The Diagnosis of the Kohein

A final thought about the case of leprosy. Rabbi Twerski, who was also a psychiatrist, pointed out the unique role of the Kohein in giving diagnosis of the leprous spot.

Normally, when one has a malignant growth, the medical doctor will identify the existing growth as malignant. In the case of the diagnosis of a Kohein, he is the one who decided whether the growth is leprosy. If he says it’s leprosy, it is leprosy. If he says it is not, then it isn’t leprosy.

This is truly an amazing set of circumstances, that defies the rules of nature. This is the only situation in the Torah where there is a direct cause and effect. The cause is the sin of לשון הרע, and the effect is the disease of leprosy. And it is the Kohein who is given a kind of supernatural power to decide the gravity of the sin, as evidenced by what he sees before him.

He may decide that although there is, in fact, a growth, it may either be ignored, or determined that it is the disease known as צרעת that could involve a prolonged period of quarantine. The Kohanim were truly spiritual doctors.