Something Like a Plague

Metzorah

Lev. 14:1-15:33

Précis: The parasha discusses laws for the purification of “lepers” with sacrifice and water. It also discusses growths on walls of a house which cause ritual impurity. The parasha concludes with a discussion of bodily secretions which are another source of ritual impurity.

Lev. 14:34-35 “When you enter the land of Canaan which I gave you as a possession, and I inflict an eruptive plague upon a house in the land you possess, the owner of the house shall come out and tell the priest, saying ‘There is something like a plague which has appeared on my house.’”

This “plague” seems to be related the skin diseases we read about last week, which tradition suggests arises not out of a real physical problem but from moral failures, especially the “evil tongue” (gossip and tale bearing). Despite this verse’s prediction, the Sages suggest that such a plague never in fact took place, and never will take place! (BT Sanhedrin 71a). According to Nahama Leibowitz, citing other authorities, the verse appears in the Torah “as a means of providing edification.” She suggests that this “plague” on a house represents a disease in society, and steps must be taken immediately to prevent its spread. Social ills must be halted immediately upon detection.

            In recent months we have seen “something like a plague” as it relates to assaults and deaths of black teenagers and men at the hands of (mostly) white police officers. The fact that the Torah carefully uses the circumspect phrase “something like a plague” serves as a warning to us that we can never really be sure about the extent or causes of a social illness. Is racism a part of this problem? Without a doubt, yes. Is this a growing phenomenon or is it just more prominent because of the 24-hour news cycle and the spread of smart phone cameras? I really don’t know.

            I do know that every death is a death which must be mourned. I can pray, as we all should, that we can at some point get past our heritage of racism in the United States. Whether this will happen in my lifetime or in the lifetime of my children I honestly do not know. But as we read in Pirke Avot (2:21),  Rabbi Tarphon says, “It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it either.”