Chapter 5 of Sefer Melachim B presents the tenth miracle performed through Elisha: the healing of Naaman, the commander of the army of Aram, from his tzaraas. This is a chapter that is entirely a sanctification of Hashem's Name among the nations, and within it lies a deep lesson in Divine providence, in humility, and in the corrupting power of personal interest.
וְנַעֲמָן שַׂר־צְבָא מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם הָיָה אִישׁ גָּדוֹל לִפְנֵי אֲדֹנָיו וּנְשֻׂא פָנִים כִּי־בוֹ נָתַן־יְהוָה תְּשׁוּעָה לַאֲרָם וְהָאִישׁ הָיָה גִּבּוֹר חַיִל מְצֹרָע. - And Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man before his master and held in high regard, for through him Hashem had granted victory to Aram; and the man was a mighty warrior, stricken with tzaraas.
Two praises are stated about him: "great before his master" - great in the eyes of the king; "and held in high regard" - he earned the esteem of the people. And by what merit did he reach such a level? "For through him Hashem had granted victory to Aram." What was that victory? This is that same "man who drew his bow in his innocence" who struck Achav. If we recall, Achav went out to war against Aram, and the king of Aram commanded his soldiers to direct their attention specifically at Achav, for he knew from the prophet that Achav was destined to die in the war. They searched for Achav and did not find him, but rather Yehoshafat, and Yehoshafat cried out to Hashem and was saved. Achav himself they did not recognize, for he had disguised himself and made himself appear as an ordinary man. And then "a man drew his bow in his innocence" - and shot Achav, seemingly by mistake. Following this, the war ended with "every man to his tents, Israel," and Aram won the battle. And who was that man through whom Hashem granted victory to Aram? Naaman. Following this deed he was appointed to be the commander of the army, and he was a mighty warrior.
Now the verse comes and emphasizes: "and the man was a mighty warrior, stricken with tzaraas." Do not think that his tzaraas came from a natural illness or bodily weakness, for one stricken with tzaraas is generally frail, and here we are speaking of a mighty warrior. Rather, his tzaraas was a deliberate punishment from Divine providence.
And if it is a punishment, for what did it come? For killing Achav? For that he does not deserve a punishment but a reward. The Sages say: the answer is in the next verse.
וַאֲרָם יָצְאוּ גְדוּדִים וַיִּשְׁבּוּ מֵאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל נַעֲרָה קְטַנָּה וַתְּהִי לִפְנֵי אֵשֶׁת נַעֲמָן. - And Aram had gone out in raiding bands, and they had taken captive from the land of Israel a young girl, and she came to be before Naaman's wife.
The going out of the raiding bands and the capturing of the young girl were done by Naaman's command, and this was his sin, on account of which he was stricken with tzaraas. See how different the Torah's outlook is from the corrupted outlook of human beings. An ordinary person would explain: what are you asking, after all he killed the king of Israel! But the Torah looks at it entirely differently: who is the king of Israel and what are his merits? A single young girl who was taken captive - on her account he was punished. For this young girl has more merits than Achav king of Israel, who was a corrupt wicked man, who sinned and caused Israel to sin.
And regarding "a man drew his bow in his innocence," the Arizal says a wondrous thing: where else do we find someone who drew his bow in his innocence and killed? With Lemech. Achav is the reincarnation of Kayin, and Naaman is the reincarnation of Lemech. And just as Lemech went out to hunt and did not hunt, and Hashem brought it about by his hand and he killed Kayin, so too here: Kayin falls again, in his reincarnation as Achav, by the hand of Lemech in his reincarnation as Naaman.
And a further precision in the verse: "a young girl" (naarah ketanah) - now a naarah is not a ketanah and a ketanah is not a naarah, they are two different ages. A ketanah is until the age of twelve; from twelve until twelve and a half - a naarah; and from twelve and a half onward - a bogeret. Rather the Sages say: she was a ketanah, and she came from a place called "Naaron," and after the name of her place of residence she was called "naarah."
וַתֹּאמֶר אֶל־גְּבִרְתָּהּ אַחֲלֵי אֲדֹנִי לִפְנֵי הַנָּבִיא אֲשֶׁר בְּשֹׁמְרוֹן אָז יֶאֱסֹף אֹתוֹ מִצָּרַעְתּוֹ. - And she said to her mistress: If only my master were before the prophet who is in Shomron, then he would cure him of his tzara'at.
That little girl, who had become a servant in Naaman's house, tells her mistress: this tzara'at came through divine providence. It is not a natural leprosy, and therefore doctors will be of no help with it. What is needed here is a cure that comes through providence from Hashem, by means of prayer. And if he will plead before the prophet, "then he would cure him of his tzara'at."
The Malbim is precise about the word "achalei": it is a term of "chilah," a plea by which a person comes to appease his fellow and to remove his anger, as in "chal na penei Hashem" (entreat now the face of Hashem). The term "chal" always comes together with "penei" (the face), and therefore here: "achalei adoni lifnei hanavi" (let my master plead before the prophet), for pleading is a prayer that comes to soften anger, to soften the wrath of the face. From this Naaman understood that his tzara'at stems from the prophet's anger against him. And what does the head of a gentile understand? Why is the prophet angry with me? Because I killed the king of Israel, and so he punished me with tzara'at.
וַיָּבֹא וַיַּגֵּד לַאדֹנָיו לֵאמֹר כָּזֹאת וְכָזֹאת דִּבְּרָה הַנַּעֲרָה אֲשֶׁר מֵאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל. - And he came and told his master, saying: Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel.
What is "thus and thus"? She did not say many things, only a single sentence. The Malbim explains precisely that Naaman added to her words and read into her language, that the whole problem stems from the anger of the prophet of Hashem over his having killed the king of Israel. And from where did he read this in? From the expression "achalei," since the term "chal" means to soften the anger of one who is angry with him. And why would he be angry with him? Surely because he killed the king of Israel.
וַיֹּאמֶר מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם לֶךְ־בֹּא וְאֶשְׁלְחָה סֵפֶר אֶל־מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֵּלֶךְ וַיִּקַּח בְּיָדוֹ עֶשֶׂר כִּכְּרֵי־כֶסֶף וְשֵׁשֶׁת אֲלָפִים זָהָב וְעֶשֶׂר חֲלִיפוֹת בְּגָדִים. - And the king of Aram said: Go, come, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he went and took in his hand ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of garments.
"Sefer" in Nach always means a letter. On the face of it this is puzzling: the girl had said to plead before the prophet, so the letter should have been sent to the prophet. Why does the king of Aram send it to the king of Israel? Rather, he understood that everything depends on the king, that the prophet would not do such a thing except by the king's command. All the more so here, where the honor of the monarchy is at stake: you are asking me to cancel the punishment due to you for having killed Achav the king of Israel, and if I cancel such a punishment, it is a disgrace to the honor of the monarchy. Of course, all of this is according to Naaman's conception, not according to the truth, for in truth he was punished for capturing the little girl. But according to his conception: canceling a punishment that came for killing the king of Israel requires permission from the king of Israel. Therefore he sent it specifically to him. And the ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of garments he prepared as a gift for the king and also as a gift for the prophet.
וַיָּבֵא הַסֵּפֶר אֶל־מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר וְעַתָּה כְּבוֹא הַסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה אֵלֶיךָ הִנֵּה שָׁלַחְתִּי אֵלֶיךָ אֶת־נַעֲמָן עַבְדִּי וַאֲסַפְתּוֹ מִצָּרַעְתּוֹ. - And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying: And now, when this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his tzara'at.
Within the letter it was written: when this letter comes to you, Naaman is already here, cure him of his tzara'at. And why is the cure from tzara'at called "asifah" (gathering)? One does not say to a person "gather him from his cold." Rashi explains: it is called gathering because when the metzora is cured he is gathered back among people. For the law of the metzora is to dwell outside the camp, and when he is cured he is gathered back into the company of people.
And the Ralbag adds a further explanation: the cure from tzara'at is called gathering because in the metzora the limbs, as it were, come apart, begin to rot and to dangle, and at times even fall off, a finger here and a hand there, Heaven preserve us. Tzara'at is a decay of the body, a rotting of the body. And the cure is that all the dangling limbs are gathered together and reconnect back into one body. That is the gathering.
And what did he mean by "and now"? The king of Aram intended to say: even if until now you were angry and enraged that Naaman struck your father, and therefore he is now a leper, from now, when this letter comes to you, since he is my servant, you shall gather him in from his leprosy. In simple terms: the one who struck is the one who must heal, and if the blow came on your account, the healing too shall be on your account. And perhaps he truly does not deserve it, but I request it on his behalf, for I am the king and he is my servant. If not for his sake, do it for mine. That is why he was precise in saying "Naaman my servant": so that you should not think the reckoning is with him; if you do not gather him in from his leprosy, the reckoning is with me.
וַיְהִי כִּקְרֹא מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַסֵּפֶר וַיִּקְרַע בְּגָדָיו וַיֹּאמֶר הַאֱלֹהִים אָנִי לְהָמִית וּלְהַחֲיוֹת כִּי־זֶה שֹׁלֵחַ אֵלַי לֶאֱסֹף אִישׁ מִצָּרַעְתּוֹ כִּי אַךְ־דְּעוּ־נָא וּרְאוּ כִּי־מִתְאַנֶּה הוּא לִי. - And it came to pass, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his garments and said: Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this one sends to me to gather a man in from his leprosy? Only take note, I pray you, and see that he seeks a quarrel with me.
The king of Israel tears his garments, and understands that there is a declaration of war here. Why? Because the request in his eyes is not realistic: leprosy is known as an incurable disease, so how can a man come and ask me to gather someone in from his leprosy? "Am I God, to kill and to make alive" - after all, a leper is considered as dead, and you are asking me to bring this dead man back to life, that is, to heal him. For one who cures a leper is indeed reviving the dead.
But we may ask: after all, there is a prophet in Israel! This is Yoram son of Achav, so why did he not turn to the prophet? Especially since Elisha's power in this matter was well known. Indeed, later on it says "and there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate," and our Sages say that one of them was Geichazi. And from where did they derive this? Because all the lepers who lived in Elisha's time were healed by him, so how could there be leprous men at all? Of necessity this refers to one upon whom the curse of leprosy rests, and that is Geichazi, as we will see later in the chapter. It emerges that Elisha was famous as one who cures lepers. If so, king of Israel, why were you frightened and why did you tear your garments? Send to the prophet!
But the king of Israel knew: in order to approach the prophet I must humble myself before him, come and ask him a favor, and I might even receive rebuke: why in the world have you come to me? You are wicked, you do wicked deeds, you sin and cause Israel to sin, and suddenly when you need me you come to me? This was a situation he did not want.
וַיְהִי כִּשְׁמֹעַ אֱלִישָׁע אִישׁ־הָאֱלֹהִים כִּי־קָרַע מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־בְּגָדָיו וַיִּשְׁלַח אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ לֵאמֹר לָמָּה קָרַעְתָּ בְּגָדֶיךָ יָבֹא־נָא אֵלַי וְיֵדַע כִּי יֵשׁ נָבִיא בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל. - And it came to pass, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, that he sent to the king, saying: Why have you torn your garments? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
When Elisha hears that the king of Israel was frightened, he sends to him: why have you torn your garments? After all, there is a prophet in Israel, and through the prophet signs and wonders are performed. And why "let him come now to me," seeing that in the end Elisha did not go out to him at all but sent him to the Jordan? Rather, Elisha wanted Naaman to know that the healing came through him, not, God forbid, for his own personal honor, but so that he would know there is a prophet in Israel. For if he sent him directly to immerse in the Jordan, he would say: they have special rivers, the Jordan healed me. Therefore: come to me, hear it from me directly, and from here you will go out to the Jordan, and then you will know that your healing is through the prophet. And this is the entire purpose of the healing: the sanctification of God's name, that it become known among the nations that there is a prophet in Israel, and that the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over His people Israel.
The Griz Halevi explains why there is here a special emphasis on "and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel." Our Sages say that Naaman was a ger toshav (resident alien). And what is the difference between a ger toshav and a ger tzedek (righteous convert)? A ger tzedek is a person who converts in order to accept the yoke of Torah and mitzvot, and becomes a complete Israelite in every respect, marries a Jewish woman, and his status is that of an Israelite. A ger toshav, by contrast, is from the nations who were permitted to remain in the land: he does not accept mitzvot upon himself, but only refrains from idolatry, and he eats carrion and non-kosher meat, and his status is that of a gentile, except that he does not worship idols. And as we will see later in the chapter, Naaman becomes a ger toshav.
And the Rambam writes as a halacha: a ger toshav is one who observes the seven Noahide commandments, and the prohibition of idolatry is one of them, but he eats carrion and non-kosher meat, whose consumption is permitted to a Noahide. And the Rambam adds a great novelty: a person can fulfill all seven Noahide commandments with all their fine points and their laws, down to the smallest details, and even so he does not have the status of one of the pious of the nations of the world. Indeed, a book of the seven Noahide commandments has been published, and there are groups abroad who have taken upon themselves the seven commandments. And what are they lacking? Says the Rambam: he must fulfill them because the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded them in the Torah, and made known to us through Moshe Rabbeinu that the children of Noah were previously commanded in them; but if he did them out of intellectual conviction, he is neither a ger toshav nor of their wise men.
In other words: a person who does not eat a limb from a living animal because as long as the animal has not been slaughtered its blood is absorbed and it is not healthy; who appoints judges and magistrates because there needs to be orderly governance; who does not steal because it is fitting that every person retain his property; and likewise all seven mitzvot, all of it based on rational judgment, as a logical matter, has no status at all of one who observes the seven Noahide laws, nor is he counted among their wise men. Rather, he must say: I do not eat a limb from a living animal because the Holy One, blessed be He, wrote in His Torah through Moshe His servant that it is forbidden for the sons of Noach to eat a limb from a living animal, and so with all seven. Only then is he called one who observes the seven Noahide laws.
Now we can understand: in order for Naaman to have the status of one who accepts the seven Noahide laws, of a righteous gentile, he must observe the mitzvot out of the knowledge that there is a prophet in Israel and that the Torah was given through Moshe His prophet. But if he does not know that there is prophecy in Israel, and he observes mere logical matters, he does not have the status of a ger toshav. It emerges that "and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel" is part of the structure of Naaman as a ger toshav, and therefore they had to prove to him that there is a prophet, and through this the mitzvot that he would observe would become mitzvot with binding force.
וַיָּבֹא נַעֲמָן בְּסוּסָיו וּבְרִכְבּוֹ וַיַּעֲמֹד פֶּתַח־הַבַּיִת לֶאֱלִישָׁע. - And Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the entrance of Elisha's house.
Naaman arrives with his horses and his chariot, that is, with a whole retinue, and does not come alone. The written form is "with his horse" and the read form is "with his horses": the written form refers to the main figure, to Naaman himself who came on his horse, and the read form refers to the many who came with him.
וַיִּשְׁלַח אֵלָיו אֱלִישָׁע מַלְאָךְ לֵאמֹר הָלוֹךְ וְרָחַצְתָּ שֶׁבַע־פְּעָמִים בַּיַּרְדֵּן וְיָשֹׁב בְּשָׂרְךָ לְךָ וּטְהָר. - And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying: Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh shall return to you, and you shall be clean.
"Malach" means a messenger. And why does Elisha send a messenger rather than go out to him? So that Naaman would not think that the healing was accomplished by the power of an incantation or by some natural act. Elisha wanted to show him: the prophet decrees and Hashem fulfills. Therefore he said, in effect: I will not even go out to you, so that you cannot say I cast a spell on you or performed some act upon you; I have not even seen you. Rather, know that by the decree of the prophet, if I decree that the Jordan shall purify you, the Jordan will purify you.
Moreover, the waters of the Jordan are cold, since their source is melting snow, and cold water is the opposite of leprosy. And as we saw in previous lessons, the prophet heals through the very thing that is its opposite: a bitter tree sweetens the bitter waters, and a fig cake, which is bad for a boil, heals the boil. Here too: come and see that the healing is from Hashem, may He be blessed, for Hashem always heals through the thing that is its opposite and contrary to it, and through this the greatness of the miracle increases.
There is a further matter: the punishment of leprosy comes on account of arrogance, and therefore the purification of the leper is done with hyssop and crimson wool, which are lowly things. The prophet comes to him and in effect tells him: you must heal your haughtiness of heart. And how? The prophet speaks to him from outside, sends a messenger, does not go out to him and does not look at him at all, an enormous slight that was meant to humble his pride. He hints to him: humble your pride and you will merit healing. Naaman did not understand the hint, as we will see shortly from his anger, but this was part of the healing process.
The Ramma of Fano, in his work "Maamar HaNefesh," offers a wonderful insight: that "messenger" who was sent was not a messenger of flesh and blood but the officer of the Jordan, the celestial officer. For every physical thing has a spiritual force that flows vitality into it and causes it to perform its function, as they said that over every single plant there is an angel that strikes it on its head and says to it, "Grow." We have already spoken of this in the past: when Eliyahu the prophet speaks with the bull and tells it to go up upon the altar of the Baal worshippers, he was not speaking with the bull itself, but with its officer in heaven. And so in every place where we see physical things given human-like speech, it does not mean that they became human, but that the communication is made with that spiritual force that gives life to the thing.
According to this, Elisha called out: "Go and wash" - that is, when the Jordan itself, its officer, goes before you and accompanies you, then "your flesh shall return to you, and you shall be clean." But Naaman, as the verse says afterward, "and his flesh returned like the flesh of a young lad," was like a small child and did not understand the hint: he did not understand that the Jordan itself was accompanying him and that the officer had come himself to immerse him in his river, and therefore he was resentful about it. In the end, the merit of the prophet and the sanctification of Hashem's name that came from the matter availed him.
וַיִּקְצֹף נַעֲמָן וַיֵּלַךְ וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה אָמַרְתִּי אֵלַי יֵצֵא יָצוֹא וְעָמַד וְקָרָא בְּשֵׁם־יְהוָה אֱלֹהָיו וְהֵנִיף יָדוֹ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם וְאָסַף הַמְּצֹרָע. - Naaman became angry and left, saying: Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of Hashem his God, and wave his hand toward the place, and heal the leper.
הֲלֹא טוֹב אֲמָנָה וּפַרְפַּר נַהֲרוֹת דַּמֶּשֶׂק מִכֹּל מֵימֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הֲלֹא־אֶרְחַץ בָּהֶם וְטָהָרְתִּי וַיִּפֶן וַיֵּלֶךְ בְּחֵמָה. - Are not Amanah and Parpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed? And he turned and went away in a rage.
Naaman was furious: everywhere I arrive there is a red carpet, trumpets, a royal reception, and here they speak to me from behind the door, he does not even come out to me, and he sends a boy to speak with me? "I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of Hashem his God and wave his hand toward the place." They were accustomed to the worshipers of the Baal, where, when there is no substance, there is showmanship: all sorts of gestures and actions and abracadabra, for since there is no substance one must have something to catch the eye. And so he said: I thought he would perform all sorts of impressive actions, and instead he sends me off to the Jordan?
"Are not Amanah and Parpar, the rivers of Damascus, better" - if a river is what is needed, there are clearer and worthier rivers. "Could I not wash in them and be cleansed" - and this is said as a question, not an exclamation: I have washed in them until now, and was I cleansed? Did it help me at all? And if so, how will the Jordan River help me, a relatively inferior river compared to Amanah and Parpar, which are considered superior to it? The Radak brings in the name of his father: every single day I wash and immerse in Amanah and Parpar, and with all this it did not help me. That is, I am familiar with such remedies, I have already tried them in my own land and they did not help.
The Malbim explains that his anger was over two matters. The first: he told me to come before him. Since he called me to come and gave me honor, I thought he had a meeting with me and something to say to me. And after I took the trouble to reach him, he sends me a messenger. This is a double insult: if I had simply come to him it would be an insult, and if he called me and I came and in the end he did not receive me, that is an even greater insult. For if he wanted to send me to the Jordan, he could have informed me of this while I was still with the king. And this is what he said: "I thought he would surely come out" - I said, why is he calling me? Because he wants to come out toward me, for if he truly had only an instruction, he would have sent me from the king's house. I thought he wanted to come out and see the sick person, and there is sometimes a point in praying facing the sick person, as in "And Yitzchak entreated opposite his wife," for she was facing him.
Regarding prayer facing the sick person, I read about Rabbi Elyah Lopian: there was an elderly Jew who greatly helped the yeshiva, and that Jew, may it not happen to us, became paralyzed. Some boys passed by his house and heard him crying and telling of his affliction. They told this to Rabbi Elyah Lopian, and he was greatly pained. He took ten students from the yeshiva, they went and recited Tehillim beside him, several chapters of Tehillim with devotion. One of those ten related that afterward the Rav said to him: Raise your hand, and he raised it; raise your leg, and he raised it; and finally he told him to get up and walk, and he got up and walked and entered the house. He was still weak, but he had already come out of the paralysis.
And see this: people began to speak of miracles, miracles of Rabbi Elyah Lopian. And he, who fled from honor to the utmost degree, heard this and delivered a talk in the yeshiva: What is all this talk of miracles? What is this nonsense? A person recites a few chapters of Tehillim, and chapters of Tehillim help, and from this you make miracles? And he was very angry that they had attached to him a matter of miracles. And it is told that afterward, for a period of time, he was not willing for people to come to receive a blessing from him, so that they would not say of him that he performs miracles and turn him into a "baba." We prayed and Hashem answered, and how do you make miracles out of this? What greatness and what righteousness. And today, if you tell miracle stories about someone, they might even pay you for it, just so clients will come. But the true tzaddik does not want such things told about him.
And the second reason for Naaman's anger, the Malbim continues: he tells me to immerse in the Jordan, and immersion in the Jordan is not by a segulah but a natural cure. I came to a prophet, and I expected a supernatural way, a segulah way, and suddenly the prophet tells me: take this remedy and swallow it three times a day? Is this why I came here, for natural remedies? Do you know what doctors I have in Damascus? And if it is to be such a remedy, it is a strange one, for Amanah and Parpar are better remedies, and I have already taken them and was not cured; so how will this dubious natural remedy help me now?
וַיִּגְּשׁוּ עֲבָדָיו וַיְדַבְּרוּ אֵלָיו וַיֹּאמְרוּ אָבִי דָּבָר גָּדוֹל הַנָּבִיא דִּבֶּר אֵלֶיךָ הֲלוֹא תַעֲשֶׂה וְאַף כִּי־אָמַר אֵלֶיךָ רְחַץ וּטְהָר. - And his servants approached and spoke to him and said: My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more so when he said to you: Wash and be cleansed.
"My father" - that is, my master. And this is what they said to him: If the prophet had told you to climb the Himalayas and come down, and then you would be as healthy as new, would you not do it? Surely you would take a plane, search for a helicopter, get there, climb and come down, in order to be healthy. Do you know what tzaraat is? Tzaraat is like death. A person who could exert himself for half a year and afterward be healthy - surely he would do it. If the prophet had spoken to you about some great thing, would you not do it? And how much more so when he said to you "wash and be cleansed." First, this is a very easy thing, to bathe in the Jordan. And second, the prophet told you this, not just some ordinary person. On the contrary, if the prophet needs such a small thing to heal you, this shows the greatness of his level; for if he required great efforts and many actions, it would show that a large investment was needed here, but when he says do such a small thing and you will be purified - this shows that he is a great prophet, who heals through such a small matter.
And the question arises: those speaking to him are his servants, not sages or advisers of the king. And if the servants understand such a simple and elementary matter, what did they actually say to him? What do you care, what do you have to lose? Go down to the Jordan and be purified, at most you will come out cleaner. How is it that Naaman himself did not understand this, seeing that he had already "turned and gone," already about to return to Damascus?
The masters of mussar say: from here you learn the power of character traits to sway a person. Naaman was offended, his pride was hurt, and from the moment he was offended he no longer acts rationally - the intellect is shut down. "Ah, this is how he spoke to me? This is what he did to me? I have no interest in anything, I am leaving." Fool, whom are you harming? Whom are you threatening? You are harming yourself, for what will happen if you do such a simple thing? By contrast, his servants had no personal stake, their ego was not hurt, and because they were not offended they think rationally.
From here they say that a person who has a question and is wrestling with it should ask another person. And he claims: I am wiser than him. True, you are wiser than him, but he has what you do not: he is free of personal bias, and you have personal bias. When you are in doubt whether to do this or that, you have some desire leaning to one side, and this arouses doubts in you. When you ask another person, you have asked a neutral person, and as a neutral person his counsel is better than yours. For however wise I may be, personal bias can often distort my judgment; and he, if he is a person with a bit of common sense - and I am not speaking of a fool - can decide for another person in matters where the latter has a personal stake and he does not. Therefore the servants had sounder judgment than Naaman, who in himself was not a foolish person at all.
וַיֵּרֶד וַיִּטְבֹּל בַּיַּרְדֵּן שֶׁבַע פְּעָמִים כִּדְבַר אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים וַיָּשָׁב בְּשָׂרוֹ כִּבְשַׂר נַעַר קָטֹן וַיִּטְהָר. - So he went down and immersed himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh returned like the flesh of a young child, and he was purified.
Let us note that later the roles are reversed. The masters of mussar say: after Naaman is healed, what happens to him? He believes in Hashem, becomes a ger toshav and wants to build an altar, as we will see later in the chapter. And the servants, those same servants of sound judgment, carry on just as before and remain as they were. Yet you too were here at the time of the miracle; did you not see what took place here, what a miracle the prophet performed? How is it that the servants remained the same?
The masters of mussar say: from here you learn that when a person experiences something himself, it is completely different from one who stands as an onlooker from the side. The one who experienced the event here was Naaman, and therefore the change and transformation took place in him. And in their case? "Very nice, wonderful, I saw a miracle" - but it did not happen to me, I did not experience it, and from the moment that I did not experience it, the effect is minimal.
Naaman, a mighty warrior and man of stature, was stricken with tzaraat by Divine providence - and not for the killing of Ahab but for the capture of a young girl from Israel, whose merits are greater than the merits of a wicked king. That girl's counsel leads him to Elisha, by way of the king of Aram and the king of Israel who tears his garments, up to the prophet's decree to wash seven times in the Jordan. Elisha does not come out to him, and in this are three foundations: that he should know the healing comes by the prophet's decree and not by an incantation; that he should humble his pride, the root of the tzaraat; and that he should know there is a prophet in Israel - a knowledge that is itself a condition for the validity of his acceptance as a ger toshav. Naaman, whose pride was hurt, loses his judgment, and it is precisely his servants, who have no personal stake, who bring him back to sound sense. And in the end, the true transformation takes place only in one who experiences the miracle himself. Two great lessons emerge from here: beware of the personal bias that distorts judgment, and strive to be one who experiences and not merely an onlooker.