“The affliction of tzaraas is spiritual rather than medical in nature. The Talmud discerns (Arachin 16a) seven different causes for tzaraas, the most famous of which is lashon hara, improper speech. The other six are not as well known. One of them is tzarus ayin, which translates literally as ‘narrowness of the eye.’ It refers to mean-spiritedness, a tendency to see the negative and overlook the positive in everything. It is a singular lack of generosity in all things, a constricted view of the world and everything in it.

If this affliction of the spirit caused the lesion on the garment, then the therapy is to transform the trait of tzar ayin into tov ayin, literally ‘a person with a good eye.’ Instead of being a sour-faced, mean-spirited curmudgeon, he must become a smiling, generous, expansive, optimistic, warm and friendly person. Then the lesion will fade away. If he does not change, the lesion remains on the garment, and it must be incinerated.”