פרשת מצורע

Bad Is Good?!

כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל־אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם לַאֲחֻזָּה וְנָתַתִּי נֶגַע צָרַעַת בְּבֵית אֶרֶץ אֲחֻזַּתְכֶם

(ויקרא יד:לד)

"When you will arrive in the land ... and I will place Tzara'at upon a house..." (Vayikra 14:34)

The Torah tells us that when the Jewish people will come to Israel, and they will settle in, Hashem will send them Tzara’at (leprosy) on their houses. Usually, when we speak about Tzara’at, it is a result or a consequence for doing a sin like speaking Lashon Hora (speaking poorly about others).In this verse, however, the wording "I will place" seeming like a reward, not a punishment, why?

To understand this, let's examine the process of Tazra'at. When a person finds a spot on tzara'at on their house they need to remove the stones in the wall that has the spot. Rashi alludes to this question explains that when the Jews were coming up to Israel from Egypt, many nations were scared that the Jewish nation would take all their wealth. To prevent this, the Amorie, a nation that lived in the land of Canaan (now called Israel) hid all of their treasures in the walls of the houses.

After the Jews moved into these homes, Hashem sent them: Tzara'at, so they would need to take down part of the house and in doing so would find all the hidden treasures that were left there.

We see that things that happen which seem to us to be bad, really for us to benefit.  With this in mind, how should we treat things that we think are bad?

1) Where can צרעת grow?

2) What is the main cause of one getting צרעת?

3) Where should a person with צרעת go? What shall he/she do there?

4) Describe the procedure of a מצורע becoming pure again. (ויקרא יד:ב-כ)

5) Explain the קרבן that is brought by the מצורע. Why is it this strange collection of stuff?

(רש"י ויקרא יד:ד)

6) Why do you think that a מצורע has to cut off all of his/her hair? (ויקרא יד:ט)

7) When telling us where to שחט the כבש, why does the תורה tell us במקום אשר ישחט את החטת? (רש"י ויקרא יד:יג)

8) Explain וכפר עליו הכהן לפני ה'. (רש"י ויקרא יד:יח)

9) When telling us about צרעת on a house, the תורה says “כי תבאו אל ארץ כנען אשר אני נתן לכם”. Why is this? (רש"י ויקרא יד:לד)

10) What color is a נגע on a house? (ויקרא יד:לז)

11) What is done with the belongings of a house with צרעת? (ויקרא יד:מ-מא)

Last Week's Question: What Bracha is ONLY made on a Wednesday

Answer: Birkat Hachama 

This Week's Question: WHat Bracha is ONLY said once in 28 years?