Rituals of Purification

 Parshat Tazria-Metzora

by Rabbi Avi Billet

There are 4 rituals in the Torah that bear similarities in how they are presented. Three of them are associated with the categories of people mentioned by Baal HaTurim (as will be noted below) – Leviim, Nazir, and Metzora, and the 4th category are Aharon and sons, the Kohanim, at the time they are initially turned from Leviim to Kohanim, as they are consecrated to work in the Mishkan. 

 This chart summarizes (incompletely) the components of those respective rituals and where they appear in the Torah. 

Shmos 29 – Kohanim instruction Vayikra 8 – Kohanim Investiture 1.      Take their clothes, the oil, bull for the Chatas, two rams, and a basket of matzah 2.      Gather the people 3.      Wash the Kohanim 4.      Dress Aharon 5.      Anointing oil for Mishkan, Mizbeach and all of its part 6.      Anointing Aharon, dressing his sons 7.      Par (bull for a Chatas), semicha by the Kohanim on the par 8.      Slaughter the par, use its blood on the mizbeach 9.      Put all its other parts-to-be-burned on the mizbeach 10.   The ram is olah, and the Kohanim do semicha on it 11.   Parts are washed, and then put on the Mizbeach 12.   Kohanim do semicha on the 2nd ram which is slaughtered, and its blood is placed on the ear, hand and toe 13.   They have to eat some parts of the Korbanos, and burn the leftovers.

Vayikra 14 – Metzora 1.      Two birds are taken 2.      1 of the birds is slaughtered 3.      The 2nd (live) bird is dipped into the blood which is in the “live” water, with cedar wood and hyssop 4.      Then the person (metzora) is sprinkled upon 7 times 5.      The live bird is let free 6.      The metzora washes his clothes, shaves all his hair, washes his body 7.      A week later he shaves again “all his hair” – his head, beard, and eyebrows (delineated), washes his clothes and body again 8.      2 male lambs and 1 female lamb +3/10 of soless mixed with oil 9.      Male lamb is an asham, to be slaughted where the Olah and Chatas are slaughtered 10.   Blood is taken from the Asham and placed and on the metzora’s right ear, hand, toe 11.   Oil is placed on Kohen’s left palm and does various things with the oil – including putting it on the ear, hand and toe of the metzora, and the leftovers go on the head 12.   The kohen presides over the Chatas and the Olah (with the Mincha) 13.   A metzora of lesser means can bring 1 kevess (Asham), 2 birds (one for Olah, one for Chatas) 14.   The same process as before

Bamidbar 6 – Nazir 1.      During Nezirus no razor is used over the head, the hair grows 2.      During Nezirus, stay away from Tumas Mes 3.      During Nezirus, can’t even become Tameh to family (like Kohen Gadol) 4.      During Nezirus he is Kodesh to Hashem 5.      Becomes Tameh – shave the head 6.      On the 8th day bring 2 Torim or 2 Bnei Yona 7.      One is an Olah and one is a Chatas (Kohen’s choice) 8.      Korban of a Kevess as an Olah, a Kavsah as a Chatas, an Ayil as a Shlamim 9.      Matzos, etc… 10.   Tenufah 11.   Shave, then bring the hair and burn it under the Shlamim

Bamidbar 8 – Leviim 1.    Sprinkle mei Chatas on them, “pass a razor over their flesh,” and have them wash their clothes (+ body) 2.      A bull with flour/oil 3.      A second bull as a Chatas 4.    Semicha on the Leviim 5.      Tenufah 6.    Leviim do Semicha on the bulls, making one an Olah and one a Chatas 7.      Do Tenufah on the Leviim (see Targum Yonatan) 8.      They replace firstborns

 What they all have in common is that the ritual is a transformative process. In the cases of the Kohanim and Leviim, they are “one-time” experiences in which a status change is undergone, establishing forever what the new status will be for the individuals in question along with their posterity. The Kohanim were previously members of the tribe of Levi, and the Leviim, while already part of the tribe, are consecrated to serve in the Mishkan, replacing the firstborns of every tribe, who were initially consecrated from birth to serve in that capacity. 

 The Nazir and the Metzora, on the other hand, are going through a process that – each in their own way – was of their own making. The Nazir took upon himself or herself a vow of Nezirus (not to cut hair, consume grape products, or become Tameh – not even to their own relatives, similar to the Kohen Gadol’s obligations (!)), while the Metzora engaged in behavior that brought tzaraas on himself/herself – behavior that requires teshuvah and a taharah process in order for the person to rejoin society. 

Baal HaTurim has an insight in one word of the parsha that ties much of this together. One form of tzaraas has a single hair changing color, requiring it to be brought to the attention of the Kohen. The Torah describes how after having it isolated for a week, after a recheck by the Kohen, it will become necessary for the hair around this particular spot to be shorn so the specific spot can be examined by the Kohen in another week’s time. 

 The word instructing that shaving is והתגלח (“and it shall be shorn”), and in the Torah, the letter ג is written as a bigger letter than the others in the verse. 

 The Baal HaTurim (and also R Chaim Paltiel) note that the enlarged ג is drawing our attention to the idea that 3 kinds of people are to be shaved – the Metzora, the Nazir, and the Leviim. [Meshekh Chochmah notes that three לאוין – negative prohibitions – are pushed aside when it is the time to remove the Metzora’s hair – a prohibition against shaving the beard (plus a similar prohibition specific to Kohanim – when a Kohen who is a Metzora might need to be shaved), and that of a Nazir who would otherwise not be allowed to shave.] 

The consecration of the Kohanim does not require a hair-shave while that of the Leviim does. Why? The Kohanim in general have a mitzvah to keep their hair short (Vayikra 10:6, Sefer Hachinukh 149). This would seem to imply that there is no reason for them to have a special “shaving” of consecration. 

Aren’t the Leviim also being “consecrated” – as opposed to the Nazir and Metzora that each did something to cause his need for a shave? Shakh on the Torah suggests that it is the razor itself which is symbolic for the Leviim. While it says "they will pass a razor on their flesh" the Torah does not go into detail as to what they'll actually shave, because it is the act of the moving of the razor that is symbolic, not the removal of the hair (as it is in the case of the Metzora). The Leviim had an appetite for the sword, as was originally demonstrated by their ancestor's actions in wiping out the city of Shechem (along with his brother Shimon). They took the same sword to punish those who had sinned at the Golden Calf (compare Bereshit 34:25 to Shmot 32:27). The razor needed to be passed over the body as a 'kapparah' for their distasteful act, inspired by the bad angel Sama'el, of using the sword to carry out justice. Therefore, the razor, and not the actual hair removal is what becomes the focus. 

 Ironically, Baal HaTurim notes on 13:45 that the word פרוע, which appears here and in the story of the Golden Calf, implies that those guilty of Golden-Calf-Activity were stricken with tzaraas. The Gemara in Arakhin notes 7 sins that could cause tzaraas: א״ר שמואל בר נחמני א״ר יוחנן על שבעה דברים נגעים באין על לשון הרע ועל שפיכות דמים ועל שבועת שוא ועל גילוי עריות ועל גסות הרוח ועל הגזל ועל צרות העין. (slander, murder, perjury, debauchery, pride, theft, and jealousy) Note how idolatry is not there! So which of these were the people guilty of at the Golden Calf? That is obviously a more complicated situation anyway, so we’ll leave the question as a thought one, without answering it here. 

 Our takeaway for this parsha is that the Metzora’s process was meant to be transformative to teshuva, along with a reminder that “I don’t want to go down that path again.” While we don’t have tzaraas now as a deterrent, perhaps we can take the lesson all the same, that as such a process is not to our liking, we should avoid the activities that would otherwise put us on that path.