The ancient Israelites were not immune to the illogical fears that surround contagion and stigma. The Bible elaborates the exacting process that saves someone from becoming a true outcast. We find in this a model for another kind of redemptive action, redemption for people who suffer illness and for those who are in community with them. The Torah reading teaches our responsibility to welcome a person back into health and a sense of belonging within family, friendship circles and community. Its clear depictions serve to address the fears of contagious and uncontrollable disease.
Lepers are indeed a stand-in for people who are ostracized and rejected from society.
AIDS and tuberculosis are two of our modern plagues. Social inclusion is certainly not universally accepted, as for example in Cuba, where people with AIDS are segregated from society. Such public health imprisonment is a fate that almost exclusively falls on the poor and socially marginalized. In this Torah reading, we can progress from understanding disease as a judgment by God, to accepting it as a force of nature which we must overcome. As Roderick Young noted in last week's d'var torah, when Miriam has leprosy, it is a punishment by God for speaking behind Moses' nack, and in rabbinic folklore this theology of sin and retribution persists with leprosy as a punishment by God specifically for the sin of speaking poorly of others.