Maimonides on Leprosy: Illness as Contemplative Metaphor

The diseases of Leviticus 13 and 14, commonly known as leprosy, were traditionally considered to be miraculously punitive responses to slander (lashon har'a). The link between leprosy and this particular sin is consistently maintained in the Guide of the Perplexed where it is also considered a miraculous punishment for slander. Maimonides' concluding remarks to the Laws of Leprosy Defilement in the Mishneh Torah comprise a relatively lengthy non-halakhic excursus which traces a series of offenses spiraling out of slander into increasingly abstract ones climaxing in an ultimate speculative crime regarding the nature of divine providence. Leprosy metastasizes from building to chattel to clothing to body in a pattern of increasing exposure and isolation culminating in quarantine. Each of these stages are marked by a carefully selected biblical prooftext which also appears in the Guide of the Perplexed and which can only be fully appreciated by reading both his juridical and philosophical works symbiotically. Maimonides has delicately preserved the pragmatic biblical and rabbinic construct of leprosy as a deterrence from slander while maintaining, at the same time, his philosophical position which sees providence or lack thereof as conditional on intellect. His excursus in the Mishneh Torah is strategically crafted, as his philosophical works are, to accommodate different audiences distinguished by their degree of philosophical sophistication. The result is an account of leprosy, which appeals both to those who are motivated by "necessary beliefs", and those who are guided solely by "true beliefs".