Moses Struck With Leprosy for Doubting Israel's Faith

He said to him: You speak slander against My children. Just as the serpent, which spoke slander, and I struck it with leprosy (tzara'at), so too you. "Put now your hand [into your bosom]" (Exodus 4:6); and he put his hand into his bosom and brought it out, and behold, his hand was leprous like snow (ibid. 4:6). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: You say of My children that they do not believe, yet they are believers, children of believers. "And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs" (ibid. 4:9). The Holy One, blessed be He, gave him a hint. He said to him: From where do you take yours? From the water, as it is said, "and you shall take from the water of the Nile" (ibid. 4:9).