April 18, 2024 / 10 Nissan 5784 • Parshat Metzorah - Shabbat Hagadol
Issue 817
Dedicated in loving memory of Mrs. Miriam Friedman

This is the law governing a lesion of tzara’at on a woolen or linen garment, warp or woof, or any leather article, to be rid of defilement or to be defiled. 

Leviticus 13:59


Spiritually, the condition of tzara’at and its purification allude to exile and redemption, respectively. This means that just as the condition of tzara’at was followed by the process of purification, living our lives according to the Torah’s instructions during exile will lead organically into the Redemption. In other words, the Redemption will simply be the full flowering of the Torah and its commandments that we studied and performed during our exile. The Torah of the Messianic future will be the same Torah we now possess, but its innermost dimensions will finally be fully revealed to us. Similarly, we will continue to observe the Torah’s commandments in the Messianic future, but we will do so in their fullest scope, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

In reading about the odyssey of the individual afflicted with tzara’at and the process of his or her redemption from social isolation – “exiled” from society – we are at the same time reading about both our own personal odysseys of spiritual crisis and redemption as well as our collective odyssey through our exile, as we work toward our final Redemption.

--Daily Wisdom Volume 3