PARSHAS TAZRIA METORA

Good Shabbos!  Everywhere we look, we are told that there is a recession going on. The stock market is down.  We hear about companies having to close and others, including General Motors, who are on the verge of bankruptcy.  On the other hand, we are told that every cloud has a silver lining and that there is always a blessing in disguise even in those things that seem to be a curse.  What does the Torah say about this?

This week’s Torah reading deals with the purification of those afflicted by the spiritual illness known as Tzaraas.  The Portion recounts different types of Tzaraas such as Tzaraas that might appear on a person’s body, on their clothes or even on the walls of their home. 

What is fascinating to keep in mind is that the Talmud explains that tzoraas is a Divine punishment for the sins of slander and gossip. In fact, the Talmud comments that the reason that the afflicted is sent out of the camp was because “he separated friends and families through his words, and deserves to be separated from his community.” (Arachin 16b).

Rashi and the Ramban both explain that the first form of tzora’as does not begin on the person. Hashem in His mercy first strikes at inanimate objects — one’s possessions. The discoloration first appears on the walls of a home, forcing the affected stones to be removed and destroyed. If that does not succeed as a wake-up-call, and the person continues to gossip, then his clothing is affected. If that too fails to shake him or her into changing their behavior, eventually their skin is affected with lesions, forcing him to leave the Jewish camp until the Kohen declares him acceptable to return.

Imagine…. the walls of your house are being demolished.  Does this sound like a blessing or a curse?   No doubt, the homeowner in question would not feel particularly blessed. But, according to our sages, the case of Tzaraas on a home was a blessing in disguise.  You see, before the Canaanite inhabitants of the land fled from Israel, they would often hide their treasures inside the walls of their homes. The only way an Israelite would ever discover those hidden valuables was if the stones of the house would be removed. When this happened, it didn’t take long for the poor unfortunate tzaraas-afflicted homeowner to be transformed into the wealthy heir of a new-found fortune. Suddenly his dark cloud was filled with linings of not just silver, but of gold too and many other precious gems.  For him, the curse was truly a blessing in disguise. 

Yet there is an obvious question here.  Why should the first warning of tzora’as be a windfall for the person who sinned and gossiped about their neighbor?  What possible lesson can one get from discovering a treasure? 

Simon Wiesenthal, the famous Nazi-hunter, once spoke at a conference of European Rabbis in Bratislava, Slovakia. The rabbis presented the 91-year-old Wiesenthal with an award, and Mr.Wiesenthal, visibly moved, told them the following story.

It was in Mauthausen, shortly after liberation. The camp was visited by Rabbi Eliezer Silver, head of Agudat Harabanim, on a mission to offer aid and comfort to the survivors. Rabbi Silver organized a prayer service, and he invited Mr. Wiesenthal to join the other survivors in prayer.  Mr. Wiesenthal declined, and explained why.

“In the camp,” Mr. Weisenthal said to Rabbi Silver, “there was one religious man who somehow managed to smuggle in a siddur. At first, I greatly admired the man for his courage — that he’d risked his life in order to bring the siddur in. But the next day I realized that this “wonderful” man was renting out his siddur to people in exchange for food. People were giving him their last piece of bread for a few minutes with the prayer book”.

Mr. Wiesenthal continued: “If this is how so called religious Jews behave, I decided I would never again touch a siddur or take part in a prayer service.”

As Mr. Wiesenthal turned to walk away, Rabbi Silver touched him on the shoulder and gently said in Yiddish, “Zei Nisht Narish” (don’t be so foolish). Why do you look at the negative and not the positive?  Why do you look at the Jew who used his siddur to take food out of starving people’s mouths? Why don’t you look at the many Jews who gave up their last piece of bread in order to be able to use a siddur? That’s faith. That’s the true power of the siddur.” Rabbi Silver then embraced him.

Mr. Wiesenthal concluded, “He was right, and I attended the service”.

Perhaps Hashem in His compassion is sending something more than money to that first time gossiper.   Maybe the lesson was to look a little deeper at life. On the outside he may see a dirty wall of a former Canaanite home. Dig a little deeper and you may well find gold on the inside. 

So too, the next time you look at a person superficially - pause.  Think.  Dig a little deeper. There may be gold beneath the surface. Sometimes you have to break past your walls to find the gold you may not have even realized existed.   

So while I don’t quite understand the blessing G-d is showing us as we struggle with the global recession, maybe it has to do with seeing past walls that divide people.  May we need to dig a little deeper and see the positive in all those we meet. 

Dear G-d, please send the silver linings for all our clouds and let us say, AMAIN.