Skin Care

The myth in our society is that the exterior is either the most important thing or the least important. Materialists delight in the external; spiritualists shun it. Judaism realizes the infinite power that lies in every thought, word or deed. METZORA METZORA

“Biblical dermatology”

“Biblical dermatology” is probably one of the ways we can characterize the content of this week’s Parsha. This parsha describes the various skin disorders called tzara’as ,that, when identified by the Kohain (priest), it renders the person with the disorder ritually unclean. The person would then be quarantined until the skin disorder would disappear. To be sure, as our sages emphasize, tzara’as was not simply a physical malady. It was a product of a spiritual disorder and imperfection that would manifest itself in a physical form.

It is remarkable that the Torah devotes so much attention to this skin disease. There is no other type of disease to which the Torah METZORA devotes so much attention. What lesson does the Torah’s preoccupation with tzara’as convey to us?

Our sages instruct us that the condition of Tzara’as was a punishment for the speaking of Lashon hara, or slander. The connection between the two is given by our sages in the following way: Just as the one who slandered another sought to isolate him from his friends, so too will the slanderer now have to be quarantined and be isolated from his friends.

Why a Skin Disease?

One is entitled to ask, why did G-d have to afflict the slanderer with a skin disease? G-d could have chosen other diseases where the Torah could have required one to be quarantined? This suggests that there is an intrinsic connection between a skin disorder and the utterance of negative words against another.

Dermatologists tell us that their field of medicine is the most important, because it is through one’s skin that all outside influences METZORA enter the body. Likewise, the secret of Jewish health can be traced to the way we deal with our skin, or what appears to be the surface part of our personalities.

Skin is the garment that clothes the person’s skeletal, circulatory, nervous systems, vital organs etc.. But, it is the skin that shields these essential components of our bodies and provides them with their nourishment. Moreover, it is the skin that is what directly interacts with the outside world.

While it is our brain and heart that identifies who we are and defines our very existence, our skin can not be ignored or neglected.

Our intellect, knowledge, feelings, vision, aspirations, courage and commitments are easily recognized as the essential components of our souls. One does not have to be told to care for them and to develop them, because without these components we have no identity or purpose in life.

The Peripheral is not insignificant

On the other hand, when it comes to a

METZORA fleeting thought or a capricious word, we think nothing of it. After all, even if one thinks an undesirable thought or makes a misguided statement, we may think that it is not of major consequence. Of what value does a thought or word have in relation to the totality of our being? We could not imagine how our spiritual health could be compromised by a stray word or thought.

We can now understand why the punishment for slander is the skin disorder, because they share a basic feature. Both skin and words are peripheral, but both of them can affect our whole being; skin in the physical way and undesirable words in a spiritual way. What skin is to our bodies, thought and speech — our soul’s garments — are to our souls. Every word and thought that is undesirable pollutes the internal organs of our souls; they degrade us and distance us from our soul’s spirituality and from others.

Moshiach a Metzora?

Our Sages tell us that the Moshiach is likened to a person afflicted with tzara’as, the skin METZORA disorder.

This does not mean to suggest that the Messiah must be one who is lax with his speech about others. On the contrary, it is meant to suggest that Moshiach’s role is to focus attention on what many people view as peripheral to Judaism.

Moshiach is one who will emphasize the importance of every single thought, word or action.

Moshiach’s role, among other things, is to underscore the infinite power that every mitzvah possesses.

Moshiach will demonstrate to us the importance of spiritual skin care that will make us worthy of redemption.

For, indeed, as Maimonides declares, even one isolated deed can alter the balance between good and evil and tip the scales in favor of the world realizing its redemption — the Messianic Age.

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From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Tazria-Metzora by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.