Close To Torah

There is much discussion about birth, a woman’s tumah (ritual impurity) and Tzaras (leprosy) throughout Tazria and Metzora. The laws of a Tzaras (the punishment one got for speaking Lashon Harah), the laws of childbirth and the laws of a woman’s tumah and tahara process are all found together especially with the advent of the two parshios of Tazria and Metzora coming together on one week.

Why the Tumah?

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l (1895-1986) asks, why is it that a woman becomes tamey just for giving birth and bringing a child into this world?! What is the lesson here? He explains that the deepest principle that we wish to instill in the new child is that of self-perfection and development. Hashem created each of us and put us in the world in order to bring ourselves up from being a physical hedonistic being into a spiritual connector with Hashem. The baby’s birth causes tumah in order to stress that physical existence is only granted for the purpose of recognizing the tumah of mankind and working to bring tahara, purity, into the world by means of Torah and mitzvos. He has the rest of life to purify himself though becoming a spiritual being.

The Leper

Someone who spoke Lashon Harah has used his mouth for the exact opposite reason that he was granted a mouth in the first place. Hashem gave us a mouth so that we can speak the words of Torah and Tefillah. He gave us a mouth so that we can speak nicely and pleasantly to one another. The mouth is a place of connection. It is used for eating, the advent which connects the body and the soul. It is used for expressing love and connection by way of a kiss. It is used to connect people by way of talking and bonding. When someone speaks Lashon Harah he or she is using the mouth to disconnect. The mouth is removed from Hashem and His Torah and causing a separation between people as well.

The Baby

Chazal tell us that the baby is taught the entire Torah while in his or her mother’s womb. This is a time of great spiritual infusion. The angel hits the baby above the mouth and it forgets the entire Torah before being born. The learning was not for nothing. It was to instill inside the child the truth and power of Torah. Throughout life, he or she will work to bring out his or her portion in Torah, made easier by the original infusion in-utero. The Maharal teaches us that the blow to the infant’s mouth is none other than the power of speech. The depth of Torah cannot be fully articulated verbally and the power of speech is what limits the baby’s expression. He or she will spend life learning Torah and doing mitzvos and learning how to articulate Torah into language, though the greatest Torah will be held in his or her heart. The emunah, faith, and depth of understanding lies deep within.

The Real Birth

The entire process of pregnancy and birth represents the world and its spiritual goal in a microcosm. Nine months of intense pain and suffering represent the existence of the physical world which consists of hardships, trials and tribulations. The woman holds tight with her knowledge that despite all the suffering, it will be worth it in the end. The moment of birth represents the climax of leaving the physical world, just as the baby is leaves the world of his physical nurturer. The Torah that was learned will guide the child forever. Birth represents the resolution, the satisfaction of having lived life to its fullest in choosing a spiritual life and in recognizing that only Hashem is the True Provider. When man uses his mouth to connect with Hashem and others, he has elevated his life to a most fulfilling and productive existence for eternity.

The Torah tells us that one who suffered from tzaras had to go through an atonement process when the tzaras began to get smaller. The beginning verse in our Parsha states that when the Metzora thought that he was ready to be reexamined by the Kohen (14:2) “…the Metzora should go out to the Kohen.” The next verse seems to contradict this by saying, “The Kohen should go out to see him (the Metzora). What is going on here, should the leper go to the Kohen, or should the Kohen come to him?

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l says that from here we learn an important lesson in life. Both the leper and the Kohen should focus on their part in what they have a responsibility to do! They should both go out to greet each other! Rav Moshe states that this is an important lesson in many situations in life.

Rabbi Chaim Volozin explains in Avos (1:12) what it means to be a follower of Aharon HaKohen and to ‘love peace and pursue peace’. What do the Mishna and the verse (Tehillim 34:15) mean by “love peace and run after it”? He says that we should try our best to do our part in seeking solutions and ways to work with others. What happens when we feel that the other party is not doing their part? The verse and Mishna tell us, “pursue peace anyway!” That is what is meant by the stressing of “run after peace!” Continue to uphold and stay true to your moral and ethical character commitments! This is a hard task and certainly expresses greatness on the part of Aharon and anyone who emulates him!

Indeed, Chazal (Taanis 4a) tell us that when Yiftach accidently swore to give his daughter as a sacrifice to Hashem, he had a simple solution to remedy his mistake. He should have had his vow annulled by the Jewish leader Pinchas. But alas this never happened. Yiftach said, “Pinchus should come to me, after all, I am the Chief Judge of the Jewish Nation.” Pinchus refused to go stating, “Yiftach should come to me, after all, I am the Chief Prophet of the Jewish Nation.” And between the two of them Yiftach’s daughter was lost. Chazal say that both of them were badly punished for although each felt that they intended their front for the sake of heaven, nevertheless, their personal ego prevented them from doing what was right. Yiftach died a painful death in which his body dislodged one limb at a time and Pinchus lost his prophetic abilities.

The significance of these two punishments is understood in light of the nature of their sin. The Jewish Nation is seen as one body, where each person is part of the special nation and serves his or her unique function just as the body is made up of diverse limbs and functions. Yiftach was not properly in line with this perspective and he saw himself as an individual who was separate and better than others. Hashem therefore punished him correspondingly by separating limbs from his physical body. Pinchas was the illustrious grandson of Aharon HaKohen and was expected to embody the traits of his grandfather. When he showed himself to be lacking in that department, he lost the privilege of divine prophesy. Being close to Hashem is a privilege that is awarded to those that are willing to open their hearts and respect others. When Pinchus closed his heart to another Jew and did not act with proactive alacrity in order to help someone in need, he lost his connection to Hashem. We can assume that both Yiftach and Pinchus recognized their mistake and repented for it, and their lesson carries on and teaches us the importance of doing our part. May we all merit to emulate Aharon’s love and pursuit of peace.

Kosher Speech

The Torah discusses tzara’as, the punishment for lashon hara, at great length. Tzara’as would first appear on a person’s home, and if he does not repent for his lashon hara at that point, it would spread to his clothes. If he continued in his ways even still, then eventually, his body would be afflicted by it.  Parshas Tazria follows Parshas Shemini, which deals with the kashrus of animals. Outwardly, there seems to be no connection between these two topics; but is there, in fact, a deeper meaning behind this juxtaposition?  Rav Yisrael Salanter explained that the Torah does this to teach us that it if one wants to protect the sanctity of his neshamah, it is not sufficient to guard oneself from non-kosher food. One’s speech has an even greater affect on his neshamah than what one eats. The outer signs of tzara’as come to show the great internal damage caused through lashon hara. When Rav Sternbuch first came into yeshiva in London, Rav Shneider encapsulated Rav Yisrael Salanter’s words with the following rule: “You are all extremely careful about the kashrus of the food that goes into your mouth. Try to be equally wary of the kashrus of the words that come out of your mouth.” While eating non-kosher meat is a serious transgression, bringing non-kosher ideas into one’s mind can be even more dangerous. At times, the problems with certain written materials are extremely subtle, and the casual reader might not even realize that his neshamah is being infected. Especially with the advent of internet, when anyone can post any idea that he wants for public view, one must take extreme care with regard to what a person reads that it is clean of lashon hara, apikorsis, and other Torah prohibitions.

Punishment For Lashon Hara

The malach who would speak to the Beis Yosef on a regular basis once told him this:

“Do not worry about those people who have spoken against you. They haven’t harmed you; just the opposite, they have helped you. When someone speaks lashon hara about his friend, his mitzvos get transferred to whomever he spoke about. If people realized this, they would have great joy when they hear that someone spoke about them. They would even give gold or silver coins to the person who spoke about them.” (Magid Mesherim, Parshas Vayakel)

The Chovos Halevavos, Shaar Hachaniyah (Chapter 7) also cites this idea. He adds that when a person who speaks lashon hara gets to shamayim, he will find that he is accredited with many transgressions that he does not remember doing. When he asks about them, he will be told that they were taken from the individuals that he spoke lashon hara about, and added to his record. The Chovos Halevavos cites a story of a chasid whom someone spoke lashon hara about. When the chasid found this out, he sent the speaker a lavish gift consisting of the choicest fruit of that land with the following note: “You were kind enough to give me your mitzvos and take away my aveiros. I am sending you a small token of my appreciation.” How can we understand why a person loses all of his Torah and mitzvos by speaking lashon hara? When a person speaks badly about someone else, this creates prosecuting angels against his friend. Exchanging the mitzvos of the speaker for the aveiros of the one he spoke about helps rectify the spiritual damage that has been caused. When the subject of the lashon hara gets all of the mitzvos of the person who spoke about him, his reputation in shamayim is exponentially improved. Similarly, by unloading his transgressions onto the person who spoke about him, he is now considered a tzadik. These two actions counter the damage caused by the prosecuting angels, for with all of his mitzvos and lack of aveiros, they can no longer speak badly about him. Based on this, the Chasam Sofer (in a derasha for Shavuos) explains what Chazal mean by their statement that when someone becomes a rav, all of his transgressions are forgiven. The reason for this is that after a person gets a position as a rav, many people will speak lashon hara about him. His aveiros will be placed onto all of the people who spoke about him. The Chafetz Chaim hints to this concept in the sefer Shemiras Halashon in Shaar Hazechira (Chapter 7). Since this is such a crucial deterrent to prevent someone from speaking lashon hara, why didn’t the Chafetz Chaim make a more open reference to the fact that one loses all of his mitzvos if he speaks lashon hara? Rav Moshe Shneider once asked the Chofetz Chaim why he did not write what the Rambam says, that someone who speaks lashon hara does not have a place in the World to Come. The Chofetz Chaim replied that he could not give people such a blow. Rav Shneider understood that if the Chofetz Chaim would write that speaking lashon hara causes one to lose his portion in the next world, people would give up hope and refrain from putting effort into learning Torah and performing mitzvos. This rule is especially applicable to the internet. If someone posts lashon hara about someone else, this could be seen by countless individuals, and the extent of the damage is enormous. Especially when the lashon hara is about rabbanim, one could lose his entire olam habah because of his transgression.

Asking Forgiveness

The Chafetz Chaim writes, in the sefer that became his namesake, that if a person speaks lashon hara about his friend, he must go and tell him about it in order to get mechila from him (4:12). This is a very difficult halacha to follow. Hearing that someone spoke lashon hara about you is extremely distressing.  Rav Yisrael Salanter would not write an approbation for the sefer Chafetz Chaim because of this psak. Rav Yisrael ruled that instead, a person should ask a general forgiveness from the person he spoke about, and this is sufficient. Rav Sternbuch once received a letter from Rav Dessler praising this ruling of Rav Yisrael Salanter’s. Although there is a dispute whether one must ask forgiveness for specific lashon

לנגע צרעת… (יג:ב).

“…an infliction of Tzaras…” (13:2).

The Hebrew language is most fascinating. Whereas, words in many languages express deeper ideas, in Hebrew, the very letters that make up the words reveal secrets and beautiful ideas. In the following essay, you will either greatly enjoy this variance from my usual style, or you may find it not your cup of tea. Please bear with me as I think that we can gain a valuable appreciate of Lashon HaKodesh. Even more so than usual, I will leave you to finish off my thoughts….

Chazal (Tikuney Zohar 58a) state that the word “נגע, affliction” can be rearranged to spell “עֹנֶג, pleasure”. What is being said here? Hashem created the world to give man pleasure! What? Yes, the ultimate pleasure is in Olam HaBah. However, this world is meant to stimulate the nerve endings to be used to grow in spirituality as well. This is done by enjoying the pleasures of the world in their correct parameters and by recognizing that they come from Hashem.

The Metzora went and spoke Lashon Hara. He has no regard for treating others and Hashem properly. Since his priorities are backwards, Hashem inflicted him with a נגע , Tzaras, in order to help wake him up and allow himself to fix his actions and achieve “ענג”! In life we would benefit by asking ourselves, is this action going to bring me ultimate נגע or ענג?! This may be one hint behind the revolving letters.

I would like to bring a few more examples of words whose rearrangement of their letters speak for themselves. The Ramchal (especially in Sefer Tefillos) points out many of these fascinating messages and hints.

1-  יון – נוי: The Greeks (יון) stressed the worship of the physical body (נוי, beauty).

2- זמן – נזם: The Seforim write that time passes as a spiral. Throughout the year we do not just commemorate a Yom Tov, we so to speak go through it again; relive it. Hence, זמן, time, is like a נזם, round ring.

3- חמש – שמח: What is the connection between five (חמש) and happiness (שמח)? It represents process. Moshe is the fifth of our Ushpizin (Holy Shepherds), his trait is one of effort and hard work. The only path towards happiness comes through toil.

4- חמה – המח: The Sun (חמה) is a bright light upon earth just as the brain (המח) is the powerful machine of the body.

5- נח – חן: Noach (נח) found favor (חן) in the eyes of Hashem!

6- עד – דע: A witness (עד) must know (דע) precisely what happened.

7- אדם – מאד: Man (אדם) has the ability to accomplish great heights, he is limitless (מאד) in his greatness!  See Bereishis Rabbah (9:12) and Rav Hutner’s explanation.

8- חבר – חרב: The Shlah writes that one must assure that his acquaintances are true friends (חבר) and not God-forbid, swords (חרב) dragging him down.

9- תשובה – הבושת: True repentance (תשובה) comes from embarrassment/humility (הבושת) before Hashem.

10- צרה – רצה:  On Shabbos we transform from a weekday of pain (צרה) into a radiant day of rejoicing and acceptance (צרה) before Hashem. (See text of רצה in Bentching!)

Here are a few more to ponder: חשך – שכח, זקן – נזק, יד – די.

The Torah contains amazing lessons for us to learn from!

What exactly was Tzaras? The bottom line explanation is that it is not leprosy. Many people tend to translate it as such, however, the commentators provide many proofs that Tzaras cannot be the gruesome and highly contagious disease called leprosy.

1- We remove everything form the house before the Kohen proclaims the Tzaras Tamey. If it were contagious, how could we do this, certainly everything in the house should be destroyed?! Also, Chazal tell us that many people got Tzaras on their homes so that they would  find and keep the treasures hidden in their walls.

2- If a Chosson or Kallah seem to be showing signs of Tzaras, we do not look at it during Sheva Berachos. Additionally, during the three Regalim, we do not check on Negaim.

3- If one’s entire body is filled with Tzaras, he is Tahor!

4- We put the person with Tzaras into confinement, however, leprosy requires much fresh air to recover from.

So what is it? Tzaras is a spiritual malady brought on by a number of sins and most dominantly by Lashon Hara (See Arachin 16a).

 וצוה הכהן ולקח למטהר שתי ציפורים (יד:ד).

“The Cohen shall command to take two birds for the person receiving his atonement” (14:4).

As part of the purification process of the Metzorah, the leper, he must bring two birds. Rashi tells us that the reason is based on the fact that leprosy comes as a punishment for speaking lashon hara, slanderous speech. This is an act of “chatter,” thus, he must bring chatter-filled birds, as his atonement.

The question is, wouldn’t one bird suffice to convey this message, why does the Torah require that two birds be brought for the purification process?

Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried (author of the Kitzur Shulchun Aruch) finds a beautiful and relevant message in the requirement of two birds and explains the following. The Gemara in Chullin (89a) states that man’s job when dealing with people is to make sure to keep his negative speech silent! However, when it comes to Torah learning, on the contrary, he is encouraged to speak up! With this prerequisite we are now prepared to understand the lesson of the birds!

We are taught that the purpose of bringing Korbanos, sacrifices, was to awaken in the donor’s heart the recognition that the process being done to the animal should have really been performed on him. From the slaughtering until the burning, one would observe the process while contemplating how if not for Hashem’s mercy which granted him the chance for repentance and allowed this animal to be his replacement, this should have been him!

This being the case, when the Metzorah brings one chirping bird for atonement and watches it get slaughtered, he will be left with the impression that all talk should be totally avoided! After all, this must be the reason for slaughtering the chatterbox creature. However, this is not the proper perspective. There are many times when speech is appropriate and even a Mitzvah, like in the learning of Torah and in performing chessed for others! In fact, the Gemara teaches us that the best atonement for one who spoke lashon hara is precisely to use his mouth for Torah learning! He thus brings a second bird to set this straight. Let us explain.

Mishley (18:21) states, “life and death depend on the mouth!” These two options (life and death) are exactly congruent with the two types of speech and the two birds. One bird is slaughtered reminiscent of the fact that misused speech causes harm and death. The second bird which he brought is sent away to fly free to live out the rest of its life pleasantly. This signifies that good speech brings life. The Metzorah is thus shown very powerfully that he must carefully train himself to use his gift of speech properly.

The Chafetz Chaim expresses this same principle revolving around the me’il, tunic, of the Cohen Gadol. The hem contained ornate pomegranate and bells. The golden bells represent positive Torah speech, connoting that one’s words should be loud and heard! However, if one wishes to express words which are negative, then follow the example of the pomegranate, a closed silent ball! The verse commanding the making of this vestment concludes, “and the wearer shall be heard when he enters the holy domain.” The Chafetz Chaim homiletically reads this verse to teach us that one who exercises proper speech will merit that Hashem will accept his prayers and Torah learning in heaven! 

This is the lesson of the two birds, to know when to be silent and when to speak up!