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Category: Metzora

Room for a Miracle

Vayikra (Leviticus) 14:1-15:33 | M’lakhim Bet (2 Kings) 7:3–20

Torah portion Metzorah describes the complicated rituals involved for the cleansing of the leper. These rituals are not, however, cures for leprosy. Rather, they are purification rituals to be employed after the leper is already free of the disease. The Haftarah tells a story about four lepers in the days of the prophets. Presumably some time after Na’aman the Aramean (from last week’s reading) was cured of his leprosy, one of the frequent marauding Aramean bands encamped around Samaria threatening to take the famine-stricken city. Naturally the people and the king were afraid. However, Elisha exhorted all of them to cast aside their fears. God had given him a glimpse into the spiritual realm in which he beheld legions of angels, complete with battle chariots, defending the city.

A Hopeless Situation

Often times what appears to be a hopeless situation, in God’s hands, is an opportunity for sanctifying His Name. Leprosy, for example, in this week’s Torah portion, becomes an opportunity for offering sacrifice and praise when the leper is healed. In the Haftarah, the four lepers encamped between the city walls of Samaria and the besieging Aramean army, are in a hopeless situation, but it is one that God turns around for His glory.

Our four heroes enter the stage in verse three in a rather dismal mood. We are told that they were afflicted with the same leprosy that Na’aman was troubled with in chapter five: they are also called metzora’im. They were despondent because of their plight. On the one hand they could not enter the city because they knew they would die from the famine. If they stayed put they would also eventually die, either because of the famine or because of their affliction. They decided that since there was nothing to loose, they would go out in glory. They would trust their fate to the hands of their enemies, the Arameans, saying, “If they spar...

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