Tsa’arat, as translated in the Septuagint as leprosy, was not correct. Rambam describes it as a variety of dissimilar conditions, which the Sages attributed to lashon hara. It was, in fact, a Divine punishment, applied not just to individuals, but the location where the wrongdoing occurred. Rabbi Sacks compares this to Shakespeare’s Othello, wherein evil speech literally killed 3 individuals.
