We know how careful the Torah is to talk in a clean and positive language. Instead of referring to nonkosher animals as contaminated, the Torah refers to them as “not pure.”
Why then is this week’s (second) parsha called Metzorah – referring to a person who has been afflicted with a Biblical type of illness similar to leprosy? The metzorah is a person who has fallen to spiritual failure and is condemned to a process of ritual purity. The Talmud teaches that the cause for tzaraas is speaking ill of others (lashon harah). Why should we highlight this person’s failure by calling the entire Torah portion in his name?
Looking at the glass as half-full, rather than half-empty – the Rebbe once offered the foll… Read More »