B"H
The Treasure Behind the Wall
The two portions of Tazria and Mitzora are perhaps the most difficult and technical in the book of Leviticus.
The first portion, Tazria, describes the laws of impurity caused by Tzaraat, a form of leprosy, that afflicts human flesh and garments. Tzaraas is a malady which came upon an person as a consequence for slandering or gossiping about another person..
The next portion, Metzora, describes the process of purification from this leprosy. Only after discussing the manner of purification for the leprosy of the body and garments, does the Torah then introduce the topic of a third type of leprosy, one that afflicts the walls of a home. This is immediately followed by the laws of purification for the leprosy which afflicts the home.
The question that poses itself is: why, when talking about the leprosy that afflicts the person and the garments, are the leprosy and it’s purification taught in two separate portions? This is not the case, when discussing the topic of leprosy of the home. In this case, the purification process is taught immediately after, and in the same portion as the affliction.
Anyone, looking at life objectively, can appreciate that a setback can be an opportunity for growth. Challenge has the potential to bring out the best in the human soul
But that is theoretical.
When one is experiencing an actual struggle in life, his perspective may be very different He does not feel anything positive or constructive in his moment of despair and pain. Pain hurts it does not build.
Eventually, when the individual finds the courage and strength to pick up and overcome the challenge he feel as though he has reached a new state of being. Only after he is removed from the painful situation is he capable of looking back and realizing, that the person he has become is very much a result of the previous challenge that he tried so hard to escape.
This is the reason that the affliction of Tzaraat and it’s purification are written in two separate portions. From the human perspective, the purification is a new beginning, it is an escape from the impurity, not it’s culmination.
Things are very different from Hashem’s perspective. The purpose of the challenge is to lead a person to greater heights. We humans, are not always capable of seeing it that way.
In describing the Tzaraat that afflicted the home the Torah says “When you come to the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I place an affliction of Tzaraat upon a house in the land of your possession”. The Midrash teaches that from the words of the verse, G-d himself is placing the affliction of Tzaraat on the house, we understand that this, in fact, is good news. The good news was, that while removing the afflicted stones the Israelites discovers treasures that the native Canaanites hid within the walls of their homes. When the Tzaraat would appear and some stones would have to be removed, the treasures would then be discovered.
The Tzaraat of the home was taught to us from G-d’s perspective. Every affliction is just a facade, begging to be pulled away, in order to allow the discovery of a great treasure. By writing the laws of the home’s purification immediately after the affliction, the Torah asks us to keep G-d’s perspective in mind. This will give us the strength to transform challenge to treasure.
Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe