Wealth in Leprous Homes

Shavua Tov. The Meam Loez answers the question as to why were Jews blessed with finding treasures when they had to take apart the stones of a leprous house. We are told that when the כנעני would be driven from the Land, they would leave treasures in the walls of their homes. They would be discovered by way of leprous homes. The מעם לועז says that if we examine the texts, we will notice that the wording is very different regarding leprosy on the body or on one’s clothing. Regarding leprosy of the home, the Torah prefaces the case with, כי תבוא אל ארץ כנען, “When you enter the Land of Canaan.” It has a tone of good news with it. Although the leprosy does come with sin, Hashem does Chessed even at a time of punishment. The other forms of the disease were not accompanied by any hopeful news. Another answer is that כנעני homes were built with stones dedicated to עבודה זרה. Such stones would pollute the home and prevent the שכינה, Divine Presence from entering that home. Hashem sent these blemishes on the walls of the house so that those impure stones would be removed, so that holiness could now enter that home.