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Parasha Tazria: Leviticus 12:01-13:59
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Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
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"Spiritual Dermatitis"
"Who is the person who Desires Life (Chofetz Chaim)? He who guards his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit." (Psalm 34).
In this parasha we read of various dermatological conditions that were called tsaraat in Hebrew. This word was mistranslated into Greek and eventually into our English vernacular as leprosy. The chapters not only deal with skin eruptions but of discolorations that appeared on clothing and the walls of homes. These scaly lesions rendered one impure. Only our priests were able to diagnose and treat the maladies. A person afflicted with tsaraat was called a metzora.
Any dermatologist today who has read this portion can tell you that the conditions described were not what we know as leprosy (Hansen's disease). Certainly, skin conditions do not spread to our clothes and the walls of our homes to discolor them.
To make sense out of this parasha, the Talmud and the Midrash state that something else is going on here. Whether we wish to believe, as our ancient sages supposedly did, that they had the answer to this puzzle, or whether we just wish to learn some good life lessons from their explanation, the traditional teachings deserve a retelling. The lessons from them are as fresh today as when they were written.
The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 16:02) states that the word metzora comes from "motzi shem ra" (making a bad name), that is, a slanderer. One who speaks "lashon ha ra," evil talk, will be afflicted with tsaraat. Judaism teaches that gossip is not a victimless crime. It blemishes the person speaking and the one spoken about. It also harms the listener! We define gossips as relating bad things about another even if it is true. Not only are we commanded not to do it; we are commanded to not listen. The Midrash teaches that God gave us ear lobes to fold over our ears when someone speaks lashon ha ra.
Lashon ha ra literally means an evil tongue. It is defamatory but true speech about someone. Motzi shem ra is defaming through lying. Rechilus, which is tale bearing, is the third level. It is from the word regal (foot) as one who does this is like a peddler of gossip. We cannot say to person A, that person B said something bad about them.
Bad speech destroys marriages, friendships, businesses, congregations, and even lives. The Talmud says our
For example, do not be a talebearer (Lev. 19:16), do not give a false report (Ex. 23:01), judge your fellow with righteousness (Lev. 19:15), and so forth. We also wandered in the desert for forty extra years because we believed the false reports of the spies, who spoke lashon ha ra against the
Rabbi Israel Kagan wrote a wonderful text on Shmirat Ha Lashon called Guarding the Tongue. His rules on loshan ha ra, in which he begins with the quote from King David's Psalm 34 at the top of this page, earned Rabbi Kagan the name, Chofetz Chaim. The foundation named in his honor helps promote proper speech and love among people. Their web site can be accessed at www.chofetzchaim.com. They will send you a free e-newsletter with daily lessons. Within one year, you could learn how to eliminate this destructive habit.
There are six basic rules on how to guard your tongue. Rabbi Z. Pliskin's text called Guard Your Tongue is excellent for an overview of this topic, as is Rabbi Telushkin's Words that Hurt, Words that Heal.
1. We cannot say bad things about someone even if it is true and even if the news is in the media.
2. We cannot make any comment that can cause someone anguish, pain, financial loss, etc., even if it is not derogatory.
3. Any method we use to do 1 and 2 above, other than with our tongues, is forbidden, such as writing, e-mailing, hand gestures, facial gestures, etc.
4. We cannot say mean things, even in kidding.
5. We cannot even badmouth ourselves.
6. We have an exception. We are obligated to warn a potential bride or groom, or someone going into a business deal, if we know information firsthand that will save them from harm or cheating.
The Rabbis took lashon ha ra very seriously. The Midrash (Devarim Rabbah 5:10) says, "Whoever speaks lashon ha ra causes the Shechinah (God's presence) to depart from this world." In Talmud Arachin 15b, it is written that God says that He and the gossiper cannot dwell together in the same world.
King Solomon said, "Six things are hated by God and the seventh is despised by Him: haughty eyes, a tongue of falsehood, hands which shed innocent bloods...and one who incites quarrels among brothers." (Prov. 6:16-19). King Solomon also wrote in the same book (Prov. 21:23), "One who guards his mouth and tongue, guards his soul from tribulations."
In Chofetz Chaim's second lesson he writes that it is forbidden to relate that someone has been remiss in matters of Jewish observance, even if it is a rabbinic law, a Torah command, or just custom.
It is forbidden to mention an incident in which a law was broken, even in a society where that halakah (Jewish law) is ignored commonly. It is lashon ha ra for us to say Mr. Cohen eats pork or Mrs. Levine spent money on Shabbat. It is also lashon ha ra for one to bad mouth an entire community, such as saying that members of Congregation B'nai Korach are not real Jews because they are Reform.
The next time you see someone engage in gossip, watch as they look around to make sure that no one is looking at them. They are very concerned that the subject of their defamation cannot hear them. In Talmud Arachin 15b, Rabbi Yochanan said that whoever speaks lashon ha ra is as though he has denied the existence of God! He quotes Psalm 12:05: "With our tongues we shall prevail, our lips are with us, who is master over us?" A metzora has no concern that God is watching him.
The power we wield when we speak is far beyond what we can perceive. We think we are only exchanging words when in fact we can move worlds. Lashon ha ra is so powerfully poisonous that it is taught that God takes the good deeds accumulated by the gossiper and gives them to the subject of the gossip, as well as taking the sins of the subject and giving them to the gossiper. The Talmud teaches that Loshan ha ra is like a triple murder, with the gossiper, the listener, and the subject as the victims. Ben Sira wrote in the Apocrypha Ecclesiasticus 19:10: "Have you heard something? Let it die with you. Be strong. It will not burst you!"
Just as the negative consequences of speech can be so enormous, the positive effects of good speech are even more vast. The Vilna Gaon say that proper speech is the single largest factor in determining one's share in Olam Ha Ba (the world to come). Whether you believe in an eternal afterlife or not, or even in our Creator, remember that few folks who gossip about person A when he is not present, will not hesitate to gossip about you when you are not present.
Few folks who pick on someone or arbitrarily dislike someone will remain loyal to you. These people are enemy centered. They are not happy unless they are fighting with or in some way opposing someone. The metzora (our modern bad mouther) had to warn others that he was "unclean," and had to live outside of the community (Lev. 13: 45-46). These folks can poison our congregations, sisterhoods, and men's clubs, and can keep civil, decent people, who do not wish to keep their ear lobes pulled up, from participation in these groups. If we wish our congregations to pursue life (chofetz chaim), to grow and be strong, we need to void these unrepentant self-made metzorim from our boardrooms and sanctuaries.
Choose your companions wisely and avoid bitter, nasty, mean-spirited, mean-speaking people so that you can pursue life, chofetz chaim, and not diminish your spirit. Let us do the best we all can to shmirat ha loshan, to guard our mouths and think kinder thoughts about each other. We are all God's children and therefore all brothers and sisters on His earth.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
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(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal
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In The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality.
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(002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud
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A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us.
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(003) Tzadakkah Bundle
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The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal and A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud. Purchase both books as a set, and I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to the tzadakkah of your choice. -- Rabbi Segal
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