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A plague upon all our houses

Torah Study

RABBI FRED REINER
Tazria/M'tzora, Leviticus 12:1-15:33

• God describes the rituals of purification for a woman after childbirth.
  
• God sets forth the methods for diagnosing and treating skin diseases, including tzara-at (a leprous affection), as well as those for purifying clothing.
  
• The portion denotes male impurities resulting from a penile discharge or seminal emission.
  
• The portion concludes with accounts of female impurities caused by a discharge of blood.
  

When you enter the land of Canaan, which I gave you as a possession, and I inflict an eruptive plague upon a house in the land you possess, the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, "Something like a plague has appeared upon my house." The priest shall order the house cleared before the priest enters to examine the plague so that nothing in the house may become unclean; after that, the priest shall enter to examine the house. (Leviticus 14:34-38)

• Our Rabbis... stated in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 71a): "The house affected by the plague never existed and is not destined to exist. It was stated for the purpose of edification." Alshikh adds that the plague teaches us that society should take notice of the first sign of misconduct, however small. Just the same as a disease begins with hardly noticeable symptoms and can be stopped if detected in time, so a moral disease in society can be prevented from spreading only if immediate steps are taken. (Nehama Leibowitz)
  
• Lately, the slimy black growth (of toxic mold) seems to be everywhere - in stately homes and housing projects, courthouses and libraries, factories and schools. ("Haunted by Mold" by Lisa Belkin in The New York Times Magazine, Aug. 12, 2001)
  
• Pinchas Peli links the sin of l'shon hara to the skin infections and fungus mentioned in our Torah portion. He defines l'shon hara as "slander, gossip, talebearing." The result of such wrongdoing, says Peli, is a "justly deserved punishment - leprosy, an illness that cannot be hidden." (Harvey Fields)
  

1. Why is the priest called in to make the diagnosis?
   
2. What are the plagues in our homes today? How can we interpret the metaphor of plagues in our homes?
   

Some present-day readers will find contemporary relevance in the section about tzara'at of houses, relating it to molds that we find today in many homes. Since early rabbinic times, however, Jewish commentators have understood this passage as a metaphor. Some of our homes may be afflicted with malicious gossip or baseless hatred. Other homes may show signs of sickness or affliction within families.

"House" can also refer to the community, as in "House of Israel." How many of our communities are afflicted with poverty and homelessness?

Our responsibility as Jews requires us to purge our own homes of the plagues that might affect them, to assume responsibility for the guilt we may carry into our houses, and to repair and restore all the dwelling places in our own communities.