Parashat Tazria

Parasha Thoughts

By Rabbi Shemuel Akhamzadeh

וְטִהַ֖ר אֶת־הַנָּ֑גַע כֻּלּ֛וֹ הָפַ֥ךְ לָבָ֖ן טָה֥וֹר הֽוּא׃

He is clean, for he has turned all white. (ויקרא יג, יג)

When Saraat is partiality white it’s a sign of impurity. However, the above verse teaches us if the whole saraat turns white it’s not impure. In Massechet Sanhedrin 97a Rav Yitzhak states that Mashiach will not come until the entire kingdom turns to heresy and our verse is used as the proof of this idea.

Harav Shimon Schwab explains the idea as follows: tumaa, impurity, has no life of its own and it only thrives by sucking energy from the side of kedusha, purity. Therefore, when everything has turned impure, there will be no source of energy for impurity to sustain itself and it will collapse. So too is Saraat; when it’s fully white it is pure. Another example given by Rav Schwab is from the story of the meraglim (spies) that Moshe sent. The meraglim started on a positive and true note saying that the land is a land of milk and honey and then they began spewing the lies about the land because no lie can stand unless some truth is mixed in to it.

 

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.