Torah Portion: Tazria
“והבגד כי יהיה בו נגע צרעת…” (ויקרא יג מז)
It is a positive commandment to follow the instructions regarding tzara’as in garments, as prescribed in this passage, as it is written: If there shall be a tzara’as affliction in a garment etc. (Vayikra 13:47). This mitzvah encompasses all the laws that govern tzara’as afflictions in garments — which contaminate and which do not; which require quarantine, rending, or burning; and the laws of washing and purification.
Among the root of the mitzvah is the idea that God, in His goodness, wished to chastise us as a father will chastise his son (Devarim 8:5), for the entire concept of tzara’as afflictions in garments is not natural; rather, it is a miraculous phenomenon that exists only amongst the holy nation—the Jewish people. It is so that they learn a lesson when [they see a miraculous] change in the articles that are designed for personal use, which are garments made of wool or linen (the most common materials used by people), and through that they will repent from their evil ways, before tzara’as sprouts on their bodies as well.
This mitzvah applies to both men’s and women’s garments. One who transgressed this and did not follow the instructions prescribed in this portion violated a positive commandment.
