Day 6: Leviticus 14:33-15:15 (Study Notes)
Parsha Tazria-Metzora: Day 6
(Leviticus 14:33-15:15)
(Leviticus 14:33-53)
Hashem, not Moshe Rabbeinu, directly declares the affections that He will send upon His peoples’ homes when Israelites settle in the holy promised land of Israel and conquer the land of Canaan as their home land. The following plagues are promised to come only if the Jewish people do not keep mitzvot in the Holy Land—Zion, the dwelling place of Hashem, and Jerusalem where Hashem has written His name forever.
The following plagues are akin to the plagues of Egypt and are promised to come as curses to those who transgress Torah. (See the blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 27-28).
The following plagues are tied to the entry into the Holy Land because it is there that ALL of the laws in Torah become binding. Outside of the land of Israel, Hashem offers grace and leniency since many of the mitzvot cannot be kept in the pagan lands of the goyim. Hashem knows His people are oppressed by these nations, whom He declares hold us captive.
Since many of the mitzvot require either the Jewish Holy Temple and/or fruit, grain, produce, or animals from the (actual) earth or vegetation the of promised land, Hashem knows we cannot keep much of His law outside the land. Instead of punishing us for that which is impossible to do without the correct provisions, Hashem offers grace. He never wants a substitute. In fact substitutes are often specially forbidden and called abominations.
(Leviticus 14:34)
Hashem declares He will send plagues upon the homes of Jewish people as a consequence for breaking mitzvot in His Holy Land. This punishment may seem harsh, but Hashem is saying He will plague and defile our homes if we defile His home. It will be eye-for-eye punishment.
The house of Hashem, at the time of the writing of Torah, was the Tent of Meeting, which later would become the Holy Temple.
We need only read Ezekiel 8 to comprehend (even partially) the ways in which Hashem’s home was and is defiled—the main defilement is idolatry and worshipping false gods while in His dwelling place, the Holy Land.
(Leviticus 14:34-42)
When a plague appears in a home, the priest is notified and the priest is required to tell the home owner to clear the house so nothing inside the home will become unclean with the plague.
Though Hashem sends the plague on the home, He does not desire that every possession of the person be contaminated nor destroyed. For, it is the house that is the sukkah which Hashem provides His flock for refuge. Like a hopah, the home is the individual sacred space that He shares with each of His “brides”. When Jews in the Holy land defile His home (the land of Zion), then He acts to defile the marriage chambers in like manner.
Hashem does not mete out wrath unjustly nor indiscriminately. Just as He never punishes the righteous along with the wicked, so He does not plague objects in the home when He means only to plague the walls of the home alone.
(Leviticus 14:37)
When the owner has cleared the house completely, the priest must enter the home and examine the plague. IF the priest finds a plague that consists of:
Green and/or yellow-green AND/OR
Red streaks that
Go deeper than the wall
THEN the priest must close off the house for seven days.
IF after seven days the priest finds that the plague has spread in the walls, then the priest must declare the house unclean. The unclean house must be cleaned by:
Removing all the stones with plague in them.
Casting the unclean stones outside the city walls into an unclean place.
Scraping the remaining walls.
Dumping the dust of the wall-scrapings into an unclean place outside the city walls.
Replacing the stones that were removed with new, clean stones.
Plastering the entire house once the first five steps are complete.
When we read these passages, we can understand how or why Hashem allowed His own house to be destroyed. When the plagues of spiritual adultery runs rampant among His people, the walls of His Temple and city become plagued with uncleanliness. Since Hashem is utterly Holy, He cannot abide in such a place. So, He allowed the destruction of His first and second Temples to occur because the people (namely the wicked shepherds) refused to perform teshuvah.
The wicked shepherds instead stopped their ears to the prophets, they proclaimed peace when there was no peace, and they encouraged the laypeople to attempt to murder the prophets who were calling for teshuvah lest destruction and exile befall Zion and the Jewish people.
Since the leaders refused to remove themselves and the people who followed in their sinful footsteps (the plagued stones), Hashem’s house could not be cleaned by men. So, Hashem cleaned house with His own hand—He assigned Babylon’s and Assyria to be His battering rams who would destroy the Holy land and who would exile the Jewish people.
When Hashem allowed the rebuilding of the second Temple, the reconstruction started with the walls, as we see instructed in today’s parsha portion. (See Nehemiah). But, after the reconstruction, the same sins occurred in the second-temple-period. So, the same destruction occurred during Roman rule and the second Temple.
When the Third Temple will be rebuilt, such sin will not be a problem. Hashem promises to destroy the wicked shepherds eternally and set over us Jews Himself as good shepherd. Too the king of David’s house will be the human shepherd who correctly guide Hashem’s people in the right path of Torah and mitzvot keeping. (See Ezekiel 34). With proper leadership and Hashem teaching us all wisdom, sin will cease and desist. We all will willingly know and do mitzvot. This will bring unending blessing and global shalom.
It is also interesting to note the colors of the stated plagues: Red, green, and yellow-green. It seems no small coincidence that the most relentless enemies of Israel have as their national, religious, or personal colors these exact colors: red, green, yellow-green, and black (like black mold).
Like plagues, these enemies of Israel attack, rape, behead, murder, rob, and defile Hashem’s home and the homes of Israelis. The recent events of October 7 until today with the Iran war seem no small coincidence. By sending the plagues of enemies dressed in the ordained colors, Hashem is telling His people (and specifically the leaders of all ranks and orders) to wake up and repent. It is a sign that we have gone astray and need to clean our homes and our hearts. Thus, we need to perform teshuvah and return to Him and His Torah.
Only then will the wars stop. Only then will abuse cease. Individually, we can only do so much. The teshuvah must be nation. Global. All Jews everywhere. Too, gentiles and non-Jews must repent of their antisemitic abuse, their sins against Hashem, and against heaven. It is not enough that a single person does his or her part. Yes, it helps. But the depths of the plagues indicate that we all must rise and choose life—to choose Torah, the only path by which we can all live.
(Leviticus 14:43-45)
Hashem declares that if the plagues spreads after the home has been cleaned, scraped, and re-plastered then the priest must declare the home unclean by way of a “malignant eruption.”
The remedy for such a home is complete destruction. After demolition, the stones and timber are to be removed from the city and taken to an unclean place, outside the city walls.
Anyone who enters the unclean house or who eats in the unclean house will be unclean until evening. He or she must wash his or her clothes and remain unclean until evening. When the sun sets and a new day begins, the person will be clean again.
These cleaning rituals are the same rituals we learned about in Leviticus 11, which became required when a person comes in contact with a corpse of a person or animal, especially an unclean animal. Thus, we see that in Hashem’s eyes, the unclean house is tantamount to the carcass of an unclean animal.
(Leviticus 14:48-53)
If after the unclean stones have been removed and the house re-plastered the plague does not spread nor regrow, the restored house will be declared clean and healed from the plague. After such a declaration, the house must be purged, much like the person cleansed and healed from leprosy.
The priest will purge the house with:
Two live, clean birds—does not specifically say they must be pigeons or doves, just clean birds. Rashi notes that these clean birds are not only living, but capable of continuing life. Such birds’ nests are capable of being inflicted with the same plagues that the house has healed from.
Cedar wood—Rashi notes that it is a branch of cedar wood, not a tree. The cedar is often used in the Tanakh to picture the strong and lofty nations. There is a difference between a cedar that is self-planted and the one that is planted by Hashem. The self-planted cedar can become self exalted. The cedar planted by Hashem is promised to start from a branch that’s lopped off a mighty tree. This branch will be planted by Hashem and grow into a godly, godfearing nation under whose branches other nations will come to reside. (Ezekiel 17:22-24). In the case of the cleansed house, the cedar branch indicates Hashem’s approval for the new beginning of the house cleansed from the plagues. If we think of the promise of moshiach, his coming will be as a branch. This branch will come from the root of Jessie to all those in Jacob who repent of their sins. The cleansed people will initiate the cleansed house of Hashem—Zion secured from all wars and the Third Temple rebuilt.
“Crimson stuff”—according to Rashi, this is wool that has been dyed red. This red dye comes from a worm. According to Rashi, this dyed red wool represents the owner of the house becoming humble and lowly like a worm.
Hyssop—used form cleansing in Tanakh. If we think of David in Psalm 51:7, he pleads “purge me with hyssop and I will be made white as snow”.
The items are to be brought to the priest in the leper encampment. THEN:
One of the birds will be slaughtered over an earthenware vessel filled with fresh water—this is reminiscent of the cow that is to be slaughtered in a stream when a dead body is found and no one knows who the murderer is. The ritual of slaughtering the animal over a body of fresh indicates, “I wash my (the nation of Israel) hands clean of the guilt of the dead body.” With the house, such a slaughter washes the priest’s hands clean for possibly coming into contact with an unclean item in the once unclean home. (Deuteronomy 21:1-9; it is a blood guilt offering).
The priest will take the second live bird, the cedar wood, the crimson stuff (wool died red), and the hyssop and dip them all together in the blood-saturated fresh water from the first bird.
From the dipped items, the blood-soaked water is to be sprinkled on the cleansed house 7 times—this sprinkling ritual much resembles the sprinkling of blood on the curtain for communal sin offerings, or the sprinkling on Aaron and his sons’ garments to consecrate them, or the sprinkling of blood on Yom Kippur. All of these sprinklings of blood act to cleanse.
The second live bird is to be set free into open country.—this is much like the live goat that is set free on Yom Kippur, which we will learn about Leviticus 16. This live bird being set free also resembles the dove that Noah set free after the flood. The dove brought back a green branch, indicating the flood waters had receded and Noah and his family could exit the ark. Both “freedoms” indicate sin is expiated and forgiven. It is time to begin anew. The same can be said of the owner and the house cleansed of the plagues.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Kimberly Davis