{"id":45094,"date":"2018-12-03T07:55:51","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T05:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45094"},"modified":"2022-06-28T18:04:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T15:04:34","slug":"the-leprosy-of-libel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-leprosy-of-libel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Leprosy Of Libel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was the Septuagint, the early Greek translation of the Bible, that translated tzaraat<\/em>, the condition whose identification and cleansing occupies much of Tazria<\/em> and Metsora<\/em> as lepra, giving rise to a long tradition identifying it with leprosy.<\/span><\/p>\n

That tradition is now widely acknowledged to be incorrect. First, the condition described in the Torah simply does not fit the symptoms of leprosy. Second, the Torah applies it not only to various skin conditions but also to mildew on clothes and the walls of houses, which certainly rules out any known disease. The Rambam puts it best: \u201cTsaraat<\/em> is a comprehensive term covering a number of dissimilar conditions. Thus whiteness in a person\u2019s skin is called tsaraat<\/em>. The falling off of some of his hair on the head or the chin is called tsaraat<\/em>. A change of colour in garments or in houses is called tsaraat<\/em>\u201d (Hilkhot Tumat Tsaraat<\/em> 16: 10).<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeking to identify the nature of the phenomenon, the sages sought for clues elsewhere in the Torah and found them readily available. Miriam was smitten by tsaraat<\/em> for speaking badly about her brother Moses (Num. 12: 10). The Torah later gives special emphasis to this event, seeing in it a warning for all generations: \u201cBe careful with regard to the plague of tsaraat<\/em> . . . Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt\u201d (Deut. 24: 8-9).<\/span><\/p>\n

It was, in other words, no normal phenomenon but a specific divine punishment for lashon hara,<\/em> evil speech. The rabbis drew attention to the verbal similarity between metsora<\/em>, a person afflicted by the condition, and motzi shem ra<\/em>, someone guilty of slander<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a poetic justice Jewish tradition attributes to one of the least poetic of biblical passages, the laws relating to skin diseases and mildew. The slanderer spreads his lies in private, but his evil is exposed in public. First the walls of his house proclaim his sin, then the leather objects on which he sits, then his clothes, and eventually his skin itself. He is condemned to the humiliation of isolation:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Unclean! Unclean!\u2019 he must call out . . . Since he is unclean, he must remain alone, and his place shall be outside the camp. (Lev. 13: 45-46)<\/span><\/p>\n

Said the rabbis: Because his words separated husband from wife and brother from brother, his punishment is that he is separated from human contact and made an outcast from society (Arakhin 16b).<\/span><\/p>\n

Never say or do in private what you would be ashamed to read about on the front page of tomorrow\u2019s newspapers. That is the basic theme of the law of tsaraat<\/em>, updated to today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom: Othello, WikiLeaks and Mildewed Walls (Covenant & Conversation, Tazria 5771)<\/em><\/p>\n

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