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Metzorah - A lime to a lemon a lemon to a lime 

4/3/2014

1 Comment

 
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We have all heard the expression, when life gives you lemons make lemonade. But when times are tough it can be difficult to have a rosy outlook. The truth is cultivating a positive perspective in difficult times is a talent, a skill that needs to be constantly and consistently developed in order for it to be affective.

In last  week’s parsha we learned all about Tzarat, a disease that afflicts a person’s physical  appearance. However, in this week’s parsha we learn that Tzarat does not  only affect a person's physical appearance  but it can also affect one’s  garments, vessels and even ones own house! 

In some cases the house that contracted Tzarat had to be deconstructed stone by stone. Imagine having to destroy the house you grew up in,  the house where you had your cherished childhood memories, or perhaps where you raised your own children.

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochei makes a puzzling statement regarding a house afflicted with Tzarat, he states that it was good news when A persons house contracted Tzarat. 

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yachi goes on to explain that the past residents of Israel had heard that the Jewish people were coming to the land and so they hid money within the walls of their house’s. When the homes of these Jews got Tzarat, they had to remove the stones and discovered the hidden treasure within.

Sefas Emes states that the Jewish people are given the amazing ability to turn something from Chul (Profane) to Kodesh (Holy). This ability is manifest nowadays through our ability to choose our perspective regarding situations in our personal life, transforming possible negative situations into positive ones.  

At the moment  we are removing the stones from our houses, tasting the sting of the bitter lemons as we do when we are  involved in any difficult struggle in life, we have the ability within all of us to change our perspective on the situation. The gold was within the Jews  house’s the entire time, what we need to do is to go through the struggles to discover it.

1 Comment
Shaul Wertheimer link
4/3/2014 08:40:32 am

A similar idea is expressed by the Sefer Yetzirah, which points out that the word נגע can be rearranged to spell ענג! That is, the Hebrew word for affliction [i.e, of Tzaraas] is the same letters as "pleasure."

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