Tazriah-metzorah
Simcha Tamkin

One of the main topics that this week's parashah discusses is the laws of tzaraat. There are sevaral types of tzaraat, and they can appear on either your skin, your clothes, or your house. All the laws of tzaraat that were given in the desert were immediately applicable, except for the tzaraat of the houses.
"when you arrive in the land of Canaan that I give you as a posession, and I will place a tzaraat affliction upon a house in the land of your posession." -Leviticus 14:34


Picture yourself as one of the people who conquered Eretz Yisrael. You have fought hard for your land, taken over the Canaanite houses, and removed all traces of idol worship. You have just settled down in your new house, when you realize that your house has tzaraat and must be knocked down. Why did Hashem phrase His words as if to say he would put tzaraat on the houses regardless of whether people actually sinned? Rashi says that Hashem purposely put tzaraat on the homes of Bnei Yisrael after they conqeured the land. The Caananites had hidden treasure in the walls of their homes to hide it from Bnei Yisrael, and when Bnei Yisrael knocked down the houses to get rid of the tzaraat, they found the treasure in the houses.

The parsha teaches us another important lesson about tzaraat. When someone gets tzaraat for telling lashon harah, they must go through an embarrassing and cumbersome process of seclusion for a number of weeks. This process of hasgarah and hachlatah causes the person short term damage to his reputation, but in the long run, he and all of Am Yisrael become better people because of the lessons learnt.

Shabbat Shalom