Intriguing History: Why Were the Lepers Expelled from Samaria?

A well-known narrative in the Prophets, also read during the weekly Torah portion, begins with the description: "Four men, who were lepers, stood at the entrance of the gate." These four lepers were outside the walls of Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, about 2,700 years ago.

Our sages revealed that these lepers were Gehazi, the servant of the prophet Elisha, and his three sons. This was because the prophet had cursed him for his unbecoming behavior, saying: "May the leprosy of Naaman cling to you and your descendants forever!"

Rabbi Akiva Eiger raises an intriguing question: According to Jewish law, lepers must be sent outside the city. A "city" is defined as one surrounded by a wall from the days of Joshua bin Nun. However, Samaria, Israel's capital, was built by Omri, the father of King Ahab, as described in the Prophets, and did not exist in the days of Joshua. So why were the lepers expelled?

Rabbi Akiva Eiger suggests the possibility that before the construction of Samaria, there had been another walled city there. However, Rabbi Mecklenburg, the author of "K'tav v'haKabalah," argues that the Talmud does not suggest this. Therefore, Rabbi Mecklenburg proposes that for the purpose of expelling lepers (unlike, for example, the reading of the Megillah), people are sent out even from cities not walled since the days of Joshua, as long as they are walled cities of any kind.

Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschutz offers a different explanation: There is leprosy among Jews, and leprosy among non-Jews. Jewish leprosy, as discussed in the Torah, is not contagious; it is a spiritual impurity, and its laws are determined by Torah guidelines regarding walled cities. But there is also a contagious leprosy among non-Jews, which lacks the Torah's signs of leprosy and is dangerous, requiring the removal of its carriers from inhabited areas. Gehazi contracted Naaman's dangerous contagious leprosy, so he and his sons were expelled from the city.