Who is IN and Who is OUT of the Camp of Israel

 Parshat Naso 

"When Should We Discriminate Against our Fellow Jews"

by Rabbi Avi Billet

In a short turn away from the narrative of the book of Bamidbar, we are given four sets of laws – that of those who are sent out of the camp, the rules of the Asham (guilt) offering, the rules of Sotah, and the rules of Nazir. 

 Perhaps what all of these have in common is that in the context of setting the Israelites up for travel, which is the general subject of Bamidbar chapters 1-4, a few ground-rules of travel need to be put in place, such as: where may people go, who is not allowed to enter certain spaces; what makes a person lose elements of taharah (purity) and elements of kedusha (holiness); what breaks up a marriage or – more positively – how can we preserve marriages when we are under duress of travel, general uncertainty, while living (figuratively) on top of each other without each family having a permanent home structure; and how can a person raise one’s level of holiness, including the drawbacks of a certain pursuit of asceticism. 

 The Midrash, and in its footsteps many commentaries, notes how the three types of people sent out of the camp is not meant to equate the three types of people, nor is their exclusion from the camp meant to be equal. The three types of people are the Metzora (one afflicted with tzara’as), the Zav (which includes a Zavah), and the person who has come in contact with a corpse. 

 Objectively speaking, these three have one thing in common – tumah (a spiritual impurity) – but otherwise have very little in common. The Metzora sinned, the Zav and Zavah may have sinned (though that is no one’s business because their tumah is a private consequence) but generally had an uncontrolled body emission, and the person who came in contact with a corpse was likely involved in a mitzvah! – whether of visiting someone who was sick and then passed away during the visit, or being involved in preparing the dead for burial or the actual burial itself. 

 This is why the Midrash and commentaries who address this indicate that the latter category (tameh la’met – having touched a corpse) is only prohibited from entering the Mishkan, but may even enter the Levite camp; the middle group (Zav etc.) may remain in the regular camp of Israel (may live at home, wander about the general population); the Metzora must be sent out of the camp, as per the instructions we have in Parshot Tazria and Metzora. 

 One could certainly look at the Metzora and claim that the person has a contagious disease and therefore it is actually important to send the person out of the camp. That claim is possible – tzara’as is a disease that appears in different contexts in the Bible, and in some cases it was a contagious disease. However, from the Torah’s perspective, leaving aside the tales in the books of Prophets of unique cases of tzara’as, the affliction is a spiritual disease with a physical manifestation. A sin (or bad behavior) caused it, and teshuvah (repentance) would cause it to go away. 

 What sins could cause this? The Midrash in Vayikra Rabba (16:1) and Mishlei (6:16) indicate that there are up to 13 behaviors or sins that could bring about tzara’as. This is based on the verse in Mishlei that says “There are six things that Hashem hates, and seven are an abomination of His soul.” There is a debate as to whether the number “Seven” in that verse means a seventh item, or seven additional items! If the latter, as the Midrash in Vayikra Rabba argues, there are 6+7=13 behaviors that God truly detests! 

 The verse in Mishlei goes on to list some of these: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that thinks violent thoughts, feet that hasten to run to evil, one who speaks lies with false testimony, causing quarrels among brothers. Ralba’g counts these as seven, suggesting that the first item is arrogance/haughtiness/looking down upon one’s fellow Jew – and that is the item God hates most of all. 

 The Midrash Mishlei goes on to list other sins a person might commit: idolatry, sexual immorality, murder, lashon hora, flattery, saying things without properly attributing them. [This last one is the topic of a much bigger discussion.] (The Gemara in Arakhin 16a has a list of seven sins which cause tzara’as: lashon hora (slander and gossip), murder, swearing in vain, immorality, haughtiness, theft, and stinginess. Obviously there is a crossover between the two lists presented by our Midrash Mishlei and the Talmud.)

 Using phrases from Yeshayahu chapter 3, the Midrash in Vayikra goes into painstaking details of what each of the first two sins listed in the verse in Mishlei have to do with reality, before giving other examples for the other sins. Suffice it to say, when one reads through the actual behaviors associated with haughty eyes, lying tongues, etc (two paragraphs up) one sees how all of these sins lead to a breakdown in society in which people, who are meant to live together in harmony, aim to get the upper hand on someone else, in order to control them. 

 This is why those guilty of sins to be punished with tzara’as are the ones who need to be sent out of the community until they’ve changed their ways. 

 But the other people – Zav and Tameh L’met – are not limited by their own behaviors. They are limited by the absence of taharah (purity), which is relatively easily rectified through a formal process of a brief wait and immersion in a mikveh. And even within their limitation, it is only in the realm of how far they may go into the realm of Kedushah – the holiness of the Levitical camp or into the Mishkan itself – which was their degree of confinement. If there were a synagogue or gathering place for prayer in the regular Israelite camp, they’d be welcome. 

In the general Jewish community, the structure of the institution we call “shul” or “synagogue” was put under duress over the last 15 months. Most shuls were closed through Pesach 2020, and there are many degrees of return to operations that have come about since that time – across all spectrums of Orthodox Judaism. Some opened completely back in April or May 2020, some remained closed even until recently, while others had a gradual process of starting outdoors, moving indoors, following recommended protocols of social distancing and masks. 

I often marvel over how the IDF actually analyzed their successes, but more importantly their failures after the Yom Kippur War. It is OK to say “We have made mistakes, but we want to learn from them.” I have yet to talk to a rabbinical colleague who isn’t challenged by “how to get our congregants back to shul.” Much of the challenges many Jewish communities are facing came from making their own short-term decisions that either turned people away or caused people to create their own alternatives, many of which will likely continue for the forseeable future. In many cases longer-term outcomes were not considered at all. 

 So what is the solution? Certainly making shul attractive and an exciting place to be through creative programming and educational opportunities is a start. But it also means putting no limitations on people and trusting people, including children. There is no precedent in halakha anywhere for assuming that healthy people are sick, or for excluding any “asymptomatic” person from any aspect of Jewish life. 

 Were we to follow the actual rules of the Torah regarding who is not even allowed entry into the community institutions, who is not welcome because the person needs to sit in isolation, the Torah couldn’t express it more clearly than in this Parsha. Only the people who would have gotten tzara’as need a cooling off period of teshuvah and reflection before rejoining the tzibbur. 

No one likes to look in the mirror. Were we to do so, many of our shuls would likely be empty this Shabbos and every Shabbos. But looking in the mirror also means asking, “Do I want one set of rules for me and another set of rules for someone else that are not based in the Torah?” As long as the answer is Yes, we are not where we need to be.

Halevai the Jewish community can get there through embracing every Jew and treating everyone equally, by no criteria other than the ones Torah and halakha truly advocate. Only when that sense of order is in place will we be worthy, as the Israelites were prior to the sins in next week’s parsha, to march to the Promised Land.