One of the most challenging things for a person is to admit that they have erred. When possible, we prefer to brush it under the rug or make believe it never happened, and hope that our mistake will go unnoticed.
Which is why it makes sense that for many centuries, this week’s Torah portion, Metzorah, was not called Metzorah at all, but by the more monotonal name, Zot Te’yeh. Metzorah refers to a person who comes down with a skin disease—not a pleasant reference—while Zot Te’yeh means “this shall happen” to the person who is afflicted. This is more of an indirect reference to the topic than saying it “out loud,” since we don’t really like to talk about subjects that make us uncomfortable.
This begs the question, why did the name of the Torah portion change?
An afflicted person must be quarantined outside the community. For the purification process to start, the Kohen (priest) visits them to determine if they are healing. Based on what we just read, the verse should say, “and the priest should go to them.” However, it says that “you should bring them to the priest.” Seemingly, this doesn’t make sense, since they are outside of the camp already. So how can they be brought to the priest? Shouldn’t the priest go to them?
The reason why the Torah words it like this is because if the priest goes to a person without the person being ready for a visit, then the purpose of the visit will be futile. Meaning, if a person doesn’t recognize what caused them to become afflicted in the first place, then even if the symptoms of the affliction are gone, we must ask, are they ready to come back to civilization? Did they learn from their mistakes? Are they ready to admit that they did something wrong in the first place? Was the lesson learned?
Being quarantined is not meant to be a punishment as much as a time to reflect why one was afflicted.
That is why it is important to help this person “come to the priest,” i.e., come to recognize the priest within themselves—G-d within their own life, within their own being—so that they will not come to sin again.
Over the years, we become more open to the recognition of our faults, more open to say we’re sorry, and that is reflected in the way we name the weekly Torah portion as well.
Although on the surface we may question a lack of sensitivity in the name of the portion, in actuality, the name change is a positive sign of our growth in our coming to recognize our faults and growing by learning from our mistakes.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Pesach.