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This week's Parasha-Page is dedicated to the memory of Leah bas Rav Yosef Rabinowitz, the Manostrishtcher Rebbetzin. A sophisticated and educated woman, she channeled all of her strength into bringing the old Jewish values into her new home and community.
Parashat Metzora 5755MEASURE FOR MEASURE IN LASHON HARA
"This is the law of the "Metzora" [A Metzora is someone afflicted with Tzara'at, a skin disease similar to leprosy, which imparts ritual impurity to the afflicted party - ed.]" (Vayikra 14:2) -- this verse may be read (homiletically) as "This is law of the "Motzi-(Shem-)Ra" [= slanderer]." "He who guards his mouth and tongue, guards himself from 'Tzarot' [= misfortune]" (Mishlei 21:23). Do not read the word as "Tzarot," but rather (homiletically) as "Tzara'at" -- he guards himself from contracting Tzara'at. The primeval serpent (Bereishit 3:5) slandered his Creator, therefore he was punished with Tzara'at. How did he slander his creator? ... He told Adam and Chava, "Those who practice a certain trade are naturally hostile to their peers"(-- intimating that Hashem prohibited the Tree of Life to Adam and Chava, only because He didn't want them to become His "competitors," see Bereishit 3:5)... The rough scales on the skins of today's snakes are the manifestation of the serpent's Tzara'at.Chazal [= our Rabbis from the times of the Midrash] tell us in many places the severity of the sin of Lashon Hara [= "the Evil Tongue", or speaking ill of a fellow Jew in the presence of others]. Not only is it forbidden to speak Lashon Hara, but it is forbidden for the hearer to accept as true that which he hears. The statements of the Rabbis quoted above make it clear that the disease of Tzara'at is considered to be a punishment for transgressing this very serious prohibition. The Midrash comments that the primeval serpent, the archetypical speaker of Lashon Hara, was itself stricken with Tzara'at, as can be recognized in the scaly skin of its descendants. (Perhaps we may add that the snake is on of the only large animals to regularly shed its entire skin. This is also akin to Tzara'at.) In fact the connection between Lashon Hara and Tzara'at is alluded to in the Torah itself. We are told that Miriam contracted Tzara'at immediately upon slandering her brother Moses (Bemidbar 12:10). There is a general rule that whenever Hashem metes out a punishment for a particular sin, there is some sort of correspondence between the offense and the penalty ("Middah Keneged Middah"). This allows a person to deduce from his punishment what he is being punished for, so that he can readily find the path to repentance. What is there about Tzara'at, then, that makes it an appropriate punishment specifically for the sin of Lashon Hara? What is the connection between the two? II
"Death and life are in the hand of the tongue" (Mishlei 18:21). Does a tongue then have a hand? Rather, this expression ("the hand of the tongue") is used to convey the idea that just as a person's hand can kill, so can a person's tongue kill. "A spear, a sword and a sharp arrow -- such is one who bears false testimony against his fellow man" (Mishlei 25:18). Note that Lashon Hara is compared to these three weapons of killing. It can cause just as much harm as they can.The Rabbis make it clear that slandering someone is tantamount to actually killing him. The Rambam elaborates on this idea further:
One who speaks maliciously of another person transgresses a negative commandment of the Torah.... This is a very grave sin and causes the loss of many lives among the people of Israel. It is for this reason that the prohibition against this act is juxtaposed in the Torah to the verse "Do not stand by at the shedding of your neighbor's blood" (Vayikra 19:16). You can see this illustrated by the story of Doeg the Edomite (I Shmuel 22:9).The comparison of Lashon Hara to murder may be understood in two ways. Firstly, as the Rambam's example of Doeg illustrates, it can lead to the actual killing of the people who are implicated in the malicious slander of the talebearer. Alternatively, even if the harm caused by the hearsay that was spoken is only emotional, we are taught that when someone embarrasses his friend in public, it is as if he has killed him (Gemara Bava Metzia 58b). Thus, *all* Lashon Hara may be understood as having caused a loss of life in a certain sense.
III
Based on this understanding of the plight of the Metzora, we can understand why the punishment of Tzara'at is appropriate to the sin of Lashon Hara. The slanderer causes death, physically and emotionally, to the victim of his gossip, so he is punished by being killed, in a sense, both physically and emotionally. IV
We know that the Torah imposes a punishment (under certain circumstances) for bringing about the death of another person, even when this was done without malicious intent at all (unintentional manslaughter). This punishment is Galut, or exile from the perpetrator's home town to a "city of refuge," (see Bemidbar, Chap. 35). Since the unintentional killer "uprooted" a person from the world, he himself must suffer being uprooted from his physical surroundings by leaving his home and his family for a strange city. The Metzora must leave any walled city in Israel (Mishna Kelim 1:7). He, too, is effectively exiled from his city. The similarity between the punishments of the killer and the Metzora may be explained in light of what was discussed above. The Metzora, like the actual murderer, has brought about the loss of life of another human being. He must therefore suffer the penalty of exile, just as the murderer does! It is interesting to note that the Lashon Hara of the primeval serpent also led to exile -- the most famous and far reaching exile of all -- the banishment of himself, along with Adam and Eve, from the Garden of Eden! May we all learn from this the importance of keeping our tongues from speaking anything negative about our fellow human beings, and may we thereby merit to see an end to our own lengthy exile, and the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash | ||||||
