פרשת קדושים תשי"ט - "לא תלך רכיל... לא תעמוד על דם רעך..."

לא תלך רכיל THOU SHALT NOT GO ABOUT AS A TALE BEARER — I say that because all those who sow discord between people and all who speak slander go into their friends' houses in order to spy out what evil they can see there, or what evil they can hear there so that they may tell it in the streets —they are called הולכי רכיל which it the same as הולכי רגילה, "people who go about spying"; espiement in O. F. A proof of my statement is the fact that we do not find anywhere the term רגיל used in Scripture except in connection with the expression הלך "to go". Examples are: the phrase here, לא תלך רכיל; (Jeremiah 6:28) "[They are all] walking as spies: they are brass and iron". But as for any other expressions for “slander”, the verb הלך is not used with them. Examples are (Psalms 101:5) "whoso privily slandereth his neighbour”; (Psalms 120:2) "false tongue"; (Psalms 12:4) "the tongue that speaketh proud things (slander)". For this reason I say that this expression (הולך רכיל) means "going about ומרגל, and spying out” (רגל = רכל), because the כ may interchange with ,ג since all letters the pronounciation of which are of the same place in the organs of speech may interchange with each other e. g., בי"ת with גימ"ל ,פ"א with כ"ף or with נו"ן ;קו"ף with זי"ן ;למ"ד with צד"י. And in a similar sense we have, (II Samuel 19:28) "He spied against thy servant [to my lord]” which implies, "he spied me out with subtly in order to speak evil about me to my lord״ (and thus וירגל comes to mean "to slander”). Similar is (Psalms 15:8): לא רגל על לשונו which means, "he has not spied out in order to have evil on his tongue”. Similarly the רוכל, the trader, is one who goes round and searches for (spies out) all kinds of merchandise, and so also the seller of perfumes which women use to make themselves nice, because he constantly goes about in the villages, he is called רוכל, which has the same meaning as רוגל. And its translation in the Targum לא תיכול קורצין, has the same meaning as (Daniel 3:8) "and they slandered (אכלו קורציהון) the Jews”; and as (Berakhot 58a) "he slandered him (אכל ביה קורצא בי מלכא) to the king”. It seems to me that people had the custom to eat a little snack in the house of him who listened to their slanderous words, and this served as the final confirmation that his (the slanderer's) statements were well founded and that he would maintain the truth of them. This "snack” was called אכילת קורצין, the word קורצא being connected in meaning with the root קרץ in (Proverbs 6:13) "He winketh (קורץ) with his eyes”, for it is the manner of all who go about slandering to wink with their eyes and to suggest their slanderous statements by innuendos in order that others who happen to hear them should not understand them.

לא תלך רכיל THOU SHALT NOT GO ABOUT AS A TALE BEARER — I say that because all those who sow discord between people and all who speak slander go into their friends' houses in order to spy out what evil they can see there, or what evil they can hear there so that they may tell it in the streets —they are called הולכי רכיל which it the same as הולכי רגילה, "people who go about spying"; espiement in O. F. A proof of my statement is the fact that we do not find anywhere the term רגיל used in Scripture except in connection with the expression הלך "to go". Examples are: the phrase here, לא תלך רכיל; (Jeremiah 6:28) "[They are all] walking as spies: they are brass and iron". But as for any other expressions for “slander”, the verb הלך is not used with them. Examples are (Psalms 101:5) "whoso privily slandereth his neighbour”; (Psalms 120:2) "false tongue"; (Psalms 12:4) "the tongue that speaketh proud things (slander)". For this reason I say that this expression (הולך רכיל) means "going about ומרגל, and spying out” (רגל = רכל), because the כ may interchange with ,ג since all letters the pronounciation of which are of the same place in the organs of speech may interchange with each other e. g., בי"ת with גימ"ל ,פ"א with כ"ף or with נו"ן ;קו"ף with זי"ן ;למ"ד with צד"י. And in a similar sense we have, (II Samuel 19:28) "He spied against thy servant [to my lord]” which implies, "he spied me out with subtly in order to speak evil about me to my lord״ (and thus וירגל comes to mean "to slander”). Similar is (Psalms 15:8): לא רגל על לשונו which means, "he has not spied out in order to have evil on his tongue”. Similarly the רוכל, the trader, is one who goes round and searches for (spies out) all kinds of merchandise, and so also the seller of perfumes which women use to make themselves nice, because he constantly goes about in the villages, he is called רוכל, which has the same meaning as רוגל. And its translation in the Targum לא תיכול קורצין, has the same meaning as (Daniel 3:8) "and they slandered (אכלו קורציהון) the Jews”; and as (Berakhot 58a) "he slandered him (אכל ביה קורצא בי מלכא) to the king”. It seems to me that people had the custom to eat a little snack in the house of him who listened to their slanderous words, and this served as the final confirmation that his (the slanderer's) statements were well founded and that he would maintain the truth of them. This "snack” was called אכילת קורצין, the word קורצא being connected in meaning with the root קרץ in (Proverbs 6:13) "He winketh (קורץ) with his eyes”, for it is the manner of all who go about slandering to wink with their eyes and to suggest their slanderous statements by innuendos in order that others who happen to hear them should not understand them.

a talebearer from the word “your merchandise” [Ezekiel 28:16] and also “…with all powders of the merchant” [Song of Songs 3:6]. Here the word denotes a gossiper. Just as a merchant transmits things, buying them here and selling them there, so also does a gossiper transmit things, revealing to one what he heard from another.

לא תלך רכיל THOU SHALT NOT GO ABOUT AS A TALE BEARER — I say that because all those who sow discord between people and all who speak slander go into their friends' houses in order to spy out what evil they can see there, or what evil they can hear there so that they may tell it in the streets —they are called הולכי רכיל which it the same as הולכי רגילה, "people who go about spying"; espiement in O. F. A proof of my statement is the fact that we do not find anywhere the term רגיל used in Scripture except in connection with the expression הלך "to go". Examples are: the phrase here, לא תלך רכיל; (Jeremiah 6:28) "[They are all] walking as spies: they are brass and iron". But as for any other expressions for “slander”, the verb הלך is not used with them. Examples are (Psalms 101:5) "whoso privily slandereth his neighbour”; (Psalms 120:2) "false tongue"; (Psalms 12:4) "the tongue that speaketh proud things (slander)". For this reason I say that this expression (הולך רכיל) means "going about ומרגל, and spying out” (רגל = רכל), because the כ may interchange with ,ג since all letters the pronounciation of which are of the same place in the organs of speech may interchange with each other e. g., בי"ת with גימ"ל ,פ"א with כ"ף or with נו"ן ;קו"ף with זי"ן ;למ"ד with צד"י. And in a similar sense we have, (II Samuel 19:28) "He spied against thy servant [to my lord]” which implies, "he spied me out with subtly in order to speak evil about me to my lord״ (and thus וירגל comes to mean "to slander”). Similar is (Psalms 15:8): לא רגל על לשונו which means, "he has not spied out in order to have evil on his tongue”. Similarly the רוכל, the trader, is one who goes round and searches for (spies out) all kinds of merchandise, and so also the seller of perfumes which women use to make themselves nice, because he constantly goes about in the villages, he is called רוכל, which has the same meaning as רוגל. And its translation in the Targum לא תיכול קורצין, has the same meaning as (Daniel 3:8) "and they slandered (אכלו קורציהון) the Jews”; and as (Berakhot 58a) "he slandered him (אכל ביה קורצא בי מלכא) to the king”. It seems to me that people had the custom to eat a little snack in the house of him who listened to their slanderous words, and this served as the final confirmation that his (the slanderer's) statements were well founded and that he would maintain the truth of them. This "snack” was called אכילת קורצין, the word קורצא being connected in meaning with the root קרץ in (Proverbs 6:13) "He winketh (קורץ) with his eyes”, for it is the manner of all who go about slandering to wink with their eyes and to suggest their slanderous statements by innuendos in order that others who happen to hear them should not understand them.

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.

MISHNA: And these are the ones who are saved from transgressing even at the cost of their lives; that is to say, these people may be killed so that they do not perform a transgression: One who pursues another to kill him, or pursues a male to sodomize him, or pursues a betrothed young woman to rape her. But with regard to one who pursues an animal to sodomize it, or one who seeks to desecrate Shabbat, or one who is going to engage in idol worship, they are not saved at the cost of their lives. Rather, they are forewarned not to transgress, and if they proceed to transgress after having been forewarned, they are brought to trial, and if they are found guilty, they are executed.

לא תעמד על דם רעך NEITHER SHALT THOU STAND AGAINST THE BLOOD OF THY FELLOW — witnessing his death, you being able to rescue him: if, for instance, he is drowning in the river or if a wild beast or a robber is attacking him (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 8; Sanhedrin 73a).

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.

"This is the Torah of the Metzora." Vayikra Rabbah 16, describes a certain itinerant herbs and spices merchant, who used to frequent the district of Tzippori, offering the elixir of life. All the people in the district streamed to that merchant anxious to buy his wares. Rabbi Yannai, who sat in his palace teaching the plain meaning of scripture, heard about this, and invited the merchant to visit him and to sell him some of this life giving herb. The merchant said to Rabbi Yannai "you and the likes of you are not in need of my product." When Rabbai Yannai insisted, the merchant took out a book of Psalms and showed him the verse "who is the man that desires life and loves days that he may see good? keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from deceitful speech" (Psalms 34, 13-41) Rabbi Yannai said "also Solomon proclaims the same message in Proverbs 21,23." He continued "all my life I have read this verse and have wondered about its true meaning, until this spice merchant came and explained it to me."This too is why Moses exhorted the people when he said to the people of Israel "this is the Torah of the person who is afflicted with a skin exzema,( tzora-at), he who slanders etc." Since man's superiority over the beasts lies in his power of speech, it is fitting that whatever comes out of his mouth should reflect his superiority. The Torah states that man became a human being after G'd had imbued him with nishmat chayim, which Onkelos renders as "a talking spirit." Clearly, he refers to the internal spirit, the thought process leading to speech. Kohelet 1,16, "I spoke with my heart," reflects the same idea. Speech is a mechanical process, merely reflecting and relaying the thought process that has preceded it. Adam had already possessed the power to reason. What G'd had added was the means to communicate his thoughts. Scripture provides ample proof for this interpretation. When G'd said to Moses "who gave man a mouth, or who made him dumb, deaf, seeing or blind?" (Exodus 4,11), it is clear that the power to express thoughts is part of the definition of being a human being. A deaf/mute is not obligated to keep the commandments of the Torah since he is not able to communicate his thoughts or have thoughts communicated to him. He is an incomplete human being. From the above it is dear that when man abuses this power of speech, he denies his superiority over the beasts and calls into question the value of his whole existence. It is like a king who presented his servant with a fancy garment, only to have the servant drape it over his donkey. The sages of Israel are complimented when the Talmud Sukkah 28, states that they never indulged in idle talk. Maimonides divides speech into five categories. 1) Obligatory speech, i.e. teaching Torah. 2) Speech which must be avoided; false testimony, slander etc. 3) Disgraceful speech; i.e. what we call idle talk. 4) Desirable speech, i.e. words of mussar, moral instruction, sermons etc. 5) Permissible speech, i.e. speech needed in the pursuit of earning one's livelihood. In view of the above, we can understand Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel who said that he found silence to be the essence of all wisdom, the best remedy for maintaining one's body's good health. (Avot 1,17) By moving in the company of sages, he learned that more even than the words of wisdom he learned, he learned to appreciate the importance of minimising talk. Silence is the seyag, the protective fence built around wisdom. It ensures that the latter remains untainted. Even a fool may be considered wise, as long as he keeps his mouth shut. We are taught in Pessachim 3, that one should employ few words when teaching one's students. The Mishnah in Avot tells us that "not the exposition is of crucial importance, but the execution, the deed." An alternate meaning of Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel's statement might be this: "I have not found that sitting silently, without asking for clarification, contributes to the essence, namely the learning process. However, excessive talk is harmful." The Talmud in Nedarim 64, considers people who have been afflicted with tzora-at, the Biblical skin disease, as comparable to the dead. This is merely stating a "tit for tat" principle. If verbal barbs are likened to arrows and lethal rocks, then those guilty of throwing them deserve a punishment that makes them "dead" to society. If the word Torah occurs five times in the metzora legislation, it is a hint that those guilty of this sin have transgressed against all five books of the Torah, (compare Rabbi Joshua ben Levi in Vayikra Rabbah 16) We have instances of slander occurring in all five books of the Torah. In the book of Genesis, the serpent slanders G'd. Joseph slanders his brothers. In the book of Exodus, a Jew accuses Moses of wanting to kill him. Later on, G'd tells Moses that all those who had wanted to kill him had already died. The laws of slander are discussed in the book of Leviticus next to the verse "do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow man." (Leviticus 19,16) In the book of Numbers, we find Miriam and Aaron slandering Moses. The spies slander the land of Israel. In Deuteronomy, the early chapters are full of Moses recalling the frequent occasions when the Jewish people had indulged in slanderous talk of one kind or another. Also we have there the legislation about the motzi shem ra, a husband accusing his bride of pre-marital unchastity. The Talmud Shabbat 56, tells us that if David had not listened to lashon hara, evil gossip, his kingdom would not have been divided. Rabbi Yannai in the opening Midrash quoted, simply wanted to tell us that the lesson taught by the spice merchant had already been taught by Solomon in Proverbs. The sacrifices that the metzora has to offer upon being cured, consist of birds. Their incessant chirping comes to an end only when they die. This procedure is symbolic of the person who needs to atone for having abused the gift of speech. The reason that two birds have to be offered is because speech is basically welcome only for two purposes: a) to study and teach Torah, b) to earn one's livelihood. Also the commandment to use an earthen vessel has symbolic meaning. The letters (chet-resh-shin) are the same as in the word for "deaf/mute," i.e. "silent." The need for spring water contrasts with the silent, the deaf. The bubbling of the water is the opposite, conceptually speaking, of the inert clay vessel. The second bird, before being released, must be dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed, to teach that the lesson how to employ speech has been learned. Unrestricted use of the power of speech is apt to kill, causes one to bloody oneself. The waiting period necessary after offering the sacrifice, before the victim may rejoin society, is to effect the moral and intellectual rehabilitation which follows physical rehabilitation. The latter was symbolised by the washing of the victim's clothing. The victim cannot appear before G'd at the entrance to the sanctuary until three more sacrifices, asham, chatat, and olah and the accompanying menachot have been offered. Sprinkling of the blood on the thumb and large toe, is symbolic of purifying the most mobile parts of the body. Hands symbolise action, feet symbolise motion. Both are usually involved in any sinful behaviour. The recipe presented by the spice merchant extends until the end of the quotation from Psalms 34, namely "keep away from evil, do good, seek peace and pursue it actively!" The latter advice is difficult to follow unless both hands and feet are involved. The reason that the Torah insists that blood be sprinkled on the right toe and right thumb, may be to remind us that until now the conduct of the metzora, had been foolish, like the people whom Solomon describes as having the seat of their intellect on their left side. (Kohelet 10,2) "The seat of a wise man's intellect is on his right side." Pouring oil on the toes, fingers, earlobe and head of the metzora, is symbolic of the imperative of our sages as expressesd in Kohelet 9,8, "at all times your clothing should be white, and oil should not be lacking on your head." A person's covering is symbolic of his good traits. After the atonement, donning clean garments and being anointed with oil on crucial parts of his body, demonstrates that from here on in, he is in possession of good character traits. The ear, i.e. the organ that receives the spoken word of the mouth that can cause tzora-at, must also undergo rehabilitation. The asham sacrifice removes the corrosive effect of the sin on the body; after that, when sin has been removed and atoned for,- as per chapter 14,18-19,- the olah sacrifice can bring the true purification, the positive finale of the atonement procedure.