Tzara’as would afflict a person gradually. First it would appear on the walls of one’s house, then on one’s clothes and then finally on the skin. Its appearance was similar to that of leprosy, but it differed in a number of important ways, notably that tzara’as would appear when a person had been guilty of slanderous talk and disappear when they regretted their actions. Tzara’as would only be diagnosed if the skin or the hair turned certain colours.

Being a spiritual disease, tzara’as would be treated by the Kohanim and not the doctors and no cases of tzara’as have been diagnosed for thousands of years. Why does tzara’as not occur nowadays?

Most of this week’s parshah and the next are dedicated to the laws of tzara’as. What constitutes a genuine infection, what should be done in cases of doubt and how to treat the disease. The Torah’s discussion of the laws of tzaraas is introduced with the verse ‘Odom ki yiyeh be’or besoro – if a man has on the skin of his body.’ Throughout the Torah and Scriptures we find the Jewish people being referred to by four different terms – odom, ish, gever, enosh – all of which translate into ‘man.’ The classic kabbalistic text, the Zohar explains that the highest level is Odom, denoting one who is ‘adameh l’elyon – comparable to the One above.’ It is therefore interesting that it is particularly the ‘odom’ who the Torah talks about being afflicted with tzara’as.

Tzara’as is a superficial affliction of the skin that was a sign from above. It indicated that the victim was in a healthy spiritual state internally and he has merely erred in a superficial manner, by speaking in ways not befitting. As soon as he regretted his ways, he quickly regained his status of Odom.

Nowadays unfortunately we are no longer on the level of Odom. We are on the same spiritual state internally as in the times when the Temple stood in Jerusalem. We do not require a miraculous sign that something is wrong superficially since unfortunately we have internal problems that need to be addressed first in our relationship with G-d.

With Pesach just around the corner, we have an opportunity to get rid of the old and bring in the new. The Hebrew term for Egypt is ‘mitzrayim’ – limitations. By leaving behind our limitations, we can reassess our relationship with G-d and start a meaningful commitment to Torah and mitzvot.