Are Diseases Contagious? Hashkafic and Halachic Perspectives
By: Dayan Yitzchak Grossman
"All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."[1]
Chazal famously construe the metzora's seclusion theologically, as a punishment midah ke'neged midah for causing dissension (by speaking lashon ha'ra): "he caused a separation between husband and wife; the Torah therefore says 'he shall dwell alone ...'"[2], but they also offer a lesser known, naturalistic explanation: to avoid contagion. The Medrash enumerates a variety of prophylactic habits of various amoraim of avoidance of metzoraim, culminating in that of Resh Lakish - "[W]hen he would see one of them in the state, he would pelt them with stones. He said to him: 'leave [and return] to your place; do not contaminate the outside.'" - and cites our verse as a source.[3](AUDIO HERE)
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