[Avodah] Metzora and Zav

[Akiva Miller]

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Tumas meis and sheretz, for example, are supernatural phenomena. If
someone has been in contact with tumah, and is infected with that
tumah, there is no physical evidence of this infection. We are aware
of the tumah if and only if we know about the events that took place,
and the status of the things in those events.

Both tzaraas and zav are examples of a different sort of tumah. They
have physical symptoms that are easily visible to the untrained eye
(although not everyone is qualified to evaluate those symptoms), so
much so that they can be easily confused with medical illnesses. But
they are spiritual illnesses, not medical ones. And in fact, Torah
Sheb'al Peh is chock full of spiritual reasons why a person would
become a metzora - Lashon Hara being the most famous of these,
miserliness and others being mentioned less frequently.

My question is this: Are there any suggestions why a person would
become a zav? If a person finds that he is a zav, does this indicate
some specific aveira or midah that he needs to work on? Or is it just
another case of, "Oy, look what happened to me; I need to improve
myself in general."

(Please note: This post is NOT an attempt to categorize all the many
kinds of tumah. The first two paragraphs are designed only to show a
similarity between tzaraas and zav, and then to highlight a
difference.)

Akiva Miller