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When you enter the land of Canaan that I give you as an inheritance, and I shall place the plague of leprosy in
your house in the land of your inheritance.
According to Rashi, this section is intended to serve as a notice, or "Besorah," to the Jewish people that their
houses will be afflicted by Tzaraat, leprosy, requiring them to be dismantled. However, the reason for this
occurrence is that the Emorites hid treasures underneath these same houses before the Jews entered Eretz
Yisrael, which will then be uncovered when the houses are taken apart. This comment of Rashi, based on Chazal,
seems to indicate that the occurrence of Nigei Batim, leprosy of the house, is in fact a positive event designed to
help the Jews uncover the treasures. After all, the treasures were probably worth far more than the value of the
house itself. However, it is difficult to understand how Nigei Batim can be a positive event designed to help the
Jews attain wealth when the Gemara (Arachin 16a) states that Nigei Batim are a punishment for Tzarut Ayin,
or stinginess, and Beito Meyuchad Lo, not letting others borrow ones possessions. How can it be both
simultaneously?
Rav Moshe Feinstein (Darash Moshe, Parshat Metzora) answers that although those whose homes were afflicted
with tzaraat did indeed merit to receive the treasure hidden there, they must have been guilty of some sin, as if
they were completely righteous, Hashem would have ensured that the money would be received without all the
stress involved in the destruction of the house in the process (anyone who has suffered through losing a house
due to hurricane flooding can identify with this). Since these individuals are forced to suffer in the process of
receiving the "prize," we see that they must also be receiving a punishment for sinning, for which teshuvah must be
done, while at the same time worthy enough to receive a great reward.
According to RMoshe, it seems that the lesson here is that many occurrences in our lives, both individual and
communal, contain both good and bad elements, and there are thus 2 levels to these events: A) Receiving a
reward for which we must give thanks B) receiving a punishment which we must accept as Divine rebuke for sins
that must be uncovered and for which teshuvah must be done.
This lesson is a critical one to ponder on the national level during this time of year, when we celebrate Yom
HaZikaron, Yom HaAtzmaut, and Yom Yerushalayim. We must be extraordinarily thankful for receiving the State of
Israel, a gift from Hashem, and demonstrate this gratefulness in a tangible way (whatever method we deem
appropriate to "celebrate" Yom HaAtzmaut), while at the same time engage in collective introspection to determine
why so much sorrow and suffering has accompanied this process, for which we as a people should do teshuvah.
Hopefully this dual response will evoke further Divine favor and quickly lead to the complete redemption of our
people.
[note: for more on the various hashkafic perspectives on Yom HaAtzmaut, see my article on this topic
at http://www.yutorah.org/togo/haatzmaut/articles/Yom_Haatzmaut_To-Go_-_5770_Rabbi_Ozerowski.pdf ]