Timeless Torah

When I was a Yeshiva student, somewhere in the era we now call B.C., Before Chasuna (Chasuna means wedding), we were inculcated with the, “lifestyles of the humble and the pious.” Please do not confuse this with the “lifestyles of the rich and the famous.” Among the former were such greats as Reb Issac Homler, the Rashbatz, Groinem and Itche the Masmid. While they all lived in different times and swore allegiance to distinct Rebbes, there was a common thread that bound them all. Their ability to sit for hours alone, meditating and internalizing the teachings of Chassidus until those values became part and parcel of their core personality. In Chassidic lexicon we refer to this as Hisboid’dus.

So while it is true that much of their lives were spent in teaching, interacting, and helping others, be it through the medium of formal classes or informal farbrengens (Chassidic gatherings), still time was always set aside for private introspection. Indeed, this was the mainstay of their own spiritual growth and constant power to inspire and elevate others.

This trait of Hisboid’dus is essentially the underlying theme for the cure regarding one who was afflicted with Tzora’as. This spiritual disease that manifested itself with specific discoloration of the skin, hair, clothing and even the walls of homes was caused by ¬ gossip, slander and the like. When an individual noticed the discoloration, he was to immediately approach the kohen and show him the abnormality. Ultimately, it was left to the priest to determine the status of the affliction, and invoked the status of impurity.
Although Tzora’as was purely a spiritual malady brought on due to the sins of evil speech, its presence was very real and felt in the physical realm. This physical aspect, while horrific to look at, was definitely not contagious. In fact, there were times when the kohen was allowed by law to delay his ruling; for example a groom during the week of his wedding festivities may have developed the external signs of Tzora’as, nonetheless he was spared the priest’s decision for seven days and the subsequent humiliation of isolation.
Now if tzora’as were a communicable disease (like leprosy) it would surely warrant immediate segregation despite the circumstances. This surely proves that the Tzora’as of the Bible was not a disease of the body, but of the soul. But this raises an interesting question. Except for the groom and other unique cases, when the individual with the Tzora’as was declared tamei (impure), he was indeed removed from his family and friends and kept in isolation. Furthermore, his punishment in this vein was so extreme that he was actually placed in a solitary sort of confinement, so that even otther individuals similarly afflicted were out of range from each other as well.
But if it was the sins of anti-social behavior in the first place that caused the problem, why was the person isolated? Would it not be better if he was embarrassed within the community and learned to better himself through interaction? How would solitude help him cure his societal ills?

A finicky traveler once purchased a plane ticket and asked for a window seat. Somehow, he was not placed by the window, but in the aisle. During the entire trip, he fidgeted and squirmed. Immediately after the long journey the man went straight to complain. “I specifically asked for a window seat,” he exclaimed. “Your company assured me that I would be getting a window seat. Look at this stub. It placed me right in the aisle!” The customer relations agent, experienced and unfazed, inquired, “Did you ask the person in the window seat to trade places?” By this time the man was irate. “I was not able to! There was no one in the seat.”

    People often blame the ramifications of their actions on everyone else but themselves. Truth be told, a person who is afflicted can circumvent confinement by not reporting the Tzora’as to the Kohen, or even by pulling out the hairs that are discolored.

What then was the purpose of the “malady”? In truth, Tzora’as was merely a Divine wake-up-call. It was Heaven’s way of letting an individual know that there was something wrong. It was a personal message and must be taken as such, and so in solitude the individual sat and pondered what exactly needed correction. If a person wanted to correct himself, he need not cavort with others to do so. If one can remove the barriers of false flattery and social mendacity, he can do a lot better for himself: because self-improvement is dependent upon…self.
This held true for the pious Reb Isaac Homler and the loose-lipped fellow afflicted with the Tzora’as. It also holds true for you and me.