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THE DAFYOMI DISCUSSION LIST
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Rosh Kollel: Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld
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Sanhedrin 088a: Metzora from head to toe
Shabtai Nacson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked:
How to understand the case of a person is completely covered with mud he is
Tahor, whereas if he has a spot of mud he is Tamai?
Shabtai Nacson, Toronto,Canada
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The Kollel replies:
There are a number of approaches to this Halachah. First, the medical
approaches, which assume that the laws of Tzara'as are connected to the
physical illness underlying the skin coloration:
(a) If a person is completely white, from head to toe, it is probable that
his new skin color is not a sign of illness. His skin has simply taken on a
new tint.
(b) The illness of Tzara'as is under the skin. When it appears above the
skin, it is a sign that the "irritation," or virus, causing the damage is
being "pushed" out of the body. When the entire body is covered with
Tzara'as, the person is well on his way to recovery, since there is no part
of his body that has contracted the disease but has not yet "pushed" the
Tzara'as above the skin. (See Kli Yakar, Vayikra 13:13).
Next, the philosophical approaches, which assume that the stringent
treatment of the Metzora is meant to encourage him to repent for specific
sins he has performed:
(c) If a person's entire body is covered with Tzara'as, he is sure to
repent even if we do not enforce upon him all the stringencies of a Metzora
(see Kli Yakar ibid.)
(d) If a person has contracted Tzara'as and still not repented until it has
spread to his entire body, he has no more hope. He will not repent even if
we do enforce upon him the laws of a Metzora. Therefore there is no point
putting him in quarantine any longer. (This is consistent with the Drasha
on Daf 97a regarding the generation in which Moshi'ach will arrive.)
Be well,
M. Kornfeld
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