Parshat Metzora
The Four Lepers
The Parshat Hashavua continues the theme of tzara'at and the haftara tells the story of four lepers who saved ancient kingdom.
In order to understand the story, we need some background.
Ben Hadad, king of Aram was besieging the city of Samaria. The siege caused a severe famine for the inhabitants of Samaria, so much so that a donkey's head sold at 80 pieces of silver and a small amount of dove's dung sold for five silver pieces. Moreover, the king comes across an episode of cannibalism, when a mother ate her own child.
The king blames Elisha, the prophet, for the famine and tries to have him killed. However, Elisha prophesizes that the famine would end the very next day. Indeed, a se'ah of fine flour would be sold for as little as one shekel.
One of he king's officers scoffed at this news. Even if the siege would end the next day, with Israel being victorious in battle, there was no way they could be rehabilitated to such an extent that the value of flour would drop so quickly.
And so our story begins, the four lepers, who live outside the gates of the city, in keeping with the rule that lepers were impure and would be forbidden from entering the camp.
They accept that if they stay put, they would die of hunger. However, if they turned themselves over to the Arameans, they would have small chance of being spared. That is what they decide to do.
Yet, when they approach the Aramean camp, they find it deserted of human life. The Arameans, believing that the Hittites and the Egyptians were on the way to rescue them, fled. So hasty was their departure that they left all their supplies behind.
When the lepers discover this, they inform the king of Israel. The story is verified and with the abundance of food, famine ends, and just as Elisha had promised, "seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel" (II Melachim 7:16).
One of the messages of this story is to teach us the swiftness of salvation: one day food was so scarce that Israel was reduced to eating animal feces and even cannibalism, yet the very next day, flour had lost its value. A similar event occurred at the Exodus, one moment Israel believes itself to be on the verge of annihilation, a few hours later, the Egyptians were all lying dead on the banks of the Red Sea.
However bad our predicament may be, however, unending the sorrow may seem to last, one must never give up hope that it all can change in an instant that our sorrow can to turn to joy, that our fears of annihilation can actually herald our redemption.
The Four Lepers
The Parshat Hashavua continues the theme of tzara'at and the haftara tells the story of four lepers who saved ancient kingdom.
In order to understand the story, we need some background.
Ben Hadad, king of Aram was besieging the city of Samaria. The siege caused a severe famine for the inhabitants of Samaria, so much so that a donkey's head sold at 80 pieces of silver and a small amount of dove's dung sold for five silver pieces. Moreover, the king comes across an episode of cannibalism, when a mother ate her own child.
The king blames Elisha, the prophet, for the famine and tries to have him killed. However, Elisha prophesizes that the famine would end the very next day. Indeed, a se'ah of fine flour would be sold for as little as one shekel.
One of he king's officers scoffed at this news. Even if the siege would end the next day, with Israel being victorious in battle, there was no way they could be rehabilitated to such an extent that the value of flour would drop so quickly.
And so our story begins, the four lepers, who live outside the gates of the city, in keeping with the rule that lepers were impure and would be forbidden from entering the camp.
They accept that if they stay put, they would die of hunger. However, if they turned themselves over to the Arameans, they would have small chance of being spared. That is what they decide to do.
Yet, when they approach the Aramean camp, they find it deserted of human life. The Arameans, believing that the Hittites and the Egyptians were on the way to rescue them, fled. So hasty was their departure that they left all their supplies behind.
When the lepers discover this, they inform the king of Israel. The story is verified and with the abundance of food, famine ends, and just as Elisha had promised, "seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel" (II Melachim 7:16).
One of the messages of this story is to teach us the swiftness of salvation: one day food was so scarce that Israel was reduced to eating animal feces and even cannibalism, yet the very next day, flour had lost its value. A similar event occurred at the Exodus, one moment Israel believes itself to be on the verge of annihilation, a few hours later, the Egyptians were all lying dead on the banks of the Red Sea.
However bad our predicament may be, however, unending the sorrow may seem to last, one must never give up hope that it all can change in an instant that our sorrow can to turn to joy, that our fears of annihilation can actually herald our redemption.
Labels: four lepers, swift redemption, tsara't
posted by Moshe Abelesz | 11:21 PM
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