Both Sedra’s deal with a condition called Tzoras, which is usually, translated as leprosy. Metzora begins…

The Alshich asks why the verse says that this will be the Law of the Metzora and why no fewer than eight times it refers to the sufferer as the "Mitaher", the purifier. Surely it is the Cohen who is the purifier.

This disease shares certain common features with ordinary illnesses but in essence it is totally different. The Illness is the physical expression of a spiritual condition.

Rashi cites three components that trigger the disease. They are slanderous speech, which is how people engage in character assassination. Haughtiness and miserliness. This is indicated by the Symbolism of the components in the purification ritual. He must bring wood from a Cedar tree, a tree that is tall and beautiful, paralleling how he saw himself. The scarlet wool dyed from a worm and a Hyssop branch hint Lowliness. This will be his remedy. He must lower himself and correct his view of other people.

That is why the "Treatment" is to lock away the sufferer for a week on his own. He indeed is the Mitaher, the purifier. The Cohen merely determines if he has been successful and if his symptoms have gone.

The only person who really knows what we have done wrong is us. The only person who really knows me is me. So this will be the law of the Metzora on the day that he purifies himself.

In Ovos D’Rebbe Nosson the question is asked as what was the origins of the great Rabbi Akiva? When he was forty years old he knew nothing about Judaism. While in the fields with shepherds he observed a rock which had a hole drilled into it by dripping water. He thought if this water can make such an impression on a hard rock then the "Hard" Torah should surely make an impression on me. He took his son and went to learn from an elementary level teacher. The teacher drew the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and then the second. Rabbi Akiva went away to learn them and asked himself why should they be those particular shapes? (The shapes of Hebrew letters have design and significance) He returned and asked the teacher to elucidate. After he concluded his study of the Bible he began with advanced teachers to attempt the Mishna. His teachers taught him a point of Jewish Law and again he went away to consider it. He returned to ask why the Law should be as he was taught and after further explanation understood.

Rabbi Akiva had no shame in sitting with his son at the feet of a child’s teacher. He had no embarrassment in saying he did not understand and asking for more help. The person who turned Akiva into the great Rabbi Akiva was Akiva. The person who solves our problems is ourselves. Once the decision has been made to change we must seek out those, a Cohen or a Teacher who can help and grow from there.