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.

If someone found that he or she was inflicted with Tzaraas, he would contact the Kohen in order to receive his diagnosis. Whatever the Kohen said was the final decision. The Kohanim had many Mikdash related jobs and responsibilities. They brought the Korbonos, sprinkled the blood, and performed most of the Avodah, but the Tzaraas department has always perplexed me. Why is it that the Kohanim were appointed by Hashem to deal with the questions and decisions related to Tzaraas, perhaps a doctor would have been better suited?

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l (1895-1986) explains that this advent expresses a fundamental lesson regarding our entire Torah outlook. He says that people should not think that the Rabbis are only useful for deciding religious laws. The Rabbis have input, advice, and guidance to share with us regarding our everyday living as well. The Mikdash was a holy and spiritual place, but the Kohen’s reach should not end there. The Kohanim dedicated their lives to the service of Hashem and were experts in Torah law. The Tzaraas malady showed that someone had an issue in his personal integrity. He was not honest, he was stingy or he was speaking Lashon Harah (Erachin 15b). This was a matter that deserved to be brought to a Talmid Chochom in order to gain guidance in how to improve. Certainly, stated Reb Moshe, the Torah requires one to seek medical attention when sick (“V’Rapo Yirapay”), however, there is another Torah requirement as well. One should seek Torah guidance in all areas of life to know how Hashem wishes for us to act.

Bava Basra (116a) states, “if one has a sick person in his home, he should go to the Chacham and have him beg Hashem for mercy.” Our Rabbanim and Gedolim have much insight and support to provide us with. Whether it is a topic of business, marriage, Chinuch or another personal matter, one should seek the guidance of a Torah authority whom he knows and trusts.

Our Parsha teaches us the importance of connecting with the great Jewish leaders in any time of need for any topic in the world. May we all merit to receive clear and proper advice that will bring us closer to Hashem and others and will help us achieve much success and happiness.

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

In this week’s Parsha we discuss the purification process of a woman who has given birth. Why is it that this new life begins with spiritual contamination? The Torah is teaching us a fundamental lesson in life. I heard from R’ Oratz of Yerushalayim that When Chava gave birth to the first naturally born human being she called him Kayin saying I have acquired a man with Hashem (Bereishis 4:1) the term to describe Kayin is Ish-man. Kayin as we see from the Psukim became a murderer. When Chava had her next child (that had a continuation) she called him Sheis “Ki shus li elokim zera acher”(Bereishis 4:25). Rather than calling him Ish, she referred to this child as zera, seed. Chava had learned that it isn’t enough to just have a child, but that a child is a seed and each seed is unique, and when “watered” properly, given the individual care needed, he will “blossom” into a fine human being.

I once heard an impressionable story from one of my Rebbeim. There was once a couple that had given birth to a son. The father of the boy asked his Rav shortly after the child’s birth at what age should he start being Mechanech (educating) the child. His Rebbi’s reply was “about ten years ago!” This short story sheds a lot of light in the dark world of childrearing. It is not enough to have a child, and it is not enough to tell him to “be good”, and “do the right thing”. Rather, the child will learn from his parents, he will see how they act, and learn from their behavior patterns. That is why the Rav told him he should start the upbringing of their child ten years ago. Through the building of oneself, and the personal growth that they make in their lives, the way that they themselves behaved, is the main thing that will have a lasting effect on his child.

When a mother gives birth to a child, it begins with impurity to teach us that this child is not yet complete. When a father and mother unite, they become partners with Hashem in the creation of a child. A very holy act indeed, but all they have done, is made a man. What of the potential of this man? What will he do in life, what will he be like when he is older? What will become of this Ish? It is not enough to just be born, rather there is more to be done. The union of the husband and wife was just the beginning of the partnership, but the work must continue onward, till the child is old enough to learn and grow on his own with the tools he learned from his parents.

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).

אשה כי תזריע וילדה זכר… (יב:ב).

“When a woman gives birth…” (12:2).

The Midrash Tanchuma paints a vivid picture of a woman in labor. “She screams one hundred shouts, the first ninety-nine are screams of death; the final yell connotes a new life that has just begun!” A question worth pondering, as I’m sure many have wondered, is the following. Why is birth proceeded by such a torturous process? I know that the following suggested thought can be taken two ways. For those who never thought about this (ie: men), it might not mean anything, and for women who experienced it, I may not do justice, but nevertheless, it is a Torah idea and thus worth sharing!

The rule of the world is that all valuable things are expensive. You cannot buy a real and precious diamond without paying a small fortune! If someone offers to sell one to you for an unbelievably low price, it must be a scam! Even if one steals a diamond, that pleasure must be paid for in the end when he gets caught and sits in jail! The way of the world is that anything worthwhile must be paid for.

A doctor will devise for someone a balanced diet and exercise regiment. One with foresight will heed to the suggestions and thereby maintain his health. The fool, on the other hand, will neglect his health and only recognize its importance when his body deteriorates and sickens, forcing him to change his habits. The formula is simple. Everything costs money. You can either pay before hand, by putting in the money or effort required, or one will suffer the unpleasant consequences of paying later!

R’ Shimshon Pincus zt”l teaches a beautiful lesson from the following story. The Russian government had placed high restrictions against performing business across their border. Some men got together to devise a plan on how to smuggle out expensive diamonds to make a huge profit. They brilliantly designed an infallible scheme by which to accomplish their directive. They would fill a genuine coffin with their goods and pretend to be a procession exiting the city to bury their dead. The government was happy to allow coffins to leave their sacred soil. The plan worked many times, until their show started to wane. As they were exiting the city, they were so proud of themselves and their ingenuously dubious scheme, that they tried to contain their laughter but to no avail. Immediately the guards saw that something was wrong. “Open the box now!” came the order. “Please,” they begged, “do not desecrate the honor of our dead, let us continue the funeral undisturbed!” “Liars!” the guard screamed as he ripped open the box to reveal their illegal activity. They just stood there pale-faced knowing the Siberia punishment that awaited them. The guard turned to them and made his biting remark, “if you would have been crying before, then you would be laughing now! You fools reversed the order!”

The message of the story is clear and strong. We can daven and cry to Hashem before problems arise (or worsen) and be happy in the undisturbed future, or we could wait for trouble to plague us and only then begin to pray!            The Gemara in Berachos (54a) tells us that, “one should thank Hashem for the past and beg His mercy to help him in the future!” Chazal also teach us, “one should always precede the troubles with prayer” (Sanhedrin 44b).

When a child is in the process of being created, Hashem gives the parents an opportunity to invest oceans of tears and prayers, to carry the child through life! One can then saturate their child with requests to Hashem for health, guidance and inspiration that will carry the child throughout his life and all of its challenges! “Those who plant with tears, will reap in happiness!” When one calls out to Hashem in true pain, this call can be channeled into the strongest type of prayer as it is so deeply and emotionally charged! Hashem gives the baby’s caretakers thousands of opportunities for preemptive prayers that will carry the child for a lifetime! This may be one idea behind the trying event ordeal and pains of pregnancy and labor. May we use all of our situations for growth and prayer!