From TorahVort.com
Tazria
Shalom! This week we have another double header, we will be reading two parshahs on Shabbat!! Tazria and also parshat Metzora. This week’s parshah kick starts relating the laws of human contamination after childbirth. Firstly the pain of nine months pregnancy actually came about after the sin of Chava on the seventh day of creation. When a woman gives birth to a male child, she is unclean for seven days; if to a female child, for fourteen days. She is only unclean for seven days if she has a male child as the eighth day is the day of the Brit Mila (Circumcision). The question is why is a boy circumcised on the eighth day? Answers include, Hashem commanded to wait for the child to possess the strength to endure the operation and so that the baby will be alive for at least one Shabbat, which in turn would elevate the sanctification. In Parshat Lech Lecha, Hashem commanded Avraham to circumcise himself. The parshah then relates the laws on ‘Tzaras.’ The Torah definition of this is a ‘divine type of leprosy.’ The Midrash lists 10 sins why an individual could suffer with Tzaras. The sin of ‘Idolatry,’ this includes serving in deed and in mind. The sin of Immorality could be a reason (We learn in Parshat Lech Lecha that Pharaoh suffered from 24 types of Tzaras when he kidnapped Sara), Murder is a cause; causing a desecration of the name of Heaven; Blaspheming the Almighty ( We learn in the book of Samuel that Goliath had Tzaras breaking out all over his body as a punishment of desecrating the name of heaven), Robbing the public could cause Tzaras; Taking a vain oath; acting in a capacity that is not permitted (in the book of Kings we learn that King Uzzia suffered from Tzaras for the rest of his life as he brought an offering into Holy of Holies when only the Kohen that is consecrated was permitted to do so; Conceit is another cause; an ‘Evil Eye,’ that is acting miserly and begrudgingly could cause Tzaras and the main common cause is the sin of Lashon Hara. The sages teach us that the sin of Lashon Hara is equal to the three cardinal sins (adultery, idol worship and murder), there are two forms, it could be the form of Lashon Hara (speaking something true about someone when no constructive purpose) and also pure slander. An example of someone who suffered from leprosy due to Lashon Hara was Moshe’s sister Miriam, after she spoke about Moshe (related in Parshat Bahalotacha). The sages teach us that the subject of the Lashon hara/ slander gets all the mitzvot that the speaker and the listener of the gossip has, and all the sins of the subject gets credited to the speaker/ listener!! This is the case when the listener and the speaker repeatedly stumble in this sin. This sin is so difficult to atone for as it could have already caused huge damage, for example in business, relationships, schools, e.t.c. How can one ask for forgiveness of this evil sin?? A story of how Lashon Hara/ slander really destroyed someone is, 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 second temple was destroyed due to the sin of Lashon Hara, slander and Baseless hatred! Hashem rests his divine presence when there is unity!! Tzaras could have different symptoms; breaking out on the skin, leprosy in a healing wound, leprosy in a burn, leprosy in a bald spot, leprosy in the bald back area of the head and leprosy in the bald front of the head. The Haftorah for Tazria is from the second book of Kings, dealing almost exclusively with the laws of Tzaras, where we read the story of how the prophet Elisha glorified the Almighty’s name by curing the Tzaras of a man named ‘Naaman,’ a foreign general. Elisha proved that life and health are both in the hands of the G-d of Israel. Naaman ended up accepting the seven Noachide Laws upon himself, due to the Kiddush Hashem that Elisha caused.
