Do I Have To? – Parshat Tazria-Metzora

It never ceases to amaze me that there are so many new concepts I have encountered since starting this blog. Since I started in 2015 (including a hiatus from corona til this past toledot), I have been introduced to ideas which have opened my own heart and mind and have shared those. The Torah always has something new to add.

So, as I started preparing for this week’s article, I was confronted again with a new concept.  The leper who has finished counting his quarantine is brought to the kohen for the purification process.1 Even after he no longer is afflicted by the leprosy, he is still in an impure state called Tumah. In order to become pure again he must undergo a process under the watchful eye of a kohen. The Netziv, explaining the Midrash, says that the leper is brought to the kohen, even against his will, to complete this process. Why would a person be forced to purify from his leprosy? If he wants to remain Tameh, ritually impure, who cares? The leper himself may ask “do I have to?” We do not find a Torah obligation to be pure except for during the holidays.2 Yet here, it is considered a positive commandment for him to become pure.

After some searching, (inwards and online), I found an answer in the words of the Kli Yakar which echoed my own thoughts. The biblical leprosy is not a skin disease but rather considered by Chazal to be in response to a person’s actions – specifically haughtiness and speaking ill of others. And so, says Kli Yakar, just as when a person is culpable he receives this ailment and must present himself to the Kohen, so, too, when the ailment has passed (which is a sign of his correcting his ways) he must present himself immediately to the kohen who will strengthen him to keep to the proper path of kindness to others. 

Doing good to others is a necessary path for mental and social health, says Dr. Viktor Frankl. “What am I if I do it for my own sake only—requires the answer: In no event a truly human being.” A person cannot be considered a whole human being unless he is “doing” for others as well.

It doesn’t need to be a grandiose act. It can be a smile, a small favor or just giving someone a ride. These small acts do so much for others and for us, too. And it makes the world just a nicer place to be.

 

Image by Barbara from Pixabay

 

Footnotes

  1. Vayikra 14:2
  2. Rosh Hashanah 16b
  3. Avot d’Rabbi Natan 2:16
  4. Frankl, Viktor E.. The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy (p. 37). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

 

Have A Great Shabbat!laughing

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