It is a phenomenon unlike any in the Torah. Tzaraat, often mistranslated as leprosy, has no real translation, just like it has no real analogue or rational explanation. It was, for want of a better word, a “disease” that was caused by sin. The sinner would have their house, clothing, and then their skin infected with tzaraat. There is no other instance in the Torah where we find a spiritual illness: a disease of the body generated solely by sin. In a rare moment of intellectual resignation, Rambam, who frequently tries to rationalise almost all areas of Jewish Law, abandons any attempt at such an explanation for tzaraat. He declares: “It is a wondrous miracle that has been nationally accepted by tradition…”[1].

There are two crucial features of tzaraat on which I would like to focus: First, why did people get tzaraat? The Talmud[2] lists seven different sins for which it could be a punishment. Of all of them, lashon hara (evil speech) , has most commonly been associated with tzaraat[3]. Second, tzaraat, intriguingly, takes the form of patches of discoloured skin. In his magnum opus, the Kuzari, R. Yehuda HaLevi offers a novel suggestion as to why tzaraat appeared this way:

This was one of the characteristics of the Shekhinah (God’s Presence): it occupies in in (the People of) Israel the same place as the spirit of life in the human body. This divine life force benefitted them and gave them lustre and beauty, in their bodies, dispositions, and houses. When it was absent from them, their intelligence waned, their bodies deteriorated, and their beauty faded. When it distanced itself from individuals, on each one of them came a sign of the distancing of the light of the Shekhinah from them…(2:62)

Tzaraat happened when the godly spirit began to leave a person. Their life force was diminished, so their lustre waned. Just as a dead body begins to discolour and disintegrate, so too does the flesh of the person with tzaraat. Part of them has died, and this becomes visually perceptible.

This idea is best exemplified by the process undergone by one afflicted with tzaraat:

It is a positive commandment for a man afflicted with tzara’at who has been quarantined to cover his head throughout the time he is quarantined. He should be cloaked until his lips like a mourner, his clothes should be torn and he must notify those who pass by him that he is impure, as it states: “And the person afflicted with tzara’at who has the blemish shall….” (Leviticus 13:45). … he is forbidden to greet others throughout the time he is quarantined as a mourner is he is forbidden to cut his hair and launder…(Rambam, Hilchot Tumat Tzaraat 10:6)

The practices mentioned here parallel those of another area of Jewish Law: Aveilut. A person mourning for a close relative does many of them. The person with tzaraat is clearly in mourning. But for who? The answer is simple: for themselves. Part of them has died.

Why, of all sins, does the sin of lashon hara carry such a punishment? To understand why, we have to go back to the very first biblical story and reexamine the very concept of speech:

וַיִּיצֶר֩ ה’ אֱלֹקים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה: (בראשית ב:ז)

Hashem-God formed the Man from the dust of the earth, and He blew into his nostrils the breath of life: then and the Man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

The translation of these final two words “נפש חיה” is far from straightforward. Many suggestions could be credible. Remarkably, Targum Onkelos deviates from his usual alignment with the simple reading of the text. He translates this verse as follows:

Hashem-God made Man (from the) dust of the earth and He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and it became in man a “רוח ממללא-talking spirit”.

According to Onkelos, God’s breath blown into Man is what made him able to speak. A human is a composite of the dust of the earth and of God’s breath. That breath, embodied, is what makes us able to speak.

From a very basic conceptual perspective, speech does indeed seem to be the place where body meets soul. The sounds of speech come from the mouth, clearly part of the human body. However, the source of their content is far less obvious. They give voice to the thoughts of the soul. Speech is the medium through which the soul is heard in the physical world. It is the meeting point of body and soul.

This itself is wondrous; body and soul should not be able to meet: they exist in different planes, they have no common ground. Yet our lived experience tells us that through speech they do. It is a godly gift.

Perhaps now we can understand both the nature of tzaraat and the way it manifests itself. It is a spiritual phenomenon that makes its appearance in physical form, rather like speech itself. Yet, its symbolism goes deeper still: speech is a godly gift. Our ability to speak is a foundational component of our being made in the image of God. When we misuse this gift, we shed part of our godly image. As R. Yehuda HaLevi said: the Divine Presence, inbuilt within us, begins to depart. The skin loses its light, because the candle beneath it has smoldered.

A similar idea, albeit symbolic, can be seen in one of the more mysterious halakhot of mourning. Namely “כפיית המטה-overturning the bed”. For various reasons this is no longer practiced. When it was, mourners would have to overturn all the beds in their house. The reason behind this strange ritual? The Talmud, in the name of Bar Kappara, explains:

“I (God) placed my image in them, and in  their sins, they have overturned it, therefore they must overturn their beds because of it!” (Moed Katan 15a)

God made Man in His image. When a person dies, the small but significant sliver of God’s image that was housed in that individual disappears. God’s image is lessened. All death[4] comes from sin. Hence, God’s image is lessened by sin. The bed, the place of procreation, is ultimately a place of bringing God’s image into the world. It is symbolically overturned, for its efforts have been thwarted, when God’s image has left this world.

Remnants of this halakha have trickled into “מנהג-custom”, and it is used by some[5] to explain the source for the widespread custom of covering up mirrors in a “בית אבל-House of Mourning” The essential idea is the same. The mirror reflects the human image. That image, which in turn is a seat of the Divine image, has been lessened by death. Hence, it is covered.

The same can be said for the person with tzaraat: he has shed part of his godly image. The reflection of the Divine, encased in the gift of speech, has been desecrated by his lashon hara.

Speech is where body and soul meet. It is a godly gift breathed into earthly man. If we misuse it, we are lessened.

[1] Moreh Nevukim 3:47

[3] See for example Rambam, Hilchot Tumat Tzaraat 16:10

[4] the phenomenon rather than that of an individual

[5] Derashot Chatam Sofer 2:387

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