Arrogance and the Metzora Leper In Quarantine

This is the essence of my first zoom lesson on the weekly Torah reading which I will deliver on Sunday evening at 7 pm via this link Zoom link: ChabadHouse.org.au/Zoom

A Muslim friend wrote to me in advance of the lesson: “...Please kindly explain the theological reason why Allah SWT did or did not prevent the virus mutating out of a wild animal in Wuhan into a human and able to spread worldwide, affecting already 500,000 and collapsing the world economy? ... The facts in front of us are COVID has affected all levels of Muslim counties, Iran, Indonesia, etc. Christian centres like Spain and Rome, and the superpowers - USA and China”.

It must be said that anyone who thinks they can read the mind of God is both arrogant and mistaken. Jewish scholars have rejected this kind of speculation. (1) Instead of definitive answers I will simply explore some sacred texts and see what light is shed. 

While it is wrong to assume one knows why others suffer, it is appropriate when we suffer to examine our deeds to see if there might be some sin we are being punished for, or perhaps a lesson here for improvement (2). However, an alternative explanation, if we could call it that, is that sometimes God causes us to suffer out of love rather than punishment. (3) 

In this quest for some meaning in the current human tragedy of coronavirus and the hardship challenge of isolation and in light of the Torah reading about the Metzora-Leper it is appropriate to explore this ancient process. The Torah requires a person who shows some symptoms involving his skin being discoloured (among others) to be tested/inspected (4) and quarantined for seven days at home (5). If the symptoms increase in severity a more intensive response was required in which “his clothes shall be torn, his head shall be left bare, and he shall cover over his upper lip; and he shall call out, “Unclean! Unclean!”…Being unclean, he shall dwell apart; his dwelling shall be outside the camp”. (6)

The most common way of explaining this is that the Torah is discussing a miraculous condition rather than a medical one. (7) However, a minority view in our tradition explains this as a contagious disease, in which those doing the inspecting were exposed to real danger. (8) We also know of one sage, Reish Lakish,  who was so insistent on social distancing that he threw stones at a Metzora-Leper who stepped out of his isolation. (9)

There is also a very strong tradition that this condition is a consequence of gossip or slander. (10) The basis of this is the story about Miriam, the sister of Moses, who is struck with this condition immediately after speaking critically about her brother Moses. (11) 

I would like to focus on a second case study about a very proud Aramean general named Naaman. We are told that he “was important to his lord and treated as one highly regarded… a great warrior, who was a leper”.   When he sought treatment from the prophet Elisha he came with his entourage, “his horses and chariots”. He stalked off in a rage when the prophet did not come out and pay homage to him, but instead sent a message to him to bathe in the Jordan river. (12) 

A more subtle and spiritual interpretation is that the condition of becoming a Metzora is the result of a deficiency of the process of wisdom - Chochma, [which in mystical terms means the capacity to receive new ideas in a general undefined and very open way] which fails to balance the faculty of analytical understanding. This imbalance is a subtle form of arrogance. When we intellectually analyse ideas we can be quite egotistical and self-conscious. In contrast to this process is the process of wisdom which is linked to humility. (13) 

The ritual at the end of isolation included a part of a cedar tree and a hyssop and letting a bird free (14). The cedar and hyssop represented the journey from arrogance, symbolised by the tall cedar to humility represented by the hyssop. The releasing of the bird, symbolised the reintegration of the leper into the community and the hope that this condition will not return (15). 

I will reiterate my point that we dare not assume that Covid19 is a punishment but we can use it as a stimulus for reflection. As we are forcibly isolated and disoriented during this time, let those of us who are privileged to have homes and our basic needs met at this time, dedicate some thought to cultivating humility and openness to wisdom and guidance to imagine a better way of being and living - not only when this is over, but also right now. To my Muslim questioner, with whom this post began and for all Muslims Ramadan Mubarak, may this special time assist in your own spiritual growth.  

Notes and Sources

1) Pirkey Avot/Ethics of the Fathers 4:15 Rabbi Yannai said: it is not in our hands [to explain the reason] either of the security of the wicked, or even of the afflictions of the righteous./ talk by the Lubavitcher Rebbe 1991  Sicha, Tenth of Teves 5751

2) Lamentations 3:40

3) Talmud, Brachos 5a, and in the second explanation drawing on Proverbs 3:12  

4) Leviticus 13:2-4

5) Rashi

6) Leviticus 13:45-6

7) Maimonides Yad Hachazakah Laws Tumaat Tzaraat 16:10

8) Bechor Shor on Leviticus 13:46 and Meshech Chochma on Leviticus 13:2

9) Yalkut Shimoni Metzora, 557

10) The Talmud Arachin  16a & b. Midrash Tanchuma Metzora 3

11) Numbers 12:1-10

12) Kings 2 5:1-4, 9-12 Australians would recognise a  self- important man struggling to accept being cut down to size. 

13) Likutei Torah by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi Beginning of Metzora  

סיבת הנגעים הוא מחמת הסתלקות החכמה …ע"י התבוננות (בינה) נולד האהבה והשמחה ורשפי אש והוא בחינת הרצוא …[אבל ע"י החכמה] נמשך הביטול [למעלה מ] בחינת יש מי שאוהב

14) Leviticus 14:2-7

15) Midrash Tanchuma- Metzora 3

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