Tazria-Metzorah
The passuk says, “And for the one who is becoming tahor he shall take two birds… and an aitz erez and a shni tola’as and ezov.” Rashi explains he needs to bring the birds since nega’im come for speaking lashon hara, as a bird chatters. He brings an aitz erez because tzara’as comes because of arrogance- he made himself great like a cedar tree, and to fix himself he needs to lower himself from his arrogance like a tola’as and ezov.
The Slonimer Rebbe says it seems from Chazal that ga’ava and gasus ruach stick out as most chamur. This is as the Gemara says: Hashem says, “One who is haughty, I cannot live with him in this world together.” We don’t generally find this saying by other things. Why is this? The Slonimer Rebbe explains that this is because the act of haughtiness is a “ישות” having one’s own self; meaning, feeling or thinking about one’s self as a complete important person. In truth though, Hashem is אין עוד מלבדו, there is nothing besides Hashem. The purpose of a Yid in this world is to be mevatel himself to Hashem. “I am to You and all that I have is Yours…” Once a person feels this way he is not in his own domain. In truth he is together and connected to Hashem. By other bad things he doesn’t make himself independent, while with ga’avah he does. It forces Hashem away (so to say) from being with that person. From this nega’im come.
One who has tzara’as is called a metzora from the lashon of מוציא רע. Everything that comes out of him is bad and tamay. He is like a dead person and is totally in the control of the סיטרא אחרא, since Hashem left this person because of his haughtiness! He needs to be alone and call out “tamay, tamay. This is because he has caused Hashem not to be with him, so he is tamay!
The Torah commands a metzorah to dwell outside the machaneh, wear ripped garments, and let his hear grow without cutting it. The Rambam adds the metzorah can’t clean his clothing or say shalom, like an avel. The Slonimer Rebbe brings (based on the Rambam), that the tikkun of a metzorah is similar to the tikkun of a ba’al ga’avah. The healing process of a ba’al ga’avah is to act with a lot of bizayon by sitting lower than everyone else and dressing with clothing which embarrasses one who wears them and the like, until he uproots his haughtiness and returns to the proper path.
May we learn from the metzora to knock out our haughtiness from ourselves and have Hashem dwell with us!
