Parsha Mitzvot: Metzorah: Mitzvah 179 – Concept 438

“When the man with the discharge ceases his discharge, he shall count for himself seven days from his cessation, immerse his garments and immerse his flesh in spring water, and become purified. On the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young doves; he shall come before God to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the Kohen. The Kohen shall make them, one as a sin-offering and one as an elevation-offering; thus the Kohen shall provide him atonement before God from his discharge (Vayikra 15:13-15).” A man who had a running issue must bring an offering after going to the Mikvah (Rambam, Hilchot Mechusarei Kaparah – The Laws of Lacking Atonement).

“On the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young doves; he shall come before God to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the Kohen. The Kohen shall make them, one as a sin-offering and one as an elevation-offering.” It is not the man who is coming for atonement who designates which animal will be used for each offering, but the Kohen. His sin was based on a lack of awareness, and misusing that which could be holy without thinking. His atonement is the the enactment and reversal of his misguided behavior: He acknowledges that he forfeit the capacity to assign a specific holiness to an object through his lack of awareness. He offers the birds to the Kohen, asking him to designate which animal will be used for each offering because he cannot. When the Kohen designates the birds, he brings atonement; he is teaching the man who is coming for atonement how to assign holiness to everything he does, thus, “the Kohen shall provide him atonement before God from his discharge,” it is the designation that brings atonement, even before the actual offering.

We ofetn find ourselves functioning without thinking, much as did this man. We feel as if we have lost the ability to bring sanctity to our lives. We begin by going to the “Kohen,” the teacher, who will focus the person on specific actions to begin his process of regaining his ability to sanctify.