Parshiyot
Tazria-Metzora

The opening words of the haftarah that we read for this parsha, provides us with the clear connection to our parshiyot. “V’arbaah anashim hayu metzoraim petach hashaar—And there were four metzoraim (lepers) at the gate (of the city Shomron),” echoes the topic covered in the Torah reading: laws of contamination and purification of the metzora. The rest of the haftarah, however, seems to have little connection—if any—to the detailed laws of tumah and tahara that fill the parshiyot we read. There is, however, an important lesson we can learn from the salvation brought to Israel by Hashem through these four metzoraim.

In its comprehensive review of the laws of tzara’at (a biblical skin disease), the Torah condemns the leper to isolation—“badad yeshev,” he must remain isolated, outside of the Israelite camp. As our haftarah relates, these “lepers” were, indeed, relegated to a “lonely” area—isolated outside of the city. I would imagine that such a punishment—a limited form of “solitary confinement”—would have the effect of alienating these impure individuals. How understandable it would have been for these abandoned individuals to turn their back on the community that had treated them in such a fashion. Indeed, a close reading of the episode seems to indicate that these metzoraim may have well grappled with these very feelings.

Upon discovering that the enemy camp had been abandoned and that the Aramean army had left all their belongings and provisions behind, these starving people pounced upon the booty to satisfy their hunger and thirst. Certainly, an understandable reaction by the suffering outcasts. But as they began to take the wealth that the enemy left behind, they paused, considered and agreed that it would be wrong of them to enrich themselves and, thereby, delay spreading the news to their starving brethren in the city. “We would be considered sinful,” they said, if they did not return to the city before dawn to report on their findings.

These people had been “rejected,” in a sense, by their own and yet they understood that—although they were relegated to dwelling outside the city—they were still part of Am Yisrael, and remained connected to the body politic. And they were still expected to act responsibly.

The Israelites who remained in the city also understood that these “outcasts” were not cast out of the nation. They did not question the fact that their salvation had come through those who were exiled “out of the camp.” They didn’t reject their report or their help. They too, recognized that even those who might have sinned and been separated from the nation were still part and parcel of their nation.

In times of difficulty and suffering—whether due to economic distress or military threat—a nation unites and her individuals sacrifice for the common good. At such times, political differences, religious conflicts and legal disputes must be set aside. Whether considered as pariahs, cast out of the community or seen as upstanding leaders of society, everyone is part and parcel of the whole. Soldiers who fight as one to protect, volunteers who help gather fruits or the throngs who comfort the mourning, pray for the sick and tend for the elderly are all part of the nation … and no one should be considered “outside” of the camp.

It is a lesson we learn from our haftarah and one we have seen with our own eyes. On this Shabbat—the week of Yom Ha’Atzmaut—we keep in mind this important lesson. The establishment of our state was a miracle wrought by Hashem and brought to fruition by those who, many mistakenly believed, were “outside of the camp,”—distant and separated from the Jewish nation and Jewish values. And yet, Hashem chose them to help bring His salvation to His suffering people, because He recognized that they never felt that distant; that they were never truly “outsiders.”

Galut, the exile, was long and painful. During this time of Geula, of ingathering, we dare not keep any Jew outside of the camp. And recent events should teach that as well.

Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Fort Lee, and now lives in Israel.