QUITE WHITE?

The intricate details of the laws of tzaraat that are described in this week’s sidrot are understood by our commentators to refer to diseases that are brought on by spiritual pathology rather than physical malignancy. The symbolic significance of the symptoms and treatment of the metzora are therefore legitimate areas for moral lessons and guidance.

It comes as somewhat of a surprise to learn that the colour white is seen in these laws as an indicator of impurity. “And if the hair in the affliction had turned white…the Cohen shall pronounce him tamei, impure.” (Vayikra 13:3) Surely white is to be associated with holiness and purity? It is the theme colour of Yom Kippur. The verse of forgiveness in Isaiah (1:18) is famous: “If your sins are as scarlet, they shall become as white as snow.” Indeed, we are told that in Temple times on Yom Kippur, they would tie a red thread to the entrance of the Ulam (the Hall, leading to the interior of the Temple), for the public to see. When the thread turned white, everyone rejoiced! (Talmud, Yoma 67a.)

How can white, therefore, be a sign of impurity?

It would seem that there are, in fact, two symbolisms of the colour white: an absence of sin and an absence of life. There are times when these symbolisms overlap. For example, the kittel is seen as a garment of angels who are free of sin and a shroud, a garment of the dead. Both associations are present when the kittel is worn on Yom Kippur when we pray for forgiveness, knowing that our lives are in the balance. However, the patch of skin that turns white and makes an individual a metzora marks the loss of vitality in that part of a person’s body, reflecting his spiritual morbidity.