[Avodah] Metzora and Zav

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Apr 22, 2018 at 07:12:36AM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
: 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....

The relationship to a kohein is trickier than that, as their is no tum'ah
until after the declaration. He is more parallel to an eid qiyum than
an eid birur.

For example, Vayiqra 14:36 tells a person to remove all the items from
his home before the kohein comes to inspect a potential nega in it. Even
even if the kohein sees the same unchanged splotch and declares it a nega,
those itsems are not tamei. It wasn't a nega until the declaration.

...
: 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."

Tum'as leidah isn't because something is spiritually awry with the
mother. So I am not sure we have to assume that zivah is like tzara'as.

Lefi RSRH, tum'ah comes from things that could make us overly identify
with our bodies -- death, birth, the kinds of sheratzim that share our
homes (in EY), niddah... Zivah and leidah would fit that pattern.

So would tzara'as, because it too feels like the body is rebelling against
the will. The difference is that chazal is saying the body really is
rebelling (or made to show rebellion) against a tainted will.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 34th day, which is
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