Ah, yes, the aliyah about "discharges" from the "flesh" of males. The Torah, in its infinite modesty, does not need to to be much more explicit for us to read between the lines here.
(Although I do have to wonder if all the commentaries which ponder discharges only from a single organ as opposed to any other part of the body are perhaps missing something here - as if to say that wondering whether the Talmudic sages missed something obvious here isn't too heretical.)
In any case, and regardless of its source, it's nonetheless interesting that the procedure for ameliorating this circumstance is much less intense than other procedures, including the procedure for tza'raat of the house we read about yesterday, which could lead to the destruction of the entire house in many cases. Essentially, and unless I'm missing something, anyone or anything that comes into contact with him or something he touched/slept upon/rode upon must wash themselves and their clothes. (And the Torah does hint in VaYikra 15:12 that he himself must "rinse his hands," which the commentators interpret as a full immersion in the mikveh, although, again, if the Torah wanted to command him to "wash himself in water" just as it did for every other circumstance, it is unclear why it would state only to "rinse" the hands here.) And then, on the eighth day after a seven-day purification process following the "healing," he offers korbanot of two birds (as "sin" and burnt offerings which "provide atonement for him" through the acts of the kohen).
In contrast to tza'raat in the fabric itself - whether it be of the walls of the house, the skin, or on clothing - there seems to be something less ... wrong ... with a "mere" discharge. Not only is the teshuvah process less intense, but there is something in the fact that the impurity is dispelled from the body - as opposed to remaining in it - which seems significant. It's as if the body has already done some of the work for us - getting rid of the "impurity" on its own, which gets us halfway there and back to tahara.
In all the commentaries in my Torah associated with this aliyah, there is not even a hint as to what causes a "discharge" as opposed to a "full-on" tza'raat. Are the seven Talmudic sources the same? Is it just that the "severity" of each wrongdoing is associated with the severity of the ensuing bodily impurity? If so, why then does the Torah conclude the previous "teaching" so clearly before moving on to this section (see VaYikra 14:54-57: "This is the procedure . . .")? Something seems up.
I will rely on the position in the last question - that by so expressly concluding the previous sections regarding tamei, there is an unspoken, but substantive and perhaps dialectical difference between those underlying acts which cause full-on tza'raat and those which merely cause discharge.
I'll need to research and meditate on this issue more, and may return if I find anything fruitful. Until then, the fact continues to remain that there are gradations in every act - and in every unwise action - that leads to, as we see here, very different physical manifestations and very different forms of teshuvah. There are degrees of difference everywhere, speaking so clearly to divine nuance and circumstance.
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