LEPROUSY IS A PUNISHMENT FOR DEPARTING FROM TORAH

Midrash Rabbah - Numbers 7:10

Another exposition: COMMAND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, etc. (Numbers 5:2): The Rabbis explain the verse as applying to exile. COMMAND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; as if to say, because Israel have transgressed the commandments, they have incurred the penalty of being sent away; that is, exile. Hence it is written, AND LET THEM SEND AWAY FROM THE CAMP (ib.). ‘Sending away’ has the meaning of exile; as you read, Send them out of My sight, and let them go forth (Jeremiah 15:1). OUT OF THE CAMP; that is, out of the Land of Israel, where the Shechinah has its camp.