The Winning Ticket by Rav Moshe Weinberger

torah thought Parshas Metzora

by rabbi berel Wein

this week’s Torah portion remains one of the most mysterious and supernatural demonstrations of the laws of Judaism which appears anywhere else in the holy books. We are not aware of the specific nature of the disease that is described. Leprosy is certainly not the correct translation or identification of this disease called tzoraat in the Torah. The cause for the disease, however, is alluded to in Jewish tradition. It apparently stems from the violation of the prohibition against evil speech.

This can be deduced from the fact that one of the miracles that our teacher Moshe was bidden to perform to validate his mission in front of Pharaoh and the Jewish people was to insert his hand into his breast clothing and remove it. That hand turned white with the same disease described in our parsha as tzoraat. When he reinserted his hand and then removed it, it returned to its normal strength in color. We also find that Miriam, when she was punished for speaking ill against Moshe, was stricken with this disease.

In these instances, the Torah makes clear to us that evil speech – Moshe speaking against the Jewish people and saying that they will not believe him and are unworthy of redemption, and Miriam speaking ill of her brother, criticizing his handling of his personal

domestic life – suffered the punishment of this disease striking them. As such, it became evident in Jewish scholarship that there was a connection between this disease and between speaking ill of others. Nevertheless, this does not explain the nature of this disease and why it was chosen as being the instrument of punishment and retribution for the sin of evil speech.

We find in the book of Kings and in the works of some of the prophets that this disease struck some of the leaders and kings of Israel during later times

as well. The rabbis of the Talmud compared the appearance of tzoraat on the skin of King Uziyahu of Judah as being comparable to an earthquake. Apparently, this disease, more than any other physical ailment, was meant to shake up the society and to instill within

This disease, more than any other physical ailment, was meant to shake up the society and to instill within it proper respect for the word of G-d and the value system of the Torah.

it proper respect for the word of G-d and the value system of the Torah.

Since we are unable to identify the disease, it is not part of our daily or even spiritual view of events. The only lesson left to derive from these descriptions of the disease, then, is that Heaven is indeed conscious of our thoughts, actions, speech, and behavior. These have consequences both for the good and for the better.

We also see from the Torah that the expert on this type of event was the Priest-Kohen, and not the medical doctor or even the wise scholar of the time. The Kohen was thought to be the prime connection between the judgment of heaven and the behavior of humans. It was, therefore, the High Priest alone who could bring atonement for the Jewish people on the day of Yom Kippur. Spiritual disease comes from spiritual failing, and, therefore, requires the healing effect of spiritual greatness which was bestowed upon the family of Aaron and the Jewish priesthood.

Shabbat shalom.

From the Fire Parshas Metzora Lashon Hara’s Focus on the Other

by rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

the pasuk at the beginning of the parsha (Vayikra 14:2) says, “This shall be the law of the metzora…” The Gemara (Erchin 15b-16a) has many frightening things to say about the various aveiros which cause tzara’as, particularly lashon hara. The Gemara says that the pasuk “‘the law of those who give others a bad reputation [reading metzora] as a contraction of the words motzei shem raa, bringing out a bad reputation]’ [hints that] anyone who says lashon hara, afflictions come upon him.” The Gemara continues on to say that “anyone who says lashon hara, it is if he denies G-d’s existence” and that “he and I cannot live in the world [together].” It further says,“It was taught by the house of Rabbi Yishmael that the sin of anyone who says lashon hara is as bad as the three cardinal sins, idol worship, murder, and immorality.” We understand that lashon hara is a severe sin but why is it so bad? Why is it like heresy and all of the worst sins?

It is almost Pesach. In order to approach the Redemption, we must first understand how we got into exile. Reb Yerucham Levovitz, of Mir, zt”l, has a beautiful explanation found in the sefer Shevivei Daas (p. 32-33), much of the substance of which is also found in the Maharal (Gur Areye on Shmos 2:14). He first explains that the essence of holiness is that a person must be internally focused and not externally focused. As the sefer Reishis Chochma (Shaar Hakedusha 1) says, “A person must make a fence within a fence so that he will not go outside to external [things].” The opposite of holiness, impurity, means focusing on outside, external things, and not internal matters. That is what exile means. Not being where one is supposed to be – which is internally focused.

Rashi (on Shmos 2:14) tells us that Moshe was wondering what sin the Jewish people had committed to be subject to backbreaking labor, living in exile, outside the place where they belong, unlike all of the other seventy nations. Why do the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov not live in their true home, Eretz Yisroel?

We ask the same question even today. The question is even more pronounced because the Jewish nature is to keep our focus in the proper place – that which is internal. Why then do we suffer in exile, outside of our true home?

When Moshe heard a Jew say (Shmos 2:14), “Are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?” he began to see what went wrong with our people. They were informers, speakers of lashon hara. When he had to kill an Egyptian to save a Jew, he did so in front of a number of Jewish people, and he had absolutely no concern that they would tell anyone. According to the Midrash (Shmos Raba 1:29), Moshe said to them, “You are compared to sand. Just as [with regard to] sand, a person takes it from one place and places it somewhere where else and it makes no sound [during the transfer], so, too, this matter will remain hidden among you, and it will not be heard.”

Now Moshe understood: “Perhaps they are not worthy to be redeemed” (Rashi on Shmos 2:14). He said (Tanchuma Shmos 10), “There is lashon hara among them. How can they be worthy for redemption?” He previously thought the Jewish people were internally focused, concerned with their own relationship with Hashem. But