Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Tazria/Metzora- Outside the Camp

In Perek 13, Pasuk 46 the torah says “כָּל־יְמֵ֞י אֲשֶׁ֨ר הַנֶּ֥גַע בּ֛וֹ יִטְמָ֖א טָמֵ֣א ה֑וּא בָּדָ֣ד יֵשֵׁ֔ב מִח֥וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֖המוֹשָׁבֽוֹ׃ 
A person with tzarat is required to live outside the camp for as long as he has tzarat. According to Rashi, the reason for this is that by saying lashon hara this person caused a rift between people. Therefore, he also deserves to be separated from the rest of society. Why else might a person with tzar need to live outside the camp?

18 comments:

  1. Rabbi Israel says that a person with tzaraat needs to live outside of the camp because he needs to learn that he can survive without society. he needs to learn that hes able to live without getting involved in others lives and life still goes on. He learns this by looking at society from the outside and not being able to tell anyone anything.
    --Gabriela Beyda

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  2. Parsahat.com Says when one has tzarat it provides an opportunity for spiritual growth. By having to live outside the camp for a week they can really reflect on what they did wrong and how they can become closer to hashem even though they sinned

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  3. Rabbis have argued for many years about tzara’at. Lehigh.edu says that there are many rabbis that feel tzara'at does not refer to bodily disease, rather a spiritual. A reason that a person that has tzara'at would have to be separated from the rest of the Jewish community is so that he would not be influencing his fellow Jews and spreading his ‘severe spiritual condition’.

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  4. The Chizkuni answers the questions and says that the reason a person with tzaraat has to leave the camp is because he is contagious. If he has intercourse with a person then they will receive the disease. he learns this from a source in sifra which states that if a clean person stands in front of an unclean person under the a tree then the clean person will become contaminated.

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  5. The Daat zkenim saying that this is because having tzraat is contagious. People around him can catch the disease as well so he must stay out of town until he is no longer diseased. Another side point brought is that he isn't missing on much anyway if he out of the town. His tzaaat has made him incapable of performing his duties anyway, so whether he stays or leaves he still won't be able to continue having a normal life.

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  6. Them Ramban says that when a person keeps Hashem's laws, he has a force field around him that protects his body and belongings from deterioration.When a person sins Hashem lifts the force field and the person has the affliction that we know as Tzaarat. You might think it would be good for the person to be around to be an example of the consequences of sinning but in reality we don't want to shame anybody so the person probably is given a "time out" where he can sit and contemplate how to do better and not get Tzaarat again

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  7. Myjewishlearning.com says the sinful actions that lead to tzaraat and tzaraat itself are a withdrawal from the godliness of the world. By committing the sins and having tzaraat, you are removing yourself from God’s presence and therefore you must be removed from the actual camp where everyone dwells with God’s presence.

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  8. According to the midrash, the reason why a person who had tzarat should remain outside of the camp is to show the importance and seriousness of the sin. Unfortunately when something is seen regularly is is viewed as something that is 'ok׳ and allowed. If people were walking around with Tzarat it would promote the idea that it is ok to speak badly about people. The punishment is so strict to highlight the horrid sin

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  9. According to Ou.org the reason we are commanded to leave the the camp is because we use our mouths for holy things like davening and now we are using it for evil so we should separate ourselves

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  10. Rabbi Richard says that the reason why someone with tzarat must be isolated is because they must realize the harm that they did. Meaning that since the person spoke badly about someone else and potentially caused others to distance themselves from him or her. Therefore, the person with tzarat must be isolated so that they can see the harm that they might have caused to the person who they spoke badly about.

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  11. The reason we are commanded to leave the camp is because you just did something not pure, and you need to become pure and have the opportunity to be honost. And we have to daven with our pure mouths. Therefore we have to leave the camp, where we did something not pure and become pure
    This is according to ou.org

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  12. according to parshat.org when someone has tzaraat they have to leave the camp ato grow spiritually and reflect on what they have done. everyone will know you have sin and you will be embarresed as your punishment and in adddition you also cant be in the camp because its a reflecting period.

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  13. Ou.org says that we separate ourselves when we get tzorat is because we are supposed to use our mouths for holy things but this person used it for wicked things so it is his punishment

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  14. Rabbi Howard Cohen offers a possible solution for why people diseased with tzaraat were to be isolated from the camp. He explains that the reason these people need to be in isolation is because being alone allows for self reflection. Once they are able to see what they did wrong they can stop being selfish and sinning. The experience of being removed and separated from the community motivates them to stop acting selfishly and begin to put the needs of the community ahead of their own. In this way, their punishment is actually their "treatment" or "rehab"- while being separated is their consequence, it is what will help them see the importance of being part of a community and inclusion.

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  15. The Chizkuni says the reason a someone who has tzaraat has to leave the camp is because he is contagious.

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  16. the reason someone has to leave the town is because he is possibly contagious with tzaarat and with a bad attitude if he has a sexual relationship he can spread the disease physically and if he hangs out with people he can spread his "disease" of his bad attitude this teaches us to hang out with the right people or else we can too get "diseases"
    source: chizkuni

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  17. Myjewishlearning.com says that tzaraat is caused by sin. This makes it a disease like no others. All though tzaraat is not like any regular disease it is in a sense that part of the treatment for tzaraat was isolation from the community, so there was concern about the disease spreading from person to person.

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  18. The reason he has to leave the camp is to symbolize how contagious gossip is. When he is around, people will talk about him and the gossip will spread because of him. So he's leaves to spare the embarrassment and to prevent others from talking about him.

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