Vayikra chapter 13 records the details of the tumah of the person (and clothing) with tsara`at. Regardless of the exact definition of the term tsara`at, why or how is this phenomena related to tumah? And, why does the Torah record a process of a person becoming tamei and then tahor by this ailment more than other sicknesses that people have?
One understanding of tsara`at is that it was a disease, which required quarantine to stop the spread of the disease. Similarly, tsara`at of clothing required the clothing to be either washed or burnt (13:47-58) since this disinfects the clothes from the disease (see Hertz, 1960, p. 459). With this approach, the tumah is due to the person or the clothing having this disease. Following this approach, Dunin and Sutcliff write (1992, p. 15) that “Hebrew medicine excelled in the area of public health,” see also Rambam (Moreh 3:47) and Ralbag's interpretation of chapters 13 and 14.
Many commentators were bothered by this approach because it makes the Torah into a health manual. S. R. Hirsch (comments at the end of chapter 13) has a lengthy discourse against this public health approach. Amongst the questions he raises is that 13:12,13 record that if the entire body has tsara`at then the person is tahor. Yet, if the reason for the tumah is because tsara`at is a disease so if the person has tsara`at on all the body he should certainly be tamei. Also by tsara`at in the house, 14:36 record that one is to empty the house before the priest declares it tamei. Yet if tsara`at is due to disease, why allow the house to be emptied if the items might contain the disease?
Accordingly, it has been suggested that tsara`at is punishment for some sin. The Talmud (Arakhin 16a) quotes Rav Shmuel ben Nachmani in the name of Rav Yochanon that there are seven sins that are due to tsara`at: loshen hara (slander) murder, perjury, sexual immorality, pride, robbery and unkind selfishness. Preuss (1993, pp. 337,338) notes that even more sins have been proposed in the Talmud and the Midrash. Of all the sins, traditionally the most prominent was that tsara`at occurred because a person spoke loshen hara, slander (see Sifra 5:7 and Talmud Arakhin, 15b, 16a). The Talmud (Arakhin 16b) explains that just as slander causes people to separate, the slanderer must also be separated from people.
Why is slander usually singled out as the cause of tsara`at? Avot de-Rav Natan (9:2,3) has an extensive discussion of the negative consequences of loshen hara. First, it notes that the people had many sins in the desert, but they were only punished for the sin of the spies, which was because the spies slandered the land of Israel. Afterwards, it discusses Miryam's and Aharon's slander of Moshe, and Miryam was punished with tsara`at, Bemidbar 12:1-10 and Devarim 24:9. Afterwards, it quotes Rav Shimon Ben Elazar who notes the connection between tsara`at and slander from the story of Gehazi (Kings II, 5:27). One other case, not in Avot de-Rav Natan, is that Rashi (on Shemot 4:6) writes that Moshe had temporary tsara`at as a punishment because he spoke ill of the Jewish people, Shemot 4:1,6.
Meir Gruzman (1997) notes that there are other cases in Tanakh (Shmuel I 22, Kings 1,19 and Isaiah 6) where he believes there is also slander but no mention of tsara`at. He suggests that tsara`at occurs because of slander, but not all the time is slander punished with tsara`at. He argues that slander is only punished with tsara`at when a person speaks a complete falsehood. Thus, he argues Moshe said the people would not listen, when in reality this was false since the people would listen to Moshe.
Notwithstanding the popularity of this explanation for tsara'at, I have never liked it for several reasons. One, I assume that people today are pretty much like people of yesteryear, and if in modern times, loshen hara, slander is rampant, so then in olden times there would have been a large number of people with tsara`at. More people could have been outside the camp, than inside the camp! Maybe people would have realized the consequences of loshen hara and then not spoken it, but from Jeremiah 9:3,4 and Psalms 12:3-5 it seems that slander was as common in olden times as it is today. Two, even though slander is a terrible sin, I cannot accept that it is worse than murdering a person. Why would G-d choose to intervene in the world for the sin of slander but not for murder? If tsara'at would be for murderers, then the murderer's skin would change, and then murderers could easily be identified and apprehended. Three, why does the priest not warn the person to repent from his ways instead of just telling him to wait another seven days to see if the tsara'at spreads (13:4,5)? Four, the case of the person who is completely covered with tsara'at but is considered as being pure, 13:12,13, remains inexplicable, as according to this approach that tsara'at is due to sin, this person should certainly be tamei.
In a fascinating article, Rav Soloveitchik (1933) argued that Miryam was punished with tsara`at because Miryam was denying the uniqueness of Moshe as a prophet, when she claimed equal status with Moshe. One of the fundamental ideas in our faith is that Moshe received the Torah from G-d and was able to transmit the Torah to the Jewish people since he was the greatest prophet, see Shemot 14:31 and 19:9. Miryam was then punished for contributing to a lack of faith in G-d and the Torah and not due to slander.
This understanding of Miryam's sin suggests that maybe tsara`at is a religious punishment when someone says something that might reduce other people’s faith in G-d or the Torah. With regard to Moshe getting tsara’at, it is not clear that Moshe was being punished since the tsara`at was only a demonstration and very temporary. Yet, if one believes that Moshe was punished by the tsara`at, then maybe it was because by refusing to take the people out of Egypt, Moshe was contributing to a lack of faith in G-d. (This idea could also explain why Gehazi was punished with tsara`at since his actions could have reduced Naaman’s faith in G-d.) According to this idea, maybe a person with tsara`at has to leave the camp in order to isolate the person so that he/ she could not influence other people’s faith in G-d and the Torah or to give the person time to contemplate and return to G-d. Also, this idea accords with the idea that tumah represents a potential estrangement from G-d, which in this case would be due to the person's issues of faith.
A different approach to tsara'at is to recognize that while some people are punished with tsara'at, this does not mean that everybody who has tsara'at has sinned. Thus, the tsara'at is not a sign that a person has sinned, but that a person has a physical ailment that his/ her skin is marked somehow. These marks are probably not contagious or a sign of any sickness. What then can be the reason for this tumah? Maybe the purification process of the metsora suggests a way to understand the metsora's tumah.
The purification process of the metsora involves two stages. The first stage is that two birds are taken, and the blood of one bird is sprinkled on the metsora, while the second bird is sent free, 14:4-7. After this ritual the person is tahor, 14:8, but he/ she undergoes another ritual the following week. In the second ritual, blood is sprinkled on the person just like what was done with Aharon and his sons when they were invested as priests, 14:14 and 8:23,24. Afterwards, oil is poured on the same spots on the former metsora as was the blood, and then more oil is poured on the former metsora's head, 14:17,18. This appears to be more oil than was done with Aharon whose his head was poured with oil when he was invested as the high priest, 8:12, and more than when Aharon and his sons with their priestly clothing were sprinkled with oil, 8:30. Furthermore, before the oil was poured on the former metsora's head, the oil was sprinkled before G-d, 14:17. This pouring of oil on the former metsora's head is surely very significant, and generally oil is sprinkled as a way to consecrate the item or person. This sprinkling of oil suggests that the end of the process, the former metsora has a superior status, equal or even greater than the high priest!
With this understanding, we can view the metsora process in a positive perspective. A person has various skin ailments, which are not harmful physically, but psychologically the person could feel alienated from society and/ or from G-d. For example, Luzzatto (on 12:2) writes that in ancient times, a bodily disfigurement was considered a sign that G-d was angry at the person.
The person with these spots then goes before the priest, the religious representative, who either tells the person that he/ she is tahor or tamei. If the person is tahor, then that should improve his/ her self-confidence, even if he/ she still has tsara’at as when the tsara’at just stopped from spreading, 13:6. On the other hand if the person is tamei, then he/ she goes through a difficult process of moving outside the camp and shaving the body, but he/ she returns as a new person with a status equal or higher than the priests. This should certainly boost the person’s self-confidence and should move the person to be closer to G-d.
This positive approach might explain the case where a person is completely covered with tsara’at but is considered tahor, 13:12,13. In this case, there is no way to make this person tahor later on if he/ she is declared tamei because how can one say the tsara’at has not spread? Instead, if the idea is that tsara`at is meant to be helpful to the person, then this person is told that he/ she is tahor.
This lesson by the metsora would apply to all people that a person's look are not important with regard to their relationship with G-d. All people, even people who think of themselves as being unattractive can be closer to G-d than the high priest.