Uncomfortable Musings for Comfortable JewsKol Yaakov By Rabbi Baruch Leff. (Based on the teachings of Rav Yaakov Weinberg zt”l)Something is strange. The arrangement throughout the Parshas of Tzaria-Metzora is unusual.These Parshas describe the laws of tzaarat, a leprous-type disease that afflicts a person primarily as a result
Read more →Parshas Metsora outlines the various forms of the affliction of tzaraas.[1] Having completed discussion of the tzaraas on the body, the Torah discusses the tzaraas that can appear on people’s houses and outlines the painful process of purification. This includes removing all the possessions from one’s home to avoid
Read more →Being Makir the Root Rashi in 14:4 says that the tikun of the metzora is to “yashpil atzmo migaiuso k’tolaas v’k’aizov”. The Rosh Yeshiva zt”l asked why Rashi needs to say the word ‘gaiuso’? What would be missing if Rashi would have only said ‘yashpil atzmo’? He
Read more →Parshas Metsora outlines the purification process for a person struck by tzoraas. One of the essential stages of this process is tevila in a mikva. The Sefer HaChinuch suggests a reason for the significance of tevila as a key part in the teshuva process which the metsora is undergoing. He explains that the world was
Read more →14:2 Rav K. brings from the midrash, Vayikra Raba 16:2, on this verse. A peddler used to travel from city to city in the neighborhood of the city of Tsipori and announce “Who wants the elixir of life?” and people would crowd around him. Rav Yanai who was sitting inside learning
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