Educational Insights from Parashat Metzora — Bringing Things Out: What, When, and How?

All of us have feelings inside—good ones and less good ones. “Inside” means in the heart, in the psyche, and in the soul. And at certain times or
in certain situations, all of us bring them out (or want to bring them out), to empty what is within for a particular purpose.
Our task, then, is to guide those feelings and bring them out in the proper and good way.
We learned this principle in our parashah from the words of the holy Or HaChaim, who raises a difficulty: how is it possible that the healing of tzaraat
is accomplished through actions that could cause the illness to worsen? These are actions (described in the previous chapter, Parashat
Tazria) that cause sadness in a person’s heart and can even cause the lesions to intensify, such as: sitting alone outside the camp,
and additionally, “his garments shall be torn, his head shall be unkempt, and he shall cover himself up to his mustache” (Vayikra 13:46). If so, what benefit is there
in performing these actions?
And he explains:
“It appears to explain it in this way: since tzaraat—according to nature—its nature is to come about from putrefaction and contamination of the body,
and from an excess of bile that overpowers a person and leaves its mark on his flesh; and this is caused by sadness, distress of the heart, and desolation
of the mind. The natural remedy for this is to distance sadness and to engage in matters that broaden a person’s heart and gladden him.”
The holy Or HaChaim explains that there can be a situation in which a person attributes tzaraat to a natural cause, and when he is told
that the lesions came because of the sin of lashon hara, he will not believe it.
“And behold, when a lesion of tzaraat comes upon a person, a person may say that it is a natural illness that happens to a person; and when he is told that
it is because of lashon hara, he will not believe it and will not accept the words. For this reason, the Supreme God acted with wisdom and commanded that the metzora be confined—
he shall sit alone; his clothes shall be rent, his head unkempt, and he shall cover himself up to his mustache. And these things are, according to nature, contrary
to the healing of the cause of the lesion; on the contrary, they would generate the lesion anew.”
In other words, the metzora was commanded to perform actions that, logically, could do more harm than good, and this
was in order to prove that only repentance helped heal the tzaraat; and from this he would be justified in understanding that the illness came
as a result of his speech and not because of a natural cause.
“And when a person sees that even though he did these things, which are contrary, nevertheless, through his contemplating repentance
and confessing his sin—for because of his sin, when he loosened his tongue, the lesion revealed its appearance—and he returns from his sin and purifies his tongue, and sees that
the lesion changed its appearance, through this he will know and will prove with clear proof that the lesion came to him only because he spoke lashon hara.”
“And this is what it says, ‘This shall be the law of the metzora’—one who brings out a bad name; and the recognition of the matter and its proof is ‘on the day of his purification’: although
he did things contrary to his illness, as mentioned, nevertheless he was purified. Through this he will understand and know that this is the law of his evil tongue, and not
a natural occurrence, as those who devise thoughts of iniquity think; and he will guard his mouth and his tongue. And this is what the verse concludes: ‘the lesion of tzaraat has been healed from
the afflicted one,’ meaning: from the afflicted one himself came his healing, for he repented and was healed.” End quote.
And in this way the holy Alshich also explains in his commentary on the Torah:
“For when he sees that he is impure, the kohen shall confine him, so that he will take to heart that he was not confined in a natural manner; for the metzora,
according to nature, the physician would instruct to walk about and go out to a place where his heart would be broadened, in order to correct the putrefaction of his blood, and not to be confined, for there it would then putrefy
even more.
But when he sees that, on the contrary, he is restrained, then he will take it to heart and will say: this is nothing other than the evil heart with which I have done evil,
and my evil has chastised me; for they have placed me in a pit to remind me of sin, instead of my having sent strife between brothers, when my mind mingled with people
through the scourge of the tongue. Now hide, in order to repair what you distorted, in a place where there are no people; and groan in silence instead of speaking great words.

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And according to these words he will direct his heart, incline his ear, and return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him. And when the kohen sees him—and behold, the lesion
of tzaraat has been healed, for from Heaven they removed the consequence by removing the cause, and healed him: sometimes after one confinement if his repentance was great in those days,
and sometimes after two confinements if he returns slowly. Then he will render his judgment for healing, for the remedies have indeed brought recovery.”
We thus learn that by bringing the inner evil outward (lashon hara), an evil is formed on the outside—and this is tzaraat; and through
the metzora returning to the Lord with all his heart and soul, the tzaraat departs.
Bringing out—how?
This happened when I came for a visit to the rehabilitation center “Retorno” (in the Beit Shemesh area). I entered the place and heard
a bell ringing in the center of the courtyard. The ringing reminded me of my childhood in the Talmud Torah; with that same ringing we would return from recess
to the classrooms. In any case, after the ringing I saw a group of boys come to the place where the bell stood, stand
in a circle, listen to the boy who had rung the bell, and after a few minutes they hugged him and everyone dispersed.
After a brief inquiry, I learned what it meant.
When people undergo a process of recovery from a severe addiction, there is a turmoil in their inner world of
anger, negative feelings, and the like—especially since there are types of addiction that began from a place of escape from inner distress.
In that place there is something like an agreement, part of the rules of conduct: when one of the members feels an inner difficulty,
instead of expressing it in an outburst of anger, he simply comes and rings the bell; all his friends in the group gather,
and then he tells them about the difficulty he is experiencing. In response, everyone gives him a hug of strengthening, encouragement, and support,
and in this way he continues onward.
Indeed, there is anger and difficulty inside, but there is a way to release them and bring them out.
As educators and parents, it is fitting and desirable that, in addition to the personal example we must convey—how to express anger,
manage emotions, and conduct ourselves in times of pressure and difficulty—we should try to accustom our children and students to speak,

to express, to explain what they are going through, to share their feelings, and to call them by name.
In essence: to bring things out, and to learn how to bring them out properly.

Rabbi Michael Zecharyahu

Spiritual director at the Torat David Yeshiva Gedolah and chairman of the Legion of the King organization