Pemikiran Yahudi Mazmur 55:8: Akeidat Yitzchak

The fifth and last category of blemishes is the one that afflicts one's house, one's dwelling. It is symbolic of bad habits acquired through association with evil people. The house is representative of one's wider social contacts, much more so than one's clothing. The priest's inspecting the house, suggests to the owner that he must keep away from his usual social environment, and rid himself of the negative character traits he has acquired through such associations. If the stains spread during the period of quarantine, this is a sign that the owner, has failed to take the lesson to heart, and the afflicted area must be replaced. If this still does not prevent re-appearance of the stains, the whole house must be destroyed, i.e. there is no hope to rehabilitate the owner. If, however, the stains have been contained after the whitewashing and removal of the diseased area, the house is declared fit, and the owner brings the prescribed atonement offerings. The very fact that the Talmud demands such stringent criteria, before the house afflicted with these kinds of stains becomes subject to total destruction, makes it practically impossible for these requirements to be fully met. This bears out the symbolic nature of this piece of legislation. (Sanhedrin 71.) The lesson it contains, is, of course, the one corresponding to the recipe for successful character improvement by Rabbi Yossi, the pious one, the Chassid, that one should endeavour to be and to have good neighbours. The Bible does not name a person as having been afflicted with bayit menuga, a house that had to be torn down due to stains. Nor for that matter, do we know of an instance of garments that had been afflicted with these nega-im We therefore do not equate these afflictions as being directly associated with the virtues or shortcomings of any of the students of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. There are contradictory opinions in the Talmud, whether in the course of history this legislation was ever implemented in practice.