Be Careful About What Comes Out Of Your Mouth – Parshat Tazria 5776 2016

The Portion of Tazria deals mainly with a skin affliction wrongly translated in the English Bible as leprosy. It is actually a form of skin disease which appears on the body as a rash.  Our Talmudic Rabbis attribute this disease as a punishment for “Lashon Hara”, slander or tale bearing. The preceding Portion of Shmini ends with the laws of forbidden foods. Many Biblical commentaries deal with the juxtaposition of these two portions.

Rabbi Israel Salanter, the 19th century scholar and founder of the Musar movement, poses a very interesting answer. He says that many people are meticulously careful when it comes to Halachic observance of consuming kosher food. They are not as careful when talking about other people. They are free with gossip and slander. Hence the Torah put them together to emphasize that both are equally important.

This is an extremely serious message which is relevant to this day. We are careful about what we eat but we must be just as painstakingly meticulous when talking about other people. “Lashon Hara” is never permitted.

 

Dvar Torah Tazria-Metzora 5775 2015

The Portion of Metzora relates to a person who is afflicted with a particular rash the Torah calls a Nega. In our time we are not aware of what this affliction is. Chazal, however, tell us that it comes as a punishment for speaking לשון הרע, slander.

The story is told about Rabban Gamliel that he once sent his Shamash to the market to bring him that which is the best thing. He brought him a tongue. He sent him again to bring the worst thing. Again he brought a tongue. He asked him is it possible that the tongue is both the best and the worst thing? “Yes”, he answered, “there is nothing better than a tongue that speaks honestly and nothing worse than a tongue that speaks slander and gossip”.

Today we do not have the disease of Metzora but the wrong of speaking לשון הרע, slander, is still with us. The Chafetz Chaim, the author of the “Mishna Brurah” wrote an entire book on the subject to direct us on how we must act in speaking about others and in treating them in order to avoid slander. לשון הרע slander is considered one of the most serious wrongdoings of which we can be guilty and one of the most difficult transgressions to avoid.

Dvar Torah Parshat Tazria – Metzora 5773 2013

A Metzora is one who has developed a rash on his body. Chazal tell us this was mainly a divine punishment for speaking לשון הרע, evil talk against his fellow man. He was sent out of the camp of the Israelites and had to remain there until the illness disappeared. It is only a Kohen who can examine him and declare that he has been healed.

The Torah tells us that on the day the infection disappears וְהוּבָא אֶל הַכֹּהֵן, “…he shall be brought to the Kohen.” (Lev 14,2) The very next verse states: וְיָצָא הַכֹּהֵן אֶל מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה, “The Kohen shall go to the outside of the camp…”. He is to go to the Metzora who is outside of the Israelite camp to check him and declare his recovery. This seems to be contradictory. First we are told the Metzora is to be brought to the Kohen and then we are told the Kohen comes to him.

The obvious explanation is that the Metzora goes to the edge of the camp and the Kohen comes there to meet him. However, The Midrash Torat Kohanim extracts an additional teaching from this seeming contradiction. It tells us that the Metzora must make contact with the Kohan to receive all the instructions about the ritual he must follow on the day of his purification as a thanks to the Almighty for curing him. Then the Kohen can declare him cured.

Today when a person has suffered an illness and recovered he must be ever grateful to Hashem and must surely express his appreciation in a meaningful fashion. If the sickness was a very serious one there is a special Beracha of thanks known as הגומל which is recited in the presence of a Minyan of ten men.

Dvar Torah Parshat Tazria-Metzora 5772 2012

The Torah tells us that a house can have a נֶגַע, an affliction, and the wall upon which it is found has to be destroyed. Chazal give us many reasons why a house can have a נֶגַע. All the reasons are based on the one belief that the owner has committed Lashon Harah, slander, or some similar transgression.

The one who has to declare it a נֶגַע can only be a Kohen who is an expert in this field. The procedure prescribed in the Torah is that the individual who has a נֶגַע on the wall in his house must go to the Kohen and say: כְּנֶגַע נִרְאָה לִי בַּבָּיִת, “…Something like an affliction has appeared to me in the house.” (Lev. 14,35)

Why doesn’t the owner of the house simply say, “נֶגַע נִרְאָה לִי בַּבָּיִת, I see a נֶגַע in my house; come and check it out”?

There is an Halachic rule that a person may not admit that he is a Rasha, or an evil person. Hence, if he came and said he has a נֶגַע in his house he would be admitting that he has transgressed by speaking slander. He thus says that it appears to be like a נֶגַע and the Kohen should check it out. The Kohen determines if it is indeed a נֶגַע and only then the home owner must atone for his wrongdoing.

Dvar Torah Parshat Tazria 5771 2011

The Torah describes the symptoms of a malady which it calls צרעת, Tzara’at. Modern medicine cannot accurately identify this sickness. According to the Torah the Kohen has to examine the signs and determine if it is truly this affliction. Since the Kohen is not a doctor our sages recognize this is not a normal infection but rather an outward manifestation of a spiritual deficiency.

The Rabbis of the Talmud state that a Kohen is eligible to diagnose everyone’s symptoms except his own. This is a strange restriction since even a doctor may recognize his own symptoms. The Rabbis’ meaning, however, has a broader implication. They recognize that people can readily see faults in others but they cannot see their own faults.

This is why they maintain that the Kohen can diagnose the Tzara’at of others but not his own. Since this ailment is not a usual type of sickness but an indication of a spiritual deficiency, they are not able to judge their own status.

Dvar Torah Parshat Tazria – Metzora 2009 5769 דבר תורה פרשת תזריע מצורע

One of the duties of the Kohanim, we read in today’s Sidra, is to examine what appears as a NEGA or an affliction on the skin of an individual. This is obviously a menial task. Moshe realized this and according to the Midrash said to Hashem, “Is this an honorable task for my brother Aharon, to inspect the NEGA of people?” (Lev. Rab. 15;8)

The response he received from Hashem was that as a Kohen he also receives all the gifts from the people. In effect what Moshe was being told is that there is good and bad in everything. All benefits carry with them drawbacks.

When a person is appointed or elected to a high position it is indeed an honor. He must realize, however, that with this honor come responsibilities. Often we seek a job or position that seems to be a most desirable and attractive status only to find that with it comes many unwanted and boring and monotonous tasks.

The point is that there is good and not so good in everything and it is up to us to make the best of every situation.

Dvar Torah Tazria 2008 – 5768 דבר תורה תזריע

In the beginning of Sefer VaYikra the Torah says that if a man, MIKEM, of you,.brings a Korban. In this week’s Portion when the Torah talks about a person having a disease in his skin, which according to Chazal is a punishment, it does not say a man MIKEM but merely a man. There is a definite lesson in the difference in the language the Torah uses.

When speaking to a person and trying to explain some misfortune that can befall one, we should never use the person as an example. If you want to warn against crossing the street against a traffic light you should not say, “You might be killed”. You should rather say, “One might be killed”.

The Talmud (MK 18a) emphasizes this thought by bringing a verse from Kohelet which reads, “Like an error which proceeds from a ruler”. (Eccl. 10,5) This is interpreted to mean that when a ruler states that an act should be performed, even if he erred and did not mean it the way it was said, it is nevertheless, carried out. So too when people say things to others it sounds like they wish it upon them.

All this expresses the caution that when speaking one must be mindful of what he says so that it may not be misinterpreted to sound like it is meant against the person addressed.

Dvar Torah Tazria – Metzora 7 2007 – 5767 דבר תורה תזריע – מצורע

These portions speak about one who has a NEGA TZARA’AT on his body. The words NEGA TZARA’AT are translated in the English Bibles as “a plague or affliction of leprosy”. This we know is a wrong meaning of the words because of the description of the malady in the Torah and the fact that the Torah speaks of its healing, which at this time we know cannot happen.

Chazal see in NEGA TZARA’AT a punishment for one who speaks evil gossip against another. The duty to determine whether a person is really afflicted by this disease is relegated to the Kohen. If he suspects a person is inflicted with it but is not certain he quarantines him in his house for a week and then examines him again.

A Chassidic Rabbi once pointed out that a week was prescribed for the quarantine because every week has, of course, a Shabbat and the intention was for the person to spend a Shabbat contemplating on his condition. It is obvious that one who suffers from this malady is very depressed. The Oneg Shabbat has the power to transform a person’s depression to happiness.

To enforce this thought he points out that the Hebrew word NEGA is spelled NUN GIMMEL AYIN and the Hebrew word for Oneg is spelled AYIN NUN GIMMEL, the same letters only juxtaposed.

Dvar Torah Tazria – Metzora 6 2006 – 5766 דבר תורה תזריע – מצורע

The word METZORA is very difficult to define. The truth is that we today do not know its exact meaning. Most translations referred to it as leprosy. We know this is not the correct meaning since the descriptions that follow are not those of leprosy. Furthermore, the Torah talks about a cure which may come about after a week or two. This is not possible in leprosy as we know it. However, there are many important lessons that we may learn from these laws.

In order to determine if the disease is a NEGA or a symptomatic sore, the Kohen must be consulted. That task of labeling the person a METZORA in the first place and later after healing releasing him from this designation is given to the Kohen. Only he can make the declaration of METZORA or release him from this label.

The Talmud discusses the question of what happens when the Kohen is not knowledgeable enough to make the determination. Chazal said that a Rabbi or scholar can go along with the Kohen and tell him what to say. If the scholar is the one who makes the decision, why is the Kohen needed.

There is a very essential message in this law. Formalities are very important. We often like to ignore technical requirement as long as we do the correct thing. We like to by-pass formalities. Here the Torah emphasizes that form is very significant. Whether in dress, in table manners, in speech, in every aspect of our lives, it is important for us to adhere to decorum and custom. That is a sign of a civilized person.

Dvar Torah Tazria 5 2005 – 5765 דבר תורה תזריע

It is an accepted practice among Chazal and the interpreters of the Torah to derive meaning from portions of the Torah that happen to be found next to each other. These commentaries on the Torah do not think that the connection between the portions is arbitrary, but rather they find a similarity between the passages and learn one from the other. This is called DORSHIM SEMUCHOT, learning from the juxtaposition of the passages.

Why does the Sidra of Tazriah follow on the heels of the Sidra Shemini? They explain that there is a substantial reason for the closeness of these portions. Shemini ends with the laws of Kashrut and tells us that its purpose is to distinguish between the Tameh and the Tahor, between the spiritual contaminated and the pure.

Tazriah starts with the Mitzvah of Brit Milah, circumcision. This is also to create a distinction. Here the distinction is between a Jew and a non-Jew. The Brit Milah sets us aside from all other nations. (Of course, many have copied our practice of circumcision as they have other Mitzvot that are primarily for the Jewish people.) Similarly, Kashrut also sets us aside from others and distinguishes us from other nations.

What is important for us is to recognize that the Jewish people are not like all others. We are different. We have a Torah and must live by it. Perhaps that is why the world despises us, because they do not like people to be different. That is why there is racial discrimination. In our case it is not racial but the way we live.

Dvar Torah Tazria – Metzora 4 2004 – 5764 דבר תורה תזריע – מצורע

In the first Sidra we read this week we are commanded the Mitzvah of Brit Milah. It is customary at a Brit for the people standing around to bless the child and say: KESHEM SHNICHNAS LABRIT, KEN YIKANES LETORAH, LECHUPAH ULMA’ASIM TOVIM, “Just as he has entered into the Brit (of Avraham Avinu) so too should he enter into the study of Torah, into marriage and into the performance of good deeds.”

What is the connection between the Brit and the other things mentioned? The fact is that entering into the Covenant of Avraham is not a simple accomplishment. Becoming a Jew means he will have to face the cruel anti-Semitic world. He will have many restrictions on how he behaves, what he eats, how he lives and he will be responsible for adherence to all the Mitzvot that are not too easy to keep.

This is what the blessing means. Just as he enters into the Brit with Hashem and the Jewish people knowing it will not be a trouble-free function, so too when he starts learning Torah it will not be easy and it should be LISHMAH. So too, when he marries and when he starts doing Ma’asim Tovim it is not going to be without drawbacks but he should enter these performances with the attitude that it is the proper thing to do. He should not think that these tasks are easy to carry out. Nevertheless, he should do them willingly and honestly.

Dvar Torah Tazria – Metzora 2 2002 – 5762 דבר תורה תזריע – מצורע

This week we read two portions. In the first we read about one of the most important Mitzvot in Jewish life – the Brit Milah. We are told that on the eighth day after the child’s birth he is to be circumcised. Why are eight days necessary? The Midrash Rabbah (27:10) gives the reason so that the child should first experience a Shabbat, for in every eight days there must be a Shabbat. It is important that the child first live through a Shabbat before undergoing the Mitzva of Brit Milah.

What is the significance of this requirement? As we all know the Shabbat testifies to Jews that Hashem created the world. After six days of creation he rested on Shabbat. We too must rest on that day to indicate that we believe that the world did not just come about by itself or that the world always existed as some believed. We maintain that Hashem created the world and we rest on Shabbat to demonstrate this belief.

When a child is brought into the Jewish fold through the Brit, we symbolically show him through the Shabbat what our belief is. It is true that at that age the child has no concept of what we are trying to show. It really is a lesson for his parents and when he gets older and learns about the Brit and its laws he too will then get the message. Shabbat is one of the great Mitzvot of the Jews. Many Jews gave up their lives when they were being forced to desecrate the Shabbat. It is a fundamental principle in Judaism which underlies all other Mitzvot. We first must believe that Hashem created the world and then we know that we must worship Him and follow His commandments.