Parshat Tazria-Metzora 2023

By Rabbi Daniel Korobkin

Finding Spiritual Greatness in Unusual Places

Allow me to share a story about an ancient king of Israel named Yerovam. Not the famous Yerovam ben Nevat, who was the first king of the northern Israelite kingdom and who introduced idolatry to that region. Rather, several generations later, another Yerovam reigned over the northern kingdom. His name was Yerovam ben Yoash, and scripture describes him as being deeply steeped in the idolatry of his time (II Kings 14:24).

Yerovam b. Yoash reigned at a time when the Jews’ enemies were all around, and the Jews had no friends or allies. Despite Yerovam’s personal evil, Scripture states that he was an extremely successful king, and that Hashem enabled him to expand the boundaries of Israel to an unprecedented degree (ibid. 25-27).

The Midrash (Tanna D’Vei Eliyahu Zuta 7) is perplexed: If Yerovam was such an evil person, why did Hashem enable him to be so successful and such a savior for the Jewish people? The Midrash answers based on another passage in Tanakh. The prophet Amos lived during this time in the town of Beit-El, which was in the kingdom of Judea. The local Kohen, Amatziah, would regularly get annoyed with Amos, because he wanted to be the only holy man in town. He had heard Amos prophesy about some impending doom that would befall the Kingdom of Israel. He therefore told King Yerovam that Amos was conspiring to get him killed (this is all recorded in Amos ch. 7).

An Idolater with Derekh Eretz

According to the Midrash, Yerovam’s response was to harshly rebuke Amatziah for accusing Amos. “I don’t believe he prophesied as you say. And even if he did, it was from Hashem, not of his own volition”:

The Midrash concludes that despite the fact that the entire nation at the time was idolatrous, and that Yerovam himself was an ardent idolater, Hashem enabled Yerovam to expand the borders of Eretz Israel. Why? Because Yerovam possessed the virtue of not accepting Lashon Hara against a good person. The Midrash concludes: “We see from this story that Hashem causes good things to happen via good people.”

It’s ironic for the Midrash to depict Yerovam as a good man, because if we were to characterize Yerovam based on Scripture’s depiction of him alone, we’d deem him a Rasha! The Midrash says, look deeper: he may have been an idolater, but he had derekh eretz and compassion for his fellow Jew.

The Path Toward Redemption

Rav Yisachar Shlomo Teichtal wrote his landmark work, Eim HaBanim Semeicha, in Europe during the Shoah, while his community was getting deported and murdered on a daily basis. In it (beginning of ch. 2), he wrote about his dramatic theological change of heart. He was a Nitra chasid, and had been previously opposed to Zionism. But after seeing what was happening all around him, he wrote an entire sefer explaining why religious Zionism and a return to Eretz Israel was actually the correct approach.

In one chapter, he discussed what redemption would look like in light of so many conflicting reports in the words of Chazal. He concluded that redemption could take place in a number of different ways, either miraculously and overnight, or slowly and progressively, via natural means.

If the redemption takes place via natural means in an evolutionary fashion, he wrote, it would happen via righteous and good people who would lead the Jewish people back to Eretz Yisrael. His only caveat is that we have to put on the proper spectacles to make sure that we recognize exactly who is good and who isn’t good. If our idea of a good leader is someone who is shomer mitzvot and has a long beard, then we might not recognize the true redeemers. He pointed to this Midrash about Yerovam ben Yoash. Yerovam wasn’t righteous in the conventional sense, but he did have one saving quality: He cared deeply about his people and was willing to be moser nefesh (make great sacrifice) for them. He was genuinely upset if someone would suggest that a righteous Jew committed wrong, as he demonstrated in his protestations about Amos.

Derekh Eretz Is The Key

Rav Teichtal concluded that just because the leaders of the Zionist movement aren’t religious, does not mean that they aren’t good and worthy of leading our people back to Zion. Just look at Yerovam ben Yoash. We derive the same lesson from the normal Haftarah of Tazria-Metzora (which is preempted because of Rosh Chodesh), about the four Metzoraim, the four lepers. Despite being outcasts from their community, they were the heroes of the story, responsible for ending a siege and famine within the nation.

The real key to redemption for Klal Israel is how we speak to each other, how we show proper derekh eretz to each other even when we profoundly disagree, and how we give others the benefit of the doubt and not speak or believe Lashon Hara about others. We should live and let live and recognize the greatness that exists in people regardless of their levels of observance. It’s important to recognize the Yerovam’s of our time and see their greatness for what it is.

If we can do that, then we’ll truly usher in the redemption of all our people, may we see it, bb”a.