parsha bit: Tazria-Metzora

[cellio]

When a person is afflicted with tzara'at (usually translated "leprosy"), he is sent outside the camp for at least a week. Obadiah Sforno says that this is to prompt him to ask God for forgiveness. The isolation enables him to contemplate his misdeeds, intentional and unintentional; this, in turn, might lead to personal improvement and repentance. So isolation leads to repentance which leads to God's forgiveness and his rehabilitation. (Comments on Leviticus 14:21)