[Avodah] Metzora

[Dov Kay]

<R' Dov Kay asked:
<Why does the Torah shebichsav spend so much time spelling out the details
of tzora'as relative to other, more practically relevant areas of halacha
<(eg hilchos Shabbos)?

<<We can ask this about many things. For example the Torah describes in
excruciating detail the design of the mishkan and then repeats it for
the building of the mishkan. Considering that the whole mishkan is not
even l'doros there is a tremendous amount of the Torah Shebkisav
devoted to it. On the other hand take a mitzva we do every day,
tefillin, the Torah devotes basically 1 pasuk to it giving us no
details at all of what tefillin should be, look like, etc. These are
just 2 examples, there are many more. I would be interested to know if
any of the mefarshim had a principle explaining why certain mitzvos
the Torah goes into detail and why some not.>>

I did not refer to the Mishkan case, because this could be considered sui 
generis.  After all, it dominated the life of the b'nei dor hamidbar and 
might have been dealt with at length in the Torah because of its symbolic or 
mystical significance.

However, I find it hard to be believe that tzora'as was ever the most 
practically significant topic facing any generation, including the dor 
hamidbar.  It is, and I use the term without any value judgement, obscure.  
Of course, a learning a mishna in Negaim is just as valuable as learning a 
mishna in Shabbos or B'rachos.  But that does not explain why the Torah 
spends far more time on this area than other, more practically relevant 
ones.

Gut erev Shabbos
Dov Kay

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