Metzora
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha the laws of the purification of the Metzora who has signs of impurity on his skin. We read in last week’s parsha (Chapter 13, Pasuk 46), Badad Yeisheiv M’Chutz L’Machaneh, he sits alone outside the camp. The Metzora is unique among those who are impure in that he is sent out even from Machaneh Yisrael. Rashi explains that this is because his Tzara’as comes about as a result of speaking Lashon Hara which causes conflict and separation between individuals; therefore it is appropriate for him to sit separate from the rest of the nation.
Though Chazal bring a number of different aveiros which might cause the onset of Tzara’as, the one aveirah, as evidenced by the words of Rashi above which are from the Gemara in Eirchin 16B, most associated with Tzara’as is slander. Chazal even darshen the word Metzora itself to be an acronym of the words Motzee Shem Rah, or simply Motzee Rah. The one who speaks Lashon Hara is taking out evil.
The Sfas Emes explains this acronym on a deeper level. He explains that the whole word is a compilation of good and evil. Every individual, as well, has within himself aspects which are tov and aspects which are rah. But as a mixture, with the bad blended into the good, the ultimate result is good. As Chazal darshen the pasuk in Bereishis (Chapter 1, Pasuk 31) Vayar Elokim es kol asher asah V’Hineh Tov Me’od, this is a reference to the yetzer hara. Just as when something non-kosher falls into kosher food in proportions that allow it to be nullified, so too the rah is batel into the tov, and the end result is Tov Me’od.
This is consistent with a p’shat brought in the Mishnah in Avos (Chapter 4, Mishnah 1), Eiyzeh Hu HaGibor HaKoveish es Yitzro. Who is the strong individual, the one who vanquishes his evil impulse. The Medrash Shmuel brings in the name of the Ri Bar Shlomo a p’shat that the Mishnah does not ask us to destroy the yetzer hara, rather we must vanquish it and keep it under control. For when it is “batel” and subservient it to our positive side, then it is Tov Me’od. It enables us to get married, build a home and have children, for example. It becomes a very positive force.
This is the true meaning of why the Metzora is referred to as someone who is “Motzee Rah”. He is undoing the “bitul”; he is separating out the evil within himself and giving it expression through speech. He is literally “Motzee Rah”. He is taking evil which has been purified and hidden within his overwhelmingly positive characteristics, and is now detaching it and giving it an existence independent of the good, in which it is defined as pure, unadulterated evil. This is the awful process of the “Motzee Rah”.
The Sfas Emes adds that this explanation helps us understand the process of purification with the two birds. He says they represent the Yetzer Tov and the Yetzer Rah. One bird is mixed in and submerged within the blood of the slaughtered bird and then is sent away. This is the Yetzer Harah. It must be mixed in with the Yetzer Tov, but the fact that it is sent away shows it has no individual and separate existence. It must be totally “batel” to the good. This is the undoing and the antidote to the process of the “Motzee Rah”. And when this is accomplished, both birds are referred to as (Chapter 14, Pasuk 4) Shtei Tzipporim Chayos Tehoros. They are both pure. Forwhen the Yetzer Harah is mixed in with and subservient to the Yetzer HaTov, it is called Tov Me’od.
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