“…affliction on the skin of the body, the person shall be brought to Aaron the Kohen or to one of his sons, the kohanim.” (Vayikra 13:2)

Many of the commentators take note that the Metzora was told specifically to go to a kohen. What is the significance of going specifically to a kohen?

People who speak lashon hara justify themselves by saying, “But it is true!”. If that excuse is not pertinent, they say, “This fellow is a baal machlokes or rasha and I want to make sure that people should stay away from him.” (See Hakdama to Sefer Chofetz Chayim).

There are two things that we know about the subject of machlokes. One is that it is permissible to deviate from the truth in order to avoid or stop machlokes. We know that Aharon was an oheiv shalom and rodef shalom. He used to go to each person in the argument and say, “Your friend really wants to make peace with you,” thus calming the person down and bringing about shalom. In other words, something being true does not automatically mean that that is the path you should take. Bringing peace and harmony to people is more important than something being true. This is the true Will of Hashem. And, regarding the claim that this person is a rasha for what he is doing, we learn from Aharon that our job is to help the person, as opposed to badmouthing him, even if he is wrong. This is a reason to specifically come to a Kohen, a child of Aharon.

There is another reason to come to a Kohen. When one rebukes someone else, a common reply is, “It is not your job to tell me what to do!” or “You are not in a position to rebuke me, for you yourself do (fill in a sin)” Being a kohen is a position given to one without earning it and it is his job to tell you if you are impure. Thus, we see the Torah going out of its way to make sure that the baal lashon hara has no way out. However, it does not end there. I recall as a small boy hearing older men speaking about the fact that they have some type of ailment, and yet they didn’t want to go to the doctor. I could not understand what they were saying (for as a small child being sick was truly a “treat”!). But, as I grew older, I understood that there were people who were not willing to meet the truth face-to-face, and they would bury their heads in the sand rather than accept the truth.

Chazal tell us that there is a progression of negaim: It starts with nigaei batim (tzaras of the house), and at this first stage the Torah uses the terminology “uba al hakohen” – that he will (voluntarily) come to the kohen. However, if the person doesn’t repent, eventually the tzaras will afflict his entire body. Yet rather than repenting and going to the Kohen, the person becomes more stubborn, suffering as the nega afflicts his entire body. At that point his friends are forced to bring him to the kohen, as shown by the terminology the Torah uses, “Vihuva el hakohen” – the person shall be brought to the kohen.

Perhaps the lesson that the Torah is teaching us is that just like the baal lashon hara will have to face his guilt and deal with it one way or the other, we too need to learn that excuses don’t help. If we have a problem in our avodas Hashem, we should take care of it immediately, instead of waiting and getting ourselves into more trouble!