Tazria is not read very often; it is either read together with Metzora, or it’s Parshat HaChodesh, but when we do read it, it’s a great story of one of Elisha’s miracles:
Linear Annotated Translation of the Haftarah of Tazria
What we learn from Na’aman’s Tzaraat: Catalyst for Change
Filed under Sefer Vayikra, Tazria
The Parsha of Tazria spends the bulk of its text on the diagnosis of the Biblical disease, Tzaraat, “leprosy.” In his summation of the Laws of the Impurity of Leprosy (16:10), the Rambam points out that the term “Tzaraat” covers so many unrelated symptoms that it cannot possibly refer to a natural malady, but is rather a supernatural phenomenon whose purpose was to cause people to reevaluate their behavior. The particular behavior that the Rambam singles out as the cause of Tzaraat is Lashon Hara, speaking in a derogatory manner about other people. A person who makes a habit of doing so will first see signs of Tzaraat on the walls of his house. If he stops his behavior, the house can be purified; if not, the house will need to be destroyed and it will affect the furniture, then the clothes, and ultimately his own skin, and he will be isolated so that he is unable to speak with anyone about anything. The purpose of all this is to shock a person into changing his behavior and the dismissive attitude that underlies it.
Whereas the Rambam focuses on Lashon Hara as the behavior that Tzaraat is meant to reverse, the Midrash lists several other behaviors and character traits that cause it. One of them is the subject of the Haftorah of Tazria.
מכאן א”ר יהודה הלוי ב”ר שלום על י”א דברים הצרעת באה על קללת השם ועל גילוי עריות ועל שפיכות דמים ועל האומר על חבירו דבר שאינו בו ועל גסות הרוח ועל הנכנס בתחום שאינו שלו ועל לשון שקר ועל הגניבות ועל שבועת שקר ועל המחלל שם שמים ועל עבודת כוכבים … ועל גסות הרוח זה נעמן שנאמר (מלכים ב ה) (ונעמן) [שר צבא מלך ארם] היה איש גדול מהו גדול שהיתה רוחו גסה מפני שהיה גבור חיל ועל ידי כך נצטרע
R’ Yehuda HaLevi bar Shalom said: Tzaraat comes for 11 things: cursing Hashem, sexual immorality, murder, speaking lies against a friend, haughtiness, entering an area that is not for you, lying, stealing, swearing falsely, desecrating the Name of Heaven, and idolatry…. “Haughtiness:” that’s Naaman, as it says: “Naaman was a great man.” What is “great?” He was haughty and full of himself because he was a strong warrior, and for that he got Tzaraat (Midrash Bamidbar Rabbba 7:5)
The Haftorah introduces Na’aman thus:
וְנַעֲמָן שַׂר צְבָא מֶלֶךְ אֲרָם הָיָה אִישׁ גָּדוֹל לִפְנֵי אֲדֹנָיו וּנְשֻׂא פָנִים כִּי בוֹ נָתַן ה’ תְּשׁוּעָה לַאֲרָם וְהָאִישׁ הָיָה גִּבּוֹר חַיִל מְצֹרָע:
Na’aman, the general of the king of Aram, was a great man at court, and highly esteemed, for through him, Hashem had given victory to Aram. The man was a great warrior, a leper.
(Melachim II 5:1)
The Haftorah then describes how this great, famous, highly esteemed general of the Aramean court visits the prophet Elisha because he had been told that Elisha can cure him of his leprosy. He appears, as befitting a person of his rank and wealth, with an entourage of carriages and servants, in front of the hovel where Elisha lives in great poverty. Yet Elisha does not show him the slightest deference. Not only does he not fawn upon Na’aman, he does not even bother to come out to greet him. He simply sends a servant with instructions to immerse seven times in the Jordan River. The Haftorah records Naaman’s reaction to this treatment:
וַיִּקְצֹף נַעֲמָן וַיֵּלַךְ וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה אָמַרְתִּי אֵלַי יֵצֵא יָצוֹא וְעָמַד וְקָרָא בְּשֵׁם ה’ אֱ-לֹהָיו וְהֵנִיף יָדוֹ אֶל הַמָּקוֹם וְאָסַף הַמְּצֹרָע: הֲלֹא טוֹב אֲמָנָה וּפַרְפַּר נַהֲרוֹת דַּמֶּשֶׂק מִכֹּל מֵימֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הֲלֹא אֶרְחַץ בָּהֶם וְטָהָרְתִּי וַיִּפֶן וַיֵּלֶךְ בְּחֵמָה:
Na’aman got angry and stormed off. He said, “I had said to myself, he’s going to come out, and stand, and call in the name of Hashem his God, wave his hand over the place and the leprosy would go away. Aren’t Amana and Pharpor, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Yisrael? Can’t I bathe in them and be pure?” He turned and walked off in fury.
(Melachim II 5:11-12)
Na’aman feels that he knows what the treatment for his leprosy should be like, and what will and will not work. As a “great and highly esteemed” personage, he is sure that he knows everything there is to know, and deserves every attention and consideration, and if someone who is so clearly beneath him violates his expectations, he loses his temper and storms off.
Fortunately for Na’aman, his servants convince him that he has nothing to lose in following the prophet’s prescription, and he does immerse in the Jordan River. This concession to the possibility that there is a Greater Power is enough for his Tzaraat to be cured. Na’aman goes back to Elisha to thank him and offers him a generous honorarium. Elisha categorically refuses to accept a penny from Na’aman. One might have thought that Na’aman would be insulted by this refusal and that it would be further provocation to anger, but instead we see a remarkable shift in Na’aman’s attitude:
וַיֹּאמֶר נַעֲמָן וָלֹא יֻתַּן נָא לְעַבְדְּךָ מַשָּׂא צֶמֶד פְּרָדִים אֲדָמָה כִּי לוֹא יַעֲשֶׂה עוֹד עַבְדְּךָ עֹלָה וָזֶבַח לֵאלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים כִּי אִם לַה’
Na’aman said, “If not, then let your servant be given some earth that a pair of mules could carry. For your servant will no longer make sacrifices to other gods, except to Hashem. (Melachim II 5:18)
Na’aman, who was introduced as a “great man at court, highly respected,” who sneered at the suggestion that the Jordan River would effect a cure when the rivers of his own country would not, ends up begging for some dirt from Eretz Yisrael.
The Haftorah shows us that Tzaraat is meant to serve as a catalyst for change. If someone as proud and prejudiced as Na’aman had been can learn to see past his ego, then so can we. When we look down at other people, or seek to raise ourselves in the eyes of our friends by taking down those around us, we are guilty of haughtiness as Na’aman had been. We might not even be aware that we are being led astray by our egos. Tzaraat is a supernatural wake-up call to examine ourselves, to alter our behavior and revise our attitude before things get even worse. Tzaraat is reversible, and so are our character flaws.
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
When Rosh Chodesh comes out on Sunday, then, on the previous Shabbat, instead of reading the Haftarah that is appropriate to that Parsha, we read a special Haftarah called “Machar Chodesh” – “Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh.” This is rather puzzling. When Rosh Chodesh falls out on Shabbat itself, it makes sense that we would read a special Haftarah. But what does it matter what the next day is? We don’t have a “Machar” anything else – no “Machar Pesach” or “Machar Shavuot,” only “Machar Chodesh.” It must mean that the day before Rosh Chodesh has intrinsic meaning, one worth marking with its own prophetic message.
The definition of Rosh Chodesh is the night that the sliver of the new moon appears in the sky. The night before, Machar Chodesh, is a night with no moon at all. It is completely dark.
The Haftarah of Machar Chodesh describes the darkest time in the life of David HaMelech. Until this point, he had been the golden boy of the kingdom: he defeated Goliath, was married to the king’s daughter, the king’s son was his best friend, and the entire country was singing songs about him. Now, all of a sudden, for no reason that he can discern, the king has turned against him. He barely escaped arrest and execution – his wife Michal helped him sneak out the window and lied about him to the guards. Yet, as far as he knows, he has done nothing wrong, and none of it makes sense.
Yonatan, Shaul HaMelech’s son, does not understand it, either. He is sure that his father loves David as much as he does, and that he would know if something were wrong. The Haftarah tells us about the plan that David and Yonatan devise to figure out how Shaul really feels about David, a plan that is carried out the next day – on Rosh Chodesh. And indeed, when Shaul hears that Yonatan let David be absent from the Rosh Chodesh celebrations, it is sufficient pretext to ignite his fury, and he lashes out not only at David, but at Yonatan himself.
Now David has no choice but to run and hide from the king. This means that he loses everything – his family, who are also in danger and go into exile in Moav, his position in the king’s army, his role in the court, his wife Michal, and worst of all, his dearest friend, Yonatan. As we read about the two of them standing there crying on each other’s shoulders, we wish that we could tell David that his future will be a bright one, that he will become king over all of Yisrael, and that he will establish a dynasty that will be the aspiration and hope of all of the Jewish People for all generations.
And indeed, when we sanctify the new moon at Kiddush Levana, it is our tradition to say, “David Melech Yisrael Chai Ve’Kayam” – “David, the king of Israel, lives on forever!” The Rema, when citing this tradition in his gloss to the Shulchan Aruch, explains the relevance of David HaMelech to the moon:
ונוהגין לומר: דוד מלך ישראל חי וקיים, שמלכותו נמשל ללבנה ועתיד להתחדש כמותה וכנסת ישראל תחזור להתדבק בבעלה שהוא הקדוש ברוך הוא, דוגמת הלבנה המתחדשת עם החמה שנאמר: שמש ומגן ה’ (תהילים פד, יב) ולכך עושין שמחות ורקודין בקידוש החדש דוגמת שמחת נשואין.
It is customary to say: “David Melech Yisrael, lives on forever!” because his reign is compared to the moon, and is destined to be renewed like the moon, and Knesset Yisrael will return and reconnect with her spouse, which is HaKadosh-Baruch-Hu, just as the moon is renewed with the sun, as it says, “Hashem is the sun and the shield” (Tehillim 84:12); therefore, we dance and rejoice at the Kiddush HaChodesh as one does at a wedding.
(Rema, Shulchan Aruch, Hilchot Rosh Chodesh 426)
The Rema explains that the moon symbolizes David HaMelech. Just as the moon waxes and wanes and disappears but then waxes again, so, too David’s dynasty waxes and wanes. It might look like it has completely disappeared, but it will reappear. When we see the renewed moon, we are filled with the hope that we will also be privileged to see the renewal of David’s kingdom.
The Rema takes this idea one step further: the moon is a metaphor not only for David, but for the Jewish People as a whole. We, too, wax and wane. We, too, sometimes feel like we’re in danger of disappearing entirely, and that G-d’s light no longer shines upon us. The renewal of the moon gives us hope and reminds us that our relationship with G-d is also renewed.
Machar Chodesh, the darkest night of the month, symbolizes the Jewish People at our most vulnerable. The Haftarah of Machar Chodesh presents us David HaMelech at his most vulnerable, as he stands before a future that looks bleak and dark. His life, and the life of his descendants, will not move in a straight line. There will be highs that will reflect light and hope for millennia, and there will also be lows that last for generations on end.
So, too, the Jewish People. Our story also does not follow a straight line. Yet, as the Haftarah of Machar Chodesh reminds us, no matter how bleak and dark a given moment in Jewish History might be, we know that the future we face is full of light.
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
Filed under Shabbat Machar Chodesh, Special Shabbatot
