Story from Haftarah teaches about humility

The unifying theme of this week’s Torah portion and its Haftarah is tzaraas, a skin blemish sometimes translated as leprosy. However, our sages generally agree that tzaraas was a heavenly punishment for selfish and anti-social behavior.

Although biblical tzaraas is not common in the contemporary scene, selfish and anti-social behavior is a virtual epidemic. What can this week’s scriptural portions teach us about dealing with a common modern malady?

This week’s Haftorah comes from Kings II and focuses on Na’aman, a non-Jewish general who was stricken with tzaraas. Na’aman’s story provides a detailed example of how tzaraas provided an opportunity for an individual to correct his or her behavior and attitude.

After his affliction with tzaraas, an abducted Jewish maidservant advises Na’aman to see the prophet Elisha. Elisha, with minimal fanfare, advises the general to dip himself in the Jordan River seven times.

Appalled by Elisha’s lack of respect and infuriated by the perceived mockery of the prophet’s prescription, Na’aman almost returns home; but at his maidservant’s urging he follows the prophet’s advice, whereupon Hashem cures him.

Na’aman proclaims that Hashem is the exclusive power of the world and loads his mules with the holy earth of Israel so that he can build an altar to Hashem in Aram, his home.

Our sages traced the root cause of Na’aman’s tzarass to his haughtiness. He had succeeded as a general, but he attributed his success to his own greatness and did not credit Hashem’s help in allowing him to be victorious.

His first dose of humility was the tzaraas. His next taste of humility was his need to follow his maidservant’s advice, which was followed by Elisha’s impersonal greeting and directions to dip himself in the Jordan River. Nevertheless, Na’aman had a change of attitude and his affliction vanished.

Rabbi Dovid Siegal (“Project Genesis,” 1997) concludes from this episode that Na’aman utilized his potential for recognizing the truth. Upon activating his ability to improve himself, he was as able to overcome his haughtiness.

Siegal concludes that this episode shows how adversity can be a vehicle for learning , insight and self-improvement.

Similarly, in the Torah portion, we learn that people with tzaraas were examined by the priest, who confirmed that they indeed had a real condition.

Today, we do not go to the priest, but we are blessed with rabbis, psychologists and counselors who can help us identify that a concern is real. Sometimes our acknowledging a personal flaw is the essentially important first step toward personal growth.

In biblical days, the priest would often do no more than isolate the afflicted person for a period that allowed them to reflect and find ways to improve themselves.

There was also time to give sacrifices; but as Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsh points out in his Torah commentary, descriptions of sacrifices are often written with reflexive verbs.

It was not enough to just make a sacrifice. Each person had to reflect on their past behavior and make a plan for rectifying their behavior. Thus Hashem’s help came at a point when the individuals helped themselves.

This is consistent with the Torah description of how Hashem commanded Moses to split the Sea of Reeds by raising his staff. It was only after Moses took action and raised his staff that Hashem parted the waters.

Clearly only the Almighty makes miracles, but wants humans to initiate them.

 This week’s portions help us to understand that we will be challenged. If we take the time to recognize our character flaws and attempt to deal with them, we are eligible for divine assistance in our efforts towards self-improvement.

Given the abundance of haughtiness and selfishness in today’s world, we certainly still need the Torah’s path for correcting ourselves and, with divine assistance, achieving personal growth.

Steven Baruch, Ph.D., is executive director of the Coalition for Jewish Learning, the education program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.