From TorahVort.com
Metzora
The second Torah reading this week is parshat Metzora. The parshah starts off where we left off in Tazria, where the Lashon Hara (Slander) immediately caused the final stage of Tzaras. The leper, who spoke Lashon Hara, in punishment was sectioned off from society and had to declare himself ‘Impure’ when someone came near him, showing to everyone how bad the sin of Lashon Hara is! They say the Leprosy came in its worst form in punishment for Lashon Hara; this is because the person speaking it is seen as denying the almighty and transgresses the entire Torah. Hashem says, ‘I and he cannot coexist in the World!’ Also this transgression causes harm to all concerned, the speaker, the listener and the victim. There were four people in the Tanach who were confined to Gehinnom on account of their malicious tongues; the prophet Bilam surpassed everyone else in speaking evil (in parshat Balak); Doeg (featured in book of Samuel), Gechazi (a servant of the prophet Elisha) and Achitofel. The sages teach that one of the best antidotes to speaking Lashon Hara is learning Torah! The sages say that Lashon Hara caused many tragedies; in parshat Bereishit we learn how the serpent slandered the creator to Chava; we learn in Parshat Vayeishev that all the troubles which befell Yosef resulted from his having spoken Lashon Hara about his brothers; in Parshat Shelach we learn how the Lashon Hara which the 10 spies related about the land of Israel caused the death decree of the men aged 20 – 60 in the wilderness; if not for King David accepting Lashon Hara the 10 tribes would not have been exiled! (as related in the book of Kings). In the book of Mishlai (Proverbs) King Solomon states ‘Death and Life are in the hands of the tongue.’ A person must know that the tongue is a most potent weapon, more powerful than a sword. A sword can kill only nearby, whereas Lashon Hara spoken can hit the heart of someone on a different one, similar to a missile. A story of how Lashon Hara/ slander really destroyed someone is (as I wrote in the last Dvar Torah), some years ago, there was a righteous Yeshiva student in Israel who was starting to go out on Shidduchim (Jewish dating), he asked advice from his Rabbi on how he should be relaxed before the date so that it would run smoothly, the Rabbi advised, have a small shot of whisky before the date, and then you will be relaxed. The gentleman went on the date with a girl from a sister seminary, listened to the Rabbi’s advice and was relaxed, after the date he asked for another date, however when the shadchan asked the girl she said ‘How can I go out with this drunkard, he smelled of alcohol?’ She then slandered him to all her room mates and friends in the seminary; while the girls in the seminary listened to this ‘juicy’ news (accepting this slander) he quickly got labelled as a ‘drunkard.’ Whenever girls were suggested his name, they had heard from the original girl, other girls who heard from other people this untrue slander or the original shadchan that he was a drunkard and no shadchanim would set him up, even the Rabbi that was the head of the Seminary cruelly warned girls about him wrongly accusing him of being a drunk. After two years of not being set up, he found out that all this slander was being spoken about him and that’s why no one set him up. All these ‘so called religious people,’ had slandered this really nice righteous guy, labelling him a drunkard when he was the perfect man. All the people making accusations, including the head Rabbi of the Sem, the Shadchans and seminary students weren’t just all guilty for Lashon Hara they all purely slandered the innocent man. In a way they spiritually killed him with their poisonous tongues, how could these people go about repenting for how this innocent gentleman suffered? The initial Shadchan, may have been successfully setting other people up on dates, however I am sure she did not lose any sleep over ‘spiritually murdering’ this innocent man. No one actually even properly tried to find out what this guy was really like; they were so fixed on slandering him. This proves that this circle of Shadchans and the Seminary girls actually had the problem as people who are so quick to judge others for the worse are actually rotten themselves! Eventually the man did get married and there was happy ending, also if we go by what the sages say, he gets all the mitzvot of the head Rabbi of the Sem, Shadchans and the girls of the seminary as they continuously ridiculed him. However this proves how Lashon Hara can spiritually kill someone!! All this evil talk by these ‘religious’ people ruined to some degree this righteous mans life. Causing him all this humiliation and embarrassment. While they all supposedly preach about how to be ‘religious,’ they desecrated there man to man relationships themselves! In turn, contaminating their tongues with lies! The parshah then relates how to purify a leper who has been declared impure, where the Kohen assembles 4 items which had to be immersed in mixture of water and blood; a stick of cedar wood, a hyssop twig, wool dyed crimson red and a living bird. The leper then has to bring a guilt offering sacrifice (a lamb), a sin offering (a female lamb), an elevation offering (a lamb). The parshah then relates how Tzaras appeared on houses, in the form of dark red or green spots on the wall. Then the parshah takes a tangent and discusses the conditions rendering a persons body impure, as a result of certain physical conditions. Then the reading relates the ‘Nidda’ laws, a woman becoming Nidda through menstruation, childbirth or uterine bleeding. Then the reading concludes relating the purification of an individual who is impure by immersing in a Mikveh. The Haftorah for Metzora comes from Chapter 7 in the book of Kings.
