The affliction of Tzara’at manifests itself as a type of discoloration in skin, material, and even in the walls of a house. If this discoloration is determined by a Kohen (Priest) to be Tzara’at everything in the house will become tamei (ritually impure). Before the Kohen comes to examine the discoloration the Torah gives some practical guidance.
וְצִוָּה הַכֹּהֵן וּפִנּוּ אֶת־הַבַּיִת בְּטֶרֶם יָבֹא הַכֹּהֵן לִרְאוֹת אֶת־הַנֶּגַע וְלֹא יִטְמָא כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר בַּבָּיִת וְאַחַר כֵּן יָבֹא הַכֹּהֵן לִרְאוֹת אֶת־הַבָּיִת׃
The priest shall order the house cleared before the priest enters to examine the plague, so that nothing in the house may become impure; after that the priest shall enter to examine the house. (14:36)
The Mishna in Tractate Negaim (5:12) makes the following observation about this guidance. “Which [of his goods] could become impure? If you were to say, his articles of wood, of cloth or of metal, he could immerse them [in a Mikvah] and they will become pure. What is it that the Torah has spared? His earthenware(which cannot be purified through immersion in a Mikvah), even his cruse and his bucket [which have very little value]. If the Torah thus spared a man’s humble possessions, how much more so would it spare his cherished possessions! If for his material possessions, how much more so for the life of his sons and daughters! If for the possessions of a wicked man, how much more so for the possessions of a righteous one!”
According to this we have a lesson in caring about another person’s possessions. If Hashem cares we certainly should!
The Midrash (Devarim Rabbah 6:8) adds another reason for removing everything from his home. “For what do afflictions (of Tzara’at) come? Through an evil (stingy) eye. Rabbi Yitzchok said, “It is customary in the world that a man should say to his fellow, ‘Lend me your pickaxe, that I should chop this wood.’ And he says [back] to him, ‘I don’t have [one],’ due to an evil eye. So does [the first one] say, ‘By your life, [so] lend me your sieve’; and he has one. And he says, ‘I don’t have [one],’ due to an evil eye. Immediately an affliction comes to his house first. From where [do we know this]? As it states (Leviticus 14:37), ‘And he will see the affliction, and behold the affliction is in the walls.’ And what would they do to him? They would clear out everything that he had inside his house… As it states (Leviticus 14:36), ‘And the priest will command and they will clear out his house.’ When he would remove all of what he had inside his house – his pickaxes and his sieves – they would say, ‘Did you see the evil eye! Since he had in his hand that which was in his house and he didn’t want to lend it. What caused him to clear it out? His having an evil eye.’” This person’s stinginess is being exposed.
The reason of the Torah (elaborated on by the Mishna) and the reason of this Midrash seem diametrically opposed. Is it about caring for his losses or is it about exposing him? Perhaps the answer is that practically valueless earthenware vessels, such as a cruse or bucket which the Mishna described as, “a man’s humble possessions”, typically don’t need to be borrowed by others since they are so cheap and easy to come by. A person’s stinginess wouldn’t be manifest there and therefore according to the reason of the Midrash there would be no need to have to bother removing them from the house. But since the Torah cares about every possession a person owns the Torah says to remove even those humble possessions too.
Rabbi Zev Leff writes that these two reasons actually work together. When the Mishna says that the Torah cares about even humble possessions, the deeper meaning behind that is that everything people own has been given to them by Hashem and it’s been given for the purpose of serving Him. Therefore they should not be wasted.
Accordingly there is no more place for stinginess because a person then realizes that ownership of material possessions is not a goal unto itself, rather it is Hashem supplying the tools by which to serve Him.
Learning all these lessons allow people to live correctly with the material gifts bestowed upon them in peace and tranquility.
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak