the time of the Geula, that it’s a negative sign, that the situation will be so awful and intolerable that G-d will have to (so to speak) bring the Geula. On the other hand, we can look at it in a more encouraging, positive way. We can say that it’s a positive sign, because it indicates that the world is being refined so that it becomes revealed (as the Rebbe puts it) that every system of government that does not align with the Kingdom of Heaven is in the category of “heresy”

Actually, the two explanations align perfectly. According to the Toras Kohanim, that the law of “it turned completely white, he is pure” is a scriptural decree and it proves nothing about the true state of the person in question, so too, the turning of the kingdom to heresy says nothing about the refinement of the world. The Geula that will come following a low spiritual state is a “scriptural decree” as G-d’s inexplicable intervention. It does not relate to the state of the world because the world in and of itself is not deserving of the Geula. But in light of the Rebbe’s explanation of Rashi, the law of “it turned completely white” is absolutely logical and is based in reason. It’s a clear proof that there is no affliction here, only purity; it’s not a sign of impurity but purity. Likewise, the turning of the kingdom to heresy indicates the refinement of the world to the point that the only true kingdom is the kingdom of heaven and consequently, the world is deserving and ready for the Geula.

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

We will end with a story about how the Rebbe explained the true function of Jewish government to former prime minister, Yitzchok Rabin. In Nissan 5732, Rabin, who was the Israeli ambassador in Washington, went to 770 to convey Israel’s blessings on the Rebbe’s seventieth birthday. A few years later, the Jewish Home had an article in which the author said he was present at a private event in Canada at which Rabin spoke when he suddenly veered from the script and told about his meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

“At the time, I did not appreciate the full depth of his words and only now do I accord them their full and proper weight. I met with the Rebbe for two and a half hours at the end of which the Rebbe summed up and emphasized three main points. The first point was that I, as ambassador, despite my role in maintaining good ties with foreign nations, had to understand and accept as axiomatic that the Jewish people are a ‘a nation that dwells alone” and therefore, we should not place our trust in any treaty with any nation.

“Second, the standard Israeli claim about the need for ‘secure borders’ is not appropriate and is not convincing, when heard by the nations of the world. At a time when they can send a man to the moon, any defensive plan that depends on borders and strategic depth can be discarded with the help of the proper defense systems. As such, we see that Israel can and must rely only on G-d’s kindness and His defense. Our use of military means can be successful only with G-d’s help, His will, and His kindness. The appropriate claim is that which is based on historic borders since this concept is familiar to the nations of the world. They know full well that we are the nation of the Bible and the bearers of the legacy of the Tanach.

“The third point, which is based on the previous two, is that the Jewish nation can continue to exist only when we give top priority to traditional Jewish education, Torah chinuch, for all Jews in the world.

“As time has passed, I have come to understand the Rebbe’s words more and more.”

Good Shabbos!

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