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“And I will place a tzaraas affliction upon a house in the land of your possession… and he shall declare to the Kohen, saying, ‘something like a plague has appeared to Me on the house.. and the Kohen shall quarantine the house for a seven day period.'” (14:34,35,38)

A plague on a house was apparently a supernatural occurrence. Rashi cites the Midrash that says when the Canaanites saw that their end was near, they hid their valuables in the walls of their homes. Hashem placed affliction upon a house so that when the house was to be dismantled, the Jewish owner would find the hidden treasures. Consequently, the plague was a blessing in disguise. We may question the reason for a seven-day quarantine on the house. If the sole purpose of the quarantine was to expose the treasure, the mere indication of a plague should signal the “demolition…

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“The Kohen shall command to take for him that is to be cleansed two living birds, and cedarwood, and crimson thread and hyssop.” (14:4)

Rashi explains the symbolism of the cedarwood, crimson thread and hyssop as an allusion to the need for humility, the metzora’s need to focus on and to neutralize his arrogant nature. This is consistent with Chazal‘s teaching that the various nega’im, plagues, are the result of gasus ha’ruach, vulgarity and haughtiness. Horav Shimon Schwab, zl, suggests that these three objects signify three types of humility. First is the fellow who sees his own insignificance. He realizes that the insignificant amount of Torah he may have studied is nothing in relation to the vast storehouse of Torah knowledge that exists. He…

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