“The Kohein shall look at the lesion…”
(Vayikra 13:3)
According to halachah, a Kohein may not determine the status of two lesions at one time. Only after deciding the status of one may he go on to the other. The Mishnah (Nega’im 3:1) tells us this is why the pasuk uses the singular term lesion instead of the plural lesions when discussing tzaraas.
Wouldn’t it make things easier if a Kohein could diagnose more than one lesion at a time? The Beis Yosef explains that a metzora is compared to a dead person (Nedarim 64b). When the Kohein pronounces him impure, it’s as if he killed him. And just as a beis din would not issue two death sentences at the same time, a Kohein may not diagnose more than one lesion at a time. (Rav Shalom Meir Wallach, Maayan Hashavua)
I was knee-deep in my storage closet trying to find a Haggadah for my second-grader, whose rebbi had given me all of 12 hours’ notice that he needed to bring one to school the next day. Didn’t the rebbi know what goes on in most households two weeks before Pesach? He’s probably thrilled to still be at work, while his wife’s knee-deep in their own storage closet!
I reached up to the next shelf, ignoring my protesting back, and hauled down a white shemurah matzah box triumphantly, expecting to find the family’s Haggados inside.
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