From The Masters Of Kabbalah and Chumash (5 Books of
Moses)
13th century - "RambaN" - Rabbi Moshe ben
Nachman
14th century - "Bachya" - Rabbi Bachya ben
Asher
16th century - "Alsheich" - Rabbi Moshe
Alshech of Tsfat
17th century - "Shelah" - Rabbi Yeshaiya
Horowitz
18th century - "Ohr HaChayim" - Rabbi Chaim
Ben Attar
Ramban
"When a women conceives and gives birth to a male…"
[12:2]
The Rabbis have said: "If the woman emits seed first, then she will
bear a son" [and if the man first, then a daughter]. The intent of
the Rabbis was not that the child is formed from the woman's seed, for
although the woman has generative organs [i.e., ovaries] like those of
the man, yet they do not form seed at all, or [if it is formed], that
seed is not thick and does not contribute anything to the embryo. Rather,
the Rabbis used the term "she emits seed" with reference to
the blood of the womb, which gathers in the mother at the time of the
consummation of coition, and attaches itself to the seed of the male.
For in the opinion of the Rabbis the child is formed from the blood of
the female and the white [semen] of the man, and both of them are called
"seed". Thus the Rabbis have said: "There are three partners
in [the formation of man]: The male, emits the white [semen], from which
are formed the sinews, the bones, and the white substance in the eye.
The female emits a red secretion from which are formed the skin, the flesh,
the blood, the hair, and the black substance in the eye." "And
the Holy One, blessed be He [i.e. the third partner in the formation of
the child] gives him spirit and soul. Beauty of features, power of sight,
power of hearing, speech and walk, and understanding and rational faculty"
(Niddah 31a).
(credits)
Rabbeinu Bachya
"As long as he has
turned completely white, he is clean." [13:13]
We see from the example of the nega-im that G-d's supervision
of man's fate (Israel's) is comprehensive. No aspect of these phenomena
is due to natural causes. Every phenomenon as well as its sequence is
supernatural. Moreover, no such phenomena ever occurred outside the boundaries
of the Holy Land. According to Nachmanides we must not misunderstand this
to mean that is was the nature of the soil in the Holy Land to respond
in such a fashion to non-observance of certain laws of the Torah. The
phenomena merely reflect that the Lord watches with special intensity
everything which goes on amongst the Jewish people while they live in
Eretz Yisrael. These phenomena testify to the presence of guilt
amongst the Israelites. (compare Psalms 89:33) "I will punish
their iniquity with plagues." All of this in order to encourage
the guilty to leave that path and to return to G-d faithfully so as to
rid themselves of their guilt. We find an allusion to all this even in
the words of our portion "if all of him has turned white he will
be ritually clean." The line has a double meaning, i.e., that
not only has the entire skin of the afflicted person turned white, but
it is considered a symptom that he has become free from sin.
(credits)
Alsheich
"And it will be when a man shall have on the skin of his flesh
a swelling, a scab, or bright spot, and it be on the skin of his flesh
the plague of tzara'at; then he shall be brought to Aharon the priest,
or to one of his sons the priests" [13:2]
Why are the words 'and it will be on the skin of his flesh' necessary
in verse 2, when we have heard the same thing i.e. 'when there will be
on the skin of his flesh etc.' in the first half of the same sentence?
How does the rule of our sages (Megillah 10) that the expression ve-hayah,
and it will be, denotes something positive, joyful, apply here? Surely,
suffering from such a social disease is not joyful?
When a human being, adam, is of the caliber that a sin is something
exceptional to him, something not really part of his character, then such
a sin creates a visible affliction, becomes noticeable because it is so
alien to the rest of his body. When a person however, commits sins as
a matter of routine, his whole skin is such that an affliction would be
usual and therefore hardly noticeable, since it is essentially only a
new variation of an existing condition.
The tzara'at phenomenon, applied in times when the average Jew
qualified for the term adam, and was of high moral stature. Such
a Jew could be called to order through the incidence of a skin disease
which would remind him that he had been guilty of some misdemeanor. Any
Jew, however, who denies the concept of impurity, where it originates,
what causes it etc. is certainly not on the level where such affliction
would have a moral effect on him. The expression 'and it will become an
affliction on the skin of his flesh', then is the supreme compliment that
the Torah can pay a person. It is gratifying for a person afflicted with
this tzara'at to know that G'd has put him in the class of human
beings who are sensitive to any physical disorder being a product of their
own shortcomings.
(credits)
Shelah
"A person having a blemish in his skin…." (Lev.
13:2)
We can understand this in relation to the vestments for the priests,
which were to be "for dignity and adornment". These were to
symbolize the "garments of light" [in Hebrew. 'ohr', spelled
with its first letter alef], which Adam and Eve wore before the sin of
the Tree of Knowledge; they had to subsequently exchange these garments
for those of "ohr" spelled with an ayin [instead of an alef
as above], meaning "skin" - garments of skin.
While on one hand this demonstrates a fall from grace, Onkelos translates
the term for "garments of skin" as "precious garments"
(see Gen. 3:21). At first glance it seems that Onkelos is mixing the term
spelled with an alef with the term spelled with an ayin. In fact, he is
alluding to a mystical dimension to this comparison which is rooted in
the verse: "…as the advantage of light over darkness."
(Ecclesiastes 2:13) The message there is that G-d makes purity emerge
even out of impurity. [From the "skin", the external aspect
of our beings, will eventually come a spiritual benefit; what appeared
to be a descent will ultimately be an advantage.]
(credits)
Ohr HaChayim
"A woman who brings forth seed by giving birth to a male child,
she shall be ritually unclean for seven days…" [12:2]
The inadequacy of the Jewish people at the time of the Exodus is underlined
in Deut. 4:34 where G-d describes the Exodus as wrenching one people from
the midst of the same people, something that made it legally difficult
for G-d to justify taking the Israelites out of Egypt when He did. That
redemption had been described only in female terms and that is why it
did not endure in the end and the Temple was destroyed.
Not so the redemption of the future which will occur as a direct result
of Israel's merits. First and foremost among those merits is Israel's
preoccupation with Torah as described in Deut. 31:21 something that will
never be forgotten even during a protracted period of exile.
The Torah continues: "she shall be ritually unclean for seven days,"
the mother contracts ritual impurity as a result of giving birth. Here
the Torah alludes to the way G-d initiates a process which culminates
in the rehabilitation of Israel so that it will attain a spiritual level
that qualifies for the description zachar (male). The days mentioned
here are to be understood as seven years similar to Genesis 24:55 where
Laban and his mother wanted Rebecca to delay her departure by "yamim"
(days) i.e. a year. The years which are viewed as the "chevleh
mashiach" - the birth pangs of Messiah, last for seven years
during which Israel will be refined spiritually in preparation of his
arrival. He will make his appearance during the eighth year.
On he eight day, at the beginning of the eight day (year), the baby is
to have its foreskin removed, i.e. the concept of a foreskin which acts
as a barrier between man and G-d will be removed from the universe. We
read in Zachariah 13:2 that G-d will destroy the spirit of impurity form
the earth. This will occur during the eight year. It is well known that
conceptually the foreskin is identical with the forces of the klippah,
the spiritually negative emanations. When the Torah wrote the word unclean,
describing the state of the mother, this is a simile for the afflictions
experienced during the birth pangs of the Messiah.
(credits)
Sources
Ramban
- credits
Adapted from the 13th century classic by the illustrious scholar, philosopher
and defender of the faith, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman-known as 'RAMBAN' or
'Nachmanides', a master kabbalist in his own right and a major link in
the transmission of Jewish mysticism-based on the excellent annotated
English translation, Nachmanides on the Torah, by Rabbi Dr. Charles B.
Chavel
Bachya
- credits
Selected with permission from the seven-volume English edition of The
Torah Commentary of Rabbeinu Bachya, as translated and annotated by Eliyahu
Munk. Rabbi Bachya ben Asher [1255-1340] of Saragosa, Spain, was the outstanding
pupil of Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (the "Rashba"), a main disciple
of Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (the "Ramban"). Several books have
been written about the Kabballah-based portions of R. Bachya's commentary.
Alsheich
- credits
Adapted from Torat Moshe - the 16th commentary of Rabbi Moshe Alshech,
the "Preacher of Zefat" on the Torah, as translated and condensed
in the English version of Eliyahu Munk)
Shelah
- credits
Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz was born in Prague around the year 1565. He served
as Rabbi of Cracow and other congregations before he was appointed as
the Rabbi of the community of Frankfurt on Main in the year 1610. In 1916,
Rabbi Horowitz moved to Prague where he became the Chief Rabbi of the
city. He moved to Eretz Yisrael about 1621. He was rabbi in Jerusalem
and in Tiberias, where he died in or about 1630. In addition to his magnus
opus, Shenei Luchot HaBrit, he also compiled an edition of the prayer-book
with a comprehensive commentary. Many of his innovations, including his
formulation of the Kol Nidrei prayer, have become part and parcel of the
Ashkenazi Siddur.
Ohr HaChayim
- credits
Selected with permission from the five-volume English edition of Ohr HaChaim:
the Torah Commentary of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar, as translated and annotated
by Eliyahu Munk.
The holy Rabbi Chayim ben Moses Attar was born in Sale, Western Morocco,
on the Atlantic in 1696. His immortal commentary on the Five Books Of
Moses, Or Hachayim, was printed in Venice in 1741, while the author was
on his way to the Holy Land. He acquired a reputation as a miracle worker,
hence his title "the holy," although some apply this title only
to his Torah commentary.
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