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the ages, tzaddikim (righteous and holy individuals) used their £Context and PerspectiveContext and PerspectiveContext and Perspective
afflictions to both identify and empathize with the suffering of ££
others as well as to elicit compassion from Heaven for the world’s
plight. Each person in fact has the potential to act like a tzaddik
and transform sickness into a catalyst for rectification. Mashiach, Until this point, we have focused on tzara’at’s manifestation as a skin
the quintessential tzaddik, will be able to take his suffering and disease; however, in the two portions of Tazria and Metzora, tzara’at
transform it into healing energy that will envelope the nation of actually manifests in three different ways: on the human body as
Israel and the whole world. a skin disease, on clothes, and on houses. The Talmud provides an
interesting explanation for why there were three different types of
The following verse describes tzara’at in four ways: “When a man manifestations: God would first have tzara’at appear in a person’s
shall have in the skin of his flesh a swelling, a scab, or bright spot dwelling as a warning that something was amiss; if an individual
and it be in the skin of his flesh, the plague of tzara’at” (Leviticus ignored this warning, the tzara’at would then appear on his or her
13:2). The Midrash connects these four descriptions with the Jewish clothing; if this sign was also ignored, the tzara’at would finally strike
people’s four archetypal exiles: “‘a swelling’ is Babylonia; ‘a scab’ his or her body (Yoma 11b). Curiously, while the Torah presents
is Persia; ‘a bright spot’ is Greece; ‘a plague’ is Rome’” (Vayikra these types in an order moving from the internal to the external
Rabbah 14:9). manifestations – from tzara’at of the body to tzara’at of the clothes
These correspondences between the Jewish people’s exiles and to tzara’at of the house – the Talmudic explanation moves in exactly
tzara’at and the Talmudic story depicting Mashiach as a metzora the opposite direction, from the external to the internal.
suggest that on a mystical sod level, tzara’at serves as a parable for We find a similar contradiction between these two types of order
that which will befall the Jewish people. Furthermore, even on a in the Tabernacle’s construction. In Terumah, where the notion
peshat level, this correspondence can be sensed as the metzora is of building a Tabernacle is initially introduced, God first instructs
exiled from the camp for seven days and only returns when he is the children of Israel to make the vessels that will be placed in
healed.
the innermost part of the Sanctuary – the ark, the table, and the
As we saw in the previous section, the birth of a son symbolizes the menorah – and only later mentions the walls and curtains that will
Messianic redemption. Continuing in the same vein, we can explain contain them. Yet when the Tabernacle’s construction is recounted in
that a woman giving birth allegorically represents the Jewish people’s Vayakhel, the children of Israel are commanded to make the curtains
mission to redeem the world; and, thus, the seven days of impurity and the walls first and only later make the vessels that would be
following the birth symbolize the long and harsh history of exile and housed within.
persecution the Jewish people have suffered in persevering with this According to the Talmud (Berachot 55a), Bezalel, the person chosen
mission. (This suffering is, of course, also symbolized by tzara’at.) to orchestrate the actual building of the Tabernacle, raised this topic
Circumcising the male child on the eighth day signifies the covenant with Moses. Bezalel questioned the logic of building the vessels first,
between God and His people that will ultimately be realized and arguing that common sense dictates that the house be built before the
finally consummated, when the Jewish people and the entire world furnishings, not the opposite! Moses replied that Bezalel was quite
are fully redeemed when Mashiach comes.
right and, in fact, God had always planned to build the Tabernacle in
that order. He had merely mentioned the inner vessels first because
they embodied the essence of the Tabernacle’s purpose. Moses lauded

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