In this week’s Torah portion, God tells us that tzaaras, a spiritually type of leprosy that is a result of performing certain sins, particularly speaking derogatorily, could also manifest on houses. The owner would have to remove everything inside the house, and a Kohein, a Priest, would determine whether or not it was in fact tzaaras. And if it was tzaaras, then eventually the part of the wall that contained the blemish would need to be cut out and removed.

Can you imagine having to remove everything from your house? What a job! But even more overwhelming would be to start knocking down walls to ensure that no tzaaras remained. But something miraculous often happened when walls were removed. Many years previously, when the Canaanites heard that the Jews were going to conquer the land, they hid their valuables in the walls of their houses. As such, when the Jews were knocking down their walls, they often found gold and treasures hidden inside!

How excited do you think the Jews were to find the treasures! When just a few moments prior they were most likely bemoaning their fate of having to break down their house. Instead of thinking this tzaraas is happening to them, they now see it was happening for them! Everything God does is for us, for our benefit. However, if we think that we are victims to circumstance, arbitrarily being whisked around from here to there, then we are likely to miss the many opportunities that are being presented just so that we can step into the best version of ourselves. If we instead stop and reflect that this isn’t happening to me, but rather for me, then we can extract the many blessings awaiting us in that moment.

However, we still need to break down the wall. Tzaaras was still a result of their sin. But when they recognized their deficiencies and resolved to be better, then God sent them a special reward. So it is with our life as well. Sometimes we need reminders that certain things in our lives or beings require correction and growth. But the reminders are for us – for our benefit, for our growth, for us to step into the amazing people God knows that we can be.

The Hebrew word for blemish is nega. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for pleasure is oneg – the difference between these two words – blemish and pleasure – is where you place the Hebrew letter ayin, which means “eye” in Hebrew. It’s all dependent on our perspective. We can see things as either a blemish or as pleasurable; it depends on our perspective. If we see things happening to us, it can look like a blemish. However, if we view things as for us, out of love from God, it transforms that into a pleasurable experience that allows us to find the treasures hiding beneath the surface.

Exercise: When encountering an inconvenience think that this is happening to serve you and your purpose in this world.