‘Parsha Growth Spurts’
Rabbi Dani Staum
Parshios Tazria-Metzora
“He shall call out: Tamei! Tamei!” (13:45)
The Gemara (Shabbos 67a) explains that the Metzora was obligated to proclaim his status to everyone he met so they would see his anguish and daven for him.
Rav Shimshon Pinkus zt’l noted that from the Metzora’s obligation we see the extent of one’s obligation to daven for others. The nature of any upstanding person is to try to assist another who is in need in any way he can – financially, or otherwise.
If a person is walking down the street and sees a fellow Jew in a wheelchair or on crutches, he should say a brief tefillah for the person’s refuah. If one sees young Jews ‘hanging out on the streets’ distant from Yiddishkeit, he has a responsibility to daven that they return to the path of Torah and that for the diminishment of the anguish of their parents.
If one is driving and sees a hatzoloh driving by with its sirens blaring and lights flashing he should recite a chapter of tehillim for the patient inside. We can add that we all have an obligation to daven for those who are struggling to find a shidduch, or for young married couples who are waiting to be blessed with children.
If we don’t daven for others we are withholding from them potential beracha that we could have helped bring.
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“If there shall be a tzaraas affliction in a garment…” (13:47)
Rav Dovid Feinstein shlita notes that at times one knows that his conduct is wanting and that he must improve himself, but instead of trying to rectify his flaws, he seeks to conceal them. His hypocrisy is like a garment one wears to conceal a blemish, or like the façade of a building used to conceal structural flaws.
The only way to awaken such a person to repent is by forcing him to remove the façade an expose the underlying blemish. This is symbolized by tzaraas on one’s clothing. The purification process entails the cutting away of the blemish from the garment.
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“This shall be the law of the Metzora” (14:2)
Two years ago, when I had the opportunity to spend a week in Eretz Yisroel, I attended the Erev Shabbos Chumash Shmooze of Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel zt’l in his home. That ended up being the final time I would have the opportunity to see and hear from the venerable Mirrer Rosh Yeshiva.
It was Erev Shabbos parshas Metzora and Rav Finkel quoted a thought from Rav Chaim Shmulevitz zt’l. The gemara (Nedarim 64b) states that there are four individuals who are analogous to a dead person: One who is impoverished, a metzora, a blind person, and one who is childless. Rav Shmulevitz explained that the reason the metzora is comparable to one who is dead, is not because of his physical suffering, because even one who suffers terribly is far better off than one who is dead. On the pasuk in Eicha (3:39) which says “Of what shall a living man complain?” the Gemara (Kiddushin 80b) comments “It is enough that he is alive” (i.e. It is a great gift just to be alive so how can he complain?).
Rather, the Metzora is analogous to a dead person because he must sit in solitude and live by himself. That is not a life! If one lives in solitude and cannot be a functioning and contributing member of society he is as good as dead. Truly living means to give and help others!
I vividly remember that as he spoke the Rosh Yeshiva was shaking a great deal from the Parkinson’s which ravaged his body. He was also having a hard time getting the words out. In fact, he was not able to complete the lecture, stopping mid-sentence with a nod that he couldn’t continue.] But when he spoke about the gift of life and that as long as one is alive how can he complain, he said it with emphasis and a half smile.
Rav Nosson Tzvi truly embodied this idea. He was weak and feeble but he devoted every bit of energy he had to helping others. In that sense he was more alive than most of us.
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Sources: Rav Pinkus – Tiferes Shimshon; Rav Dovid Feinstein – Kol Dodi; Rav Chaim Shmulevitz – Sichos Mussar, 5732, ma’amar 31