Tazria – Metzora 5786 – Money Matters

This week’s double Parsha mainly focuses on the various forms of Tzaraas, loosely and often poorly translated as leprosy, which can affect a person’s body, clothes, and house.

Concerning the Tzaraas of a house, we are told that whoever suspects that they may be afflicted should go to the Kohen and tell him that it appears that there is a “nega” on their house. The Kohen will then come and command that the house be emptied of all its furniture.

Chazal pick up on this and derive a dual message.

Firstly, Tzaraas sometimes comes as a punishment for being stingy. Such a person, who was too tight-fisted with their finances, is forced to have their assets put out in full public view.

Secondly, the Mishnah (Negaim 12:5) explains that this was also done to assist the afflicted. Once the Kohen declares the house to be tamei—officially afflicted with Tzaraas—everything inside the house becomes impure. The Mishnah explains that the ramifications of this are actually not so severe: his clothes, wooden, and metal utensils can be taken to a mikveh. No great loss. What does the Torah go out of its way to “save”? His small earthenware vessels, which are generally cheap and insignificant. Earthenware, uniquely, once made tamei, cannot be purified via a mikveh.

This teaches us how much the Torah cares about a person’s money, looking out even for cheap items—how much more so expensive items, how much more so a person’s children, and how much more so a tzaddik. The Torah cares and looks out for every detail.

The Noda BiYehuda (YD Tinyana 160) points out that there is another place where Chazal learn that the Torah cares about a person’s money. In Parshas Chukas, when Bnei Yisrael complain about the lack of water, Hashem commands Moshe to speak to the rock to provide water not only for the people but also for their livestock. Why provide water for the animals as well? Because the Torah cares about a person’s money.

What can we learn from these two different sources?

He explains that each source has its own novelty. When the rock produced water for the cattle, Hashem performed a miracle, creating a spring from a rock in the middle of the desert. He was willing to bend the laws of nature purely to prevent financial loss. There is nothing miraculous in the case of Tzaraas.

However, the case of Tzaraas teaches us that the Torah cares for a person’s money even on an individual level—not only for the entire nation’s cattle.

For any Tzaraas related or other financial issues you require assistance with please reach out at [email protected]. Good Shabbos.