• | Print |
•  Email

Parshat Tazria-Metzora
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו 

Uniting with the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land 

"והזרתם את בני ישראל מטומאתם"

"Bless them, purify them, may You bestow upon them the compassion of Your righteousness always” (Ana Bekoah).

Ultimately, the ability to be purified comes from blessing from Above. So is clear from the cases of lepers and other impure people in this week's parsha, who must be 'cured' of their leprosy, or their other conditions by HaShem in order to be purified. So is also clear in much of the laws of purity, in which one must wait for sunset to be purified, even though one has already made the human efforts to be purified such as dunking in the mikveh. Even a matter that seems to be under human power, such as a mikveh, also emphasizes in many of its laws that human intervention can render is waters as 'drawn' waters (sheuvim), thereby invalidating them.

One of the Godly gifts that give our People purity is the Land of Israel, the only land rendered truly pure Rabbinically. Thus, when separating truma in the Land of Israel on a Biblical level, we are bidden not to impurify this truma. Nevertheless, challa, although it is halachically considered to be a type of truma, may be separated in the Diaspora in impurity. The reason for this is due to the fact that all challa in the Diaspora is only Rabbinically mandated, and therefore the Sages were not stringent on the method of its separation. With the same token, truma separated today in the Land of Israel, which is by most opinions of Rabbinic level, may also be separated in impurity. Therefore, when the majority of Israel settles in the Land of Israel and truma will become Biblically ordained, one will not be able to separate truma in impurity, unless the produce has already been impurified on its own by accident or the like.

Although, as we mentioned, much of purity is a gift from Above, nevertheless, or Sages teach us that it is very important that the initiation towards purity begin with human effort. So our Sages taught, 'one who comes to be purified, he is aided from Above.' In a similar way we can say that one who comes to the Land of Israel to be purified, or even to experience its purity and holiness for a short period of time such as on a visit, will be aided to continue this quest for purity in the future. So we see that many righteous came to the Holy Land throughout the generations in search of purity and holiness, even when they could not permanently dwell in the Land.

In the past we have shown how Hebron is a city that adds purity to all that dwell in it. This purity can be compared to the mikveh which is purified by connecting it to a spring or Godly initiated rain-water. Thus, Hebron sheds purity upon all its inhabitants, as it is connected (Hebron=hibur-connection) to the wellsprings of our People, the Godly Patriarchs, who cleave to the Holy Presence.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Real Stories from the Holy Land #115:

“I was fighting on the third day of the Yom Kippur War in the Golan. We were standing next to a Jeep when one of the officers asked for help taking off his shoe, for apparently he had sprained his foot. After a few minutes nobody answered his request, so I decided to move in his direction to help him. Just then, just where I had been standing before, there was an explosion, and I miraculously found myself saved next to the officer who asked for help...”

Sources: Rambam Trumot ch. 12, Shaar Hahatzer 380, Psikta Zutrta Beshalah 15, 26

Comments, questions, and/or stories, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.