13:2
אָדָ֗ם כִּֽי־יִהְיֶ֤ה בְעוֹר־בְּשָׂרוֹ֙ שְׂאֵ֤ת אֽוֹ־סַפַּ֙חַת֙ א֣וֹ בַהֶ֔רֶת וְהָיָ֥ה בְעוֹר־בְּשָׂר֖וֹ לְנֶ֣גַע צָרָ֑עַת וְהוּבָא֙ אֶל־אַהֲרֹ֣ן הַכֹּהֵ֔ן א֛וֹ אֶל־אַחַ֥ד מִבָּנָ֖יו הַכֹּהֲנִֽים׃
When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration, and it develops into a scaly affection on the skin of his body, it shall be reported to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests.
What is a שאת?
Chizkuni says that it is an elevation of the skin and when looked at in the shade it appears as higher than the normal skin that is exposed.
What are other interpretation for the word שאת?
What other ways can the swelling, rashes, or discoloration be interpreted?
Why does it specifically have to be reported to Aharon?
What other interpretations are there for the word שאת? Rashi comments that the word שאת means a major lesion (the other major one is ספחת), or area which has suffered through injury or disease. I don’t really love this answer because it’s fairly unspecific and could’ve provided a lot more information/detail about what a שאת really is because rashi here seems to be talking very generally.
ReplyDeleteWhy does it specifically say to go to Aharon?
ReplyDeleteRashi says that you go to Aharon because at one point in recovering from tzaraat you need to go to the Cohen to make sure that it is gone and you need to go to a Cohen in the beginning to check if it is tzaraat.
I like this answer because it makes sense and it’s simple to understand.
שאתSforno comments a very interesting idea for how to interpret a
ReplyDeleteHe say that they are different skin afflictions that all are expressed as various shades of white. He also says that not of the afflictions are seen in medicine or the medical textbooks. He reasons this with the fact that G-d is not going to use some common disease to send a message of auto meant that we need to do. I think this answer is really interesting because he really brings in a legit problem of what about medicine. His answer also makes a lot is sense to me because how would we be able to differentiate between a disease or just a message from Hashem.
What does the word Shat mean? Rashbam explains that it does not really mean an elevation of the skin like as Chizkuni said. He explains that the elevated skin refers to the term Baharat. Rather, the term Shat mean a lower, deeper kind of Baharat. I like this answer because it really ties into the pasuk using all of the terms.
ReplyDeleteMaytal:
ReplyDeleteThe Iban Ezra comments on this and says that שאת is a kind of burn. The reason that it has the language to life is because that is how fire is. The nature of fire is to be lifted up. I like this answer because it give a simple explanation to this question. There is a reason for the skin to be looking like this, it is because it was burned