Rabbi L. Scheinbaum

“And I put the plague in a house of the land of your possession… And the Kohen will come and see that the plague has spread throughout the house… Then he shall demolish the house, its stones and its wood.” (14:34,44-45)

Rashi quotes the Medrash which states that a plague of leprosy on the house was a blessing in disguise. Upon hearing about the eventual entry of Bnei Yisrael into their land, the Cananites hid their valuables in the walls of their houses. Thus, they sought to prevent their valuables from falling into Jewish hands. In order that these treasures would be discovered by His people, Hashem caused a leprous plague to appear on the house. The houses would then have to be demolished, thereby exposing the hidden treasures. This seems a rather indirect way of giving riches to people. Why…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Metzora, 5752

“When you shall come to the land of Canaan which I give to you as a possession, and I put the plague in a house of the land of your possession. And he that owns the house shall come and tell the Kohen saying, “It appears to me that something like a plague is in the house.” (14:35-36)

Chazal cite one form of social functioning to be especially responsible for causing plagues of the house. This trait is selfishness, which is manifest by one excluding himself from performing neighborly kindness. Chazal emphasize the words, “he that owns the house,” to mean, “who keeps his house exclusively to himself.” Such an individual applies the principle of Sodom. This principal distorts the incisive principle of property right saying, “What I have is mine, what you have is yours”. He seems to forget that the inclusiveness of love must be added to the exclusiveness of property rights. He doesn’t recognize that…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Metzora, 5752

“And the Kohen shall command and take for him that is to be cleansed two living pure birds… And the Kohen should command to slaughter one of the birds.” (14:4-5)

Rashi explains that these plagues are the result of evil talk, specifically the act of babbling words. Consequently, birds, which babble continually with chirping sounds, were required for true purification. The leper’s thoughtless chatter resulted in this plague. We may wonder at the necessity of using two birds. This message could be derived from one bird, as well. It seems similarly peculiar that only one bird was slaughtered, while the other was set free. Apirion on the Torah explains that in order to answer these questions, we must first reflect upon the reasons for offering these sacrifices. The commentaries…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Metzora, 5752

“And the Kohen shall command to take for him that is to be cleansed… And cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.” (14:4)

The leper who had prepared to be cleansed was to bring cedar wood, a symbol of might and strength, together with a hyssop, which represents the opposite. Why should his offering reflect these two contradictory characteristics? Horav Moshe Shternbuch Shlit”a suggests the following message may be derived from this pasuk. These plagues were visited on a person as a punishment for various spiritual offenses. One of these sins was “jurv ,uxdw” which can be defined as arrogance and haughtiness. This trait often translates itself into vulgarity, indicating lack of spiritual refinement and sensitivity which should be the hallmark of a…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Tazria, 5752

“All the days wherein the plague is in him, he shall be unclean.” (13:46)

This pasuk seems superfluous. Obviously, if the disease still plagues the individual, he is deemed unclean! The Netziv explains that one might assume that after performing the ritual of cleansing oneself and observing the rites of the metzora (leper), he would now be permitted to return to a state of purity, even though the disease is still in him. Indeed, one is not viewed as a true baal teshuva (penitent) until after he has altered his offending previous habits. Superficial acts of penance, going through the external motions of performing teshuva, are insufficient. True teshuva begins with acknowledgment of one’s…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Tazria, 5752

“Or flesh, when he has in his skin a burning by fire, and the quick flesh, of the burning becomes a bright spot, reddish-white or white.” (13:24)

Rashi notes that the signs of a burn and the signs of a boil are the same, yet the Torah treats them separately in order to indicate that their effect are not to be added to one another. In the event that a mark half the size of a bean of a boil and half the size of a bean of burning appears on the skin, they are not judged as a whole bean. Horav Moshe Feinstein Z”l suggests that a spiritual message may be derived from this halacha, but we must first understand another statement regarding these two plagues….

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Tazria, 5752

“When there is a plague of leprosy on a man, he shall be brought to the Kohen.” (13:9)

The Medrash states, “One sees all plagues except one’s own plagues.” Kohanim were licensed to examine and diagnose the leprosy of all Jews, except their own. This halacha is not meant to imply that a Kohen would deliberately alter his findings in an effort to cover up the truth. There is a valid assumption, however, that despite his most sincere efforts at objectivity, man’s judgment invariably yields to self-interest. This is the implication of the above midrashic dictum. Another message conveyed in this pasuk is that man will perceive other people’s faults, but not his own. Perhaps it is…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Tazria, 5752

“When a man will have in the skin of his flesh a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot.” (13:2)

It is a well known fact that these plagues were manifestations of Divine Justice meted out for sins which were either the effect of an evil-tongue or associated with sinful speech. Bearos Yitzchak suggest the following rationale for these plagues constructing the specific form of punishment for sinful speech. Man is distinguished from all other creations by his ability to express himself through the medium of speech. In fact, the term “one who speaks” is used to describe human beings. In contrast to all other creations, man’s power of speech is an inherent part of his essence. This may be…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Shemini, 5752

“Do not make your souls into an abomination through any creeping thing that creeps, and do not make yourselves unclean through them, so that you become completely ruined by them.” (11:43)

Horav Shimshon Rephael Hirsch Z”l notes that in this posuk the Torah implies two different forms of moral degradation in conjunction with eating prohibited food. “ofh,apb ,t umea, kt” – the term sheketz is used exclusively in reference to spiritual and mental abominations, particularly referring to idol-worship (ubmea, .ea) to describe the extent to which we should go to reject idolatry and all related concepts. These areas are antithetical to our spiritual and moral well-being. Similarly, when the eating of a food is described as sheketz, we infer that consuming the food is diametrically opposed to the development of our…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Shemini, 5752

“And Aharon was silent.” (10:3)

Rashi explains that Aharon received a reward for his silence while accepting Hashem’s judgment. He merited that the divine word regarding the prohibition of drinking intoxicants prior to performing the priestly service was addressed especially to him. The selection of this particular edict seems peculiar. Obviously, it conveys a definite message to be applied to our daily life. The Ateres Mordechai suggests that the prohibition regarding abstinence from wine and spirits may be analogously applied to another form of intoxication – namely, life’s occurrences. Various life contents such as wealth and poverty, health and sickness, success and failure, can…

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“And I put the plague in a house of the land of your possession… And the Kohen will come and see that the plague has spread throughout the house… Then he shall demolish the house, its stones and its wood.” (14:34,44-45)

“When you shall come to the land of Canaan which I give to you as a possession, and I put the plague in a house of the land of your possession. And he that owns the house shall come and tell the Kohen saying, “It appears to me that something like a plague is in the house.” (14:35-36)

“And the Kohen shall command and take for him that is to be cleansed two living pure birds… And the Kohen should command to slaughter one of the birds.” (14:4-5)

“And the Kohen shall command to take for him that is to be cleansed… And cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.” (14:4)

“All the days wherein the plague is in him, he shall be unclean.” (13:46)

“Or flesh, when he has in his skin a burning by fire, and the quick flesh, of the burning becomes a bright spot, reddish-white or white.” (13:24)

“When there is a plague of leprosy on a man, he shall be brought to the Kohen.” (13:9)

“When a man will have in the skin of his flesh a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot.” (13:2)

“Do not make your souls into an abomination through any creeping thing that creeps, and do not make yourselves unclean through them, so that you become completely ruined by them.” (11:43)

“And Aharon was silent.” (10:3)

YEARS

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