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The
Chatam Sofer on Tazria
Hagaon
Rav Moshe
Sofer zt”l on Parshat Tazria
(from
Chatam
Sofer on Vayikra)
The
Plague: Man's Shame and Pride
Print Version
The
Torah follows the passages about the permissible
and forbidden animals (the end of Parshat Shmini)
with the laws of purity pertaining to humans (Parshiot
Tazria and Metzora). Rav Simlai in the Medrash comments,
"Just as man's formation ("yetzirato") follows that
of the animals, so man's Torah (laws pertaining
to him) follows that of the animals."
Is this praise of man or the opposite? The Chatam
Sofer suggests that it can be both. If man sins,
says the Medrash, G-d tells him, "The mosquito preceded
you!" They are greater than he. On the other hand,
man enters the world as a king, presented with a
complete universe, "You have placed everything at
his feet." (Tehillim 8:7) A good person is the height
of creation, but one who sins drops below the lowest
of the animals.
The Torah expresses this by placing the "Torah"
of man after that of all the animals. The laws spoken
about in Tazria and Metzora are, according to tradition,
related to man's sins. The Torah saves these until
after the laws of the animals. As a rule negative
things are saved for last ("Lo makdimin puranut").
This is man's shame - forced to be last, following
all of the animals.
However, sometimes misfortune comes to man despite
- even as a result of -- his righteousness. There
is a concept of "sufferings of love" that G-d brings
very great tzaddikim. This represents the other
side of man's Torah being presented last. The tzaddik
rises to the apex of creation.
But even plagues that come upon the sinning man
are indicative of his high status. These plagues
were given to the people of Israel out of love and
G-d's desire to purify and better them, to bring
them to teshuva, repentence. These are also mentioned
last as a sign of man's high status. Just as in
all matters of holiness we always progress towards
the highest level ("maalin bakodesh"), the Torah
works up to the section of the plagues.
When man sins he sinks to the lowest level of creation,
but G-d's special concern for helping him repair
his faults indicates how high he really is.
[prepared
by Eliezer Kwass]
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