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The Zohar
	Purifying Adam
	From the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; translation & commentary by Simcha-Shmuel Treister

People are referred to in Torah in four different ways: "adam", "gever", "enosh" and "ish". All mean the same thing, "a person", but the most distinguished among them is "adam". In fact, these titles are codes for four levels of the soul and correspond to the Four Worlds, respectively: "Adam" is the level of the soul called "Chaya" which is manifested in chochma and corresponds to Atzilut.

Although such a person has rectified everything that he can, there may still remain a small quantity of spiritual waste that causes a supernatural infection in his outermost levels - his skin. Therefore, a person on such a high spiritual level can become struck with leprosy and because the worlds cannot be sustained without such a person, and it is everyone's benefit that such a person be healed.

The Holy Ari
	Unabashed Evil
	From the Writings of the Ari as recorded by Rabbi Chaim Vital; translated and edited by Moshe Yakov Wisnefsky

The afflication of tzaraat is not a medical condition, but reflects a spiritual-mental affliction, a faulty attitude in life. This attitude results from the intrusion of some form of un-G-dly ideas or perspective into a person's way of thinking, that eventually renders him depressed, negative, anti-social or afflicted by some other negative emotion. The purification process, then, must reflect how the individual disassociates himself with these negative ways of thinking.

As part of his purification he must take two birds, the chirping personifications of pointless and self-serving indulgence, and kill one and set the other free. In this way he utterly dissociates himself from this evil, and is ready to begin his life anew in the image of holiness.

Mystical Classics
	Cleansing Soul Garments
	From Torat Moshe by Rabbi Moshe Alshich; adapted by Eliyahu Munkk

Clothing represents acquired characteristics. Until such garments, i.e. characteristics, have been "washed", the total rehabilitation of the metzora has not been completed. His subsequent return to "the camp" is also a reference to the "higher" world to which the soul has now been restored.

Chasidic Masters
	Eating Humble Pie
	By Binyomin Adilman

Leprosy, came as a punishment for arrogance. Rashi teaches that the remedy included scarlet wool and hyssop so that he relinquish his arrogance and consider himself as lowly as a worm, used to dye the scarlet wool, and as hyssop, a low scruffy shrub.

Cedar, which is tall and stately and symbolizes pride, was needed to teach the leper the proper way of humility. Humility and submission do not require that the body be bent over in the process; of paramount importance is inner humility and acceptance.

Ascent Lights
	A Man's Man
	By Shaul Yosef Leiter

The fact that the Torah uses different words when describing oaths and blemishes teaches how we can grow spiritually. Spiritual service begins with oaths because these cause us to make boundaries for ourselves in the physical world. Learning how to say "no" to a permitted - but extraneous - desire is the beginning of a sincere relationship with G-d.

Mystic Story
	Speaking Up
	By Yerachmiel Tilles

The Seer of Lublin could only see so far….

Shabbat Shalom.