Parashat Metzora - 22

זאת תהיה. ומכאן סמכו רז"ל לו' דעל ל' הרע נגעים באים המצורע קרי ביה המוציא שם רע וגם מצינו ארבעה שנטרדו מן העולם על ידי לשונם בלע' דואג ואחיתופל וגחזי וכו' כדאי' בחלק וגם אלו אין להם חלק לעולם הבא וגם כתיב אל תתן את פיך לחטיא את בשרך במאי בצרעת ועוד כתיב מות וחיים ביד לשון מות אם ספר לשון הרע והחיים אם עסק בתורה והתורה היא רפואתו של לשון הרע שנא' מרפא לשון עץ חיים שעל ידי שהוא עוסק בתורה הוא נמנע מלשון הרע וקשה לשון הרע משפיכות דמים שהרוצח הורג נפש אחת והמספר לשון הרע הורג שלשה האומרו והמקבלו והנאמר עליו כמו שמצינו בדואג שנהרגו אנשי נוב עיר הכהנים שנא' עליהם ל' הרע ושאול שקבל נהרג באותו עון שנאמר עמוד נא ומחתני כי אחזני השבץ ואין שבץ אלא בגדי כהונה שנאמר ושבצת הכתנת שש ודואג שאמרו נטרד מן העולם הזה ומן העולם הבא שנא' גם אל יתצך לנצח וגו'. ועוד מצינו שקשה לשון הרע מע"ז וג"ע וש"ד כדאיתא

בערכין:

Da'at Zekenim on Leviticus 14:2:1

זאת תהיה תורת המצורע, “This shall be the law of the person afflicted with the skin diseases discussed in the previous chapters, etc.” the very word מצורע contains a hint that describes why, in most instances, such a person has been afflicted with this disease. It is because he bad-mouthed fellow Jews. The word is a combination of מוציא שם רע, “he called someone by a bad name.” Compare Talmud tractate Erchin folio 16. We also find that the Talmud attributes the demise of four people who had been guilty of this sin as losing their claim to an afterlife; they are: Bileam, Doag, Achitofel, and Geychazi, the disciple of the prophet Elisha. (Compare details in the Talmud tractate Sanhedrin folio 106. [That chapter deals with people who have or will forfeit their claim to an afterlife. Ed.]Solomon in Kohelet,5,5, also deals with this subject when he wrote: אל תתן את פיך לחטיא את בשרך, “let not your mouth bring guilt on your flesh;” which sin did he had in mind? The sin of badmouthing fellow Jews. Solomon referred to the same sin in Proverbs 18,21, when he said: מות וחיים ביד לשון, “death and life are within the power of the tongue.” Death is liable to follow abuse of the power of speech, whereas life is at the disposal of people who meticulously observe the Torah and study it. The Torah is the remedy with which the sin of evil gossip can be atoned for. It is known as the עץ חיים, “the tree of life.” We know this also from Solomon, who said in Proverbs 15,4: מרפא לשון עץ חיים, “the tree of life can heal (the harm caused) by abusing one’s power of speech.” Intensive Torah study prevents a person from becoming guilty of using his power of speech. The guilt of לשון הרע, evil gossip, is considered as greater that that of being guilty of shedding innocent blood. When one is guilty of the latter, one had only killed one life, whereas when one is guilty of evil gossip, one is guilty of killing at least three people, the one who engages in it, the one who listens to it, and the one about whom this evil gossip has been spread. We find an illustration of this in Samuel I 22, where King Sha-ul killed all the priests resident in the city of Nov because he had listened to the false accusations spread against them by Doag. Sha-ul was killed on account of that sin as we know from Samuel Il 1,9: עמוד נא ומותתני כי אחזני השבץ, “stand over me and finish me off, for | am in agony and barely alive;” whenever we encounter the expression שבץ, it refers to the priestly garments, as we know from Exodus 28,39: ושבצת הכתונת שש, “make the fringed tunic out of fine linen.” Concerning Doag, the slanderer, in this story we have it on the authority of Psalms 52,7 that he was killed in this world and deprived of the after life, i.e. גם אל יתצך לנצח יחתך וגו', “also G–d will tear you down for good, and root you out, etc.” The Talmud in tractate Erchin, folio 15, states that the sin of tale-bearing is greater than murder, incest or idolatry.

אור החיים על ויקרא י״ד:ב׳:א׳

זאת תהיה תורת. כל הכתוב מיותר, שלא היה לו לומר אלא כי יטהר המצורע והובא אל הכהן וגו'. ובתורת כהנים דרשו תיבת זאת למעט טהרת המצורע בבמה, שלא יהיה אלא בבית עולמים, ותיבת תהיה לרבות שיטהרו מצורעים בזמן הזה, וכמעשה רבי טרפון (ירושלמי פ''ב ה''ב. תו''כ פסוק ד) שהראה מקל שטהר בו מצורעים בזמן הזה, ותיבת תורת לומר שהגם שחלק בטומאת מצורע שיש מוחלט בראית כהן פעם ראשונה ויש בהסגר שבוע וכדומה אף על פי כן תורת מצורע אחת היא ותיבת ביום לומר שאין טהרת מצורע אלא ביום ולא בלילה, ואמרו יכול אף לקיחת צפרים וכו' תלמוד לומר זאת עד כאן.

Or HaChaim on Leviticus 14:2:1

זאת תהיה תורת המצורע, "This shall be the law of the "leper," etc. The entire verse seems superfluous. All the Torah had to tell us was that the afflicted person shall purify himself and be brought to the priest. Torat Kohanim explains the word זאת as excluding the purification ritual on an altar other than the one in the Temple. The word תהיה is explained as including people in our own times who suffer from the symptoms described in the Torah. Torat Kohanim on verse 4 relates that Rabbi Tarphon had a staff with which he used to purify "lepers" in his day [he was a survivor of the period during which the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. Ed.]. The word תורת is explained as teaching us that even though the different symptoms produce different kinds of צרעת, and different regulations regarding quarantine etc., they are all terminated by the offering of the same kind of offering as outlined in this chapter. The word ביום means that the process of purification described here must take place by day. One might think that the slaughtering of the birds for the offering and the afflicted person's shaving himself would be permissible at night; to prevent us from thinking this the Torah wrote זאת. Thus far Torat Kohanim.

ערכין ט״ו ב:ט׳

אמר ריש לקיש מאי דכתיב (ויקרא יד, ב) זאת תהיה תורת המצורע זאת תהיה תורתו של מוציא שם רע

Arakhin 15b:9

Reish Lakish says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “This shall be the law of the leper [metzora] in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest” (Leviticus 14:2)? This means that this shall be the law of a defamer [motzi shem ra].

שמירת הלשון, חלק ראשון, שער הזכירה ו׳:ג׳

וּבֵאוּר הָעִנְיָן רָאִיתִי מִקְצָתוֹ בְּסֵפֶר "נַחַל קדוּמִים". דְּיָדוּעַ דְּכָל מַה שֶׁהַקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַעֲנִישׁ אֶת הָאָדָם הַכֹּל הוּא לְטוֹבָתוֹ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּנָּקָה מֵעֲוֹנוֹתָיו וְלִפְעָמִים כְּדֵי שֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה תְּשׁוּבָה. וְלָכֵן בִּזְמַן שֶׁהָיָה מִקְדָּשׁ קַיָּם וְהָיָה לָנוּ כֹּהֵן מְטַהֵר, אִם נִכְשַׁל אָדָם בַּעֲוֹן לָשׁוֹן הָרָע, הָיָה הַקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מֵבִיא עָלָיו עֹנֶשׁ הַנְּגָעִים, וְאַף גַּם זֹאת לֹא הֵבִיא עָלָיו תֵּכֶף עַל גּוּפוֹ רַקּ עַל קוֹרוֹת בֵּיתוֹ, וְהָיָה צָרִיךְ בְּעַצְמוֹ לָבוֹא אֶל הַכֹּהֵן וְלוֹמַר לוֹ, אֲשֶׁר נִרְאֶה לוֹ בַּבַּיִת כְּנֶגַע. וְהָיָה אוֹמֵר לוֹ הַכֹּהֵן דִּבְרֵי כִּבּוּשִׁים: בְּנִי, אֵין הַנְּגָעִים בָּאִים אֶלָּא עַל לָשׁוֹן הָרָע וְכוּ' וּכְמוֹ דְּאִיתָא בְּתוֹרַת כֹּהֲנִים, כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּשְׁתַּדֵּל עַל יְדֵי זֶה לָסוּר מֵהַחֵטְא. וְאִם לֹא שָׂם לִבּוֹ לָזֶה, הָיָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַעֲנִישׁוֹ עוֹד יוֹתֵר בְּעִנְיָן זֶה, וּכְמוֹ שֶׁנִּתְבָּאֵר עִנְיָן זֶה בָּרַמְבַּ"ם בְּסוֹף הִלְכוֹת טֻמְאַת צָרַעַת וְזֶה לְשׁוֹנוֹ שָׁם, שֶׁצָּרַעַת הַבָּתִּים אֵינוֹ מִמִּנְהָגוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, אֶלָּא אוֹת וָפֶלֶא הָיָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל כְּדֵי לְהַזְהִירָן מִלָּשׁוֹן הָרָע, שֶׁהַמְסַפֵּר לָשוֹן הָרָע מִשְׁתַּנּוֹת קּוֹרוֹת בֵּיתוֹ, אִם חָזַר בּוֹ יִטְהַר הַבַּיִת, וְאִם עָמַד בְּרִשְׁעוֹ עַד שֶׁהֻתַּץ הַבַּיִת, מִשְׁתַּנִּים כְּלֵי הָעוֹר שֶׁבְּבֵיתוֹ שֶׁהוּא יוֹשֵׁב וְשׁוֹכֵן עֲלֵיהֶן, אִם חָזַר בּוֹ וְכוּ' וְאִם עָמַד בְּרִשְׁעוֹ עַד שֶׁיִּשָּׂרְפוּ, מִשְׁתַּנֶּה עוֹרוֹ וְנַעֲשֶׂה מְצֹרָע, וְיִהְיֶה מֻבְדָּל וּמְפֻרְסָם לְבַדּוֹ, עַד שֶׁלֹּא יִתְעַסֵּק בְּשִׂיחַת הָרְשָׁעִים שֶׁהוּא לֵיצָנוּת וְלָשׁוֹן הָרָע וְכוּ', עַיֵּן שָׁם. וְהָיָה תּוֹעֶלֵת גָּדוֹל מִזֶּה הָעֹנֶשׁ, כִּי בִּרְאוֹתוֹ אֶת גֹּדֶל עָנְשׁוֹ וּבִזְיוֹנוֹ, שֶׁהוּא צָרִיךְ לֵישֵׁב בָּדָד מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה תָּמִיד וְאֵינוֹ רַשַׁאי לָבוֹא אַף בְּמַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמוֹדִיעַ תָּמִיד אֶת צַעֲרוֹ לָרַבִּים, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּבַקְשׁוּ עָלָיו רַחַמִים, כְּעִנְיָן שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מועד קטן דף ה'.) (וַיִּקרָא י"ג מ"ה): "וְטָמֵא טָמֵא יִקְרָא", מִמֵּילָא הָיָה נִכְנָע מְאֹד מֵעֲוֹנוֹ וּמְקַבֵּל עָלָיו עַל לְהַבָּא לְהִזָּהֵר עוֹד מֵעָוֹן הַמַּר הַזֶּה וּלְפַיֵּס לְמִי שֶׁדִּבֵּר עָלָיו. וְהַקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּחַסְדּוֹ שׁוֹלֵחַ לוֹ רְפוּאָה לְצָרַעְתּוֹ, וְהָיָה יוֹצֵא הַכֹּהֵן אֶל מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה לִרְאוֹת אִם נִרְפָּא הַנֶּגַע, כְּעִנְיָן שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר בַּקְרָא (ויקרא י"ד ג'): "וְיָצָא הַכֹּהֵן אֶל מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה וְרָאָה הַכֹּהֵן וְהִנֵּה נִרְפָּא" וְגוֹ' וְלַעֲשׂוֹת לוֹ כְּכָל הַסֵּדֶר הַכָּתוּב שָׁם בַּפָּרָשָׁה בְּעִנְיַן הַהֲזָאָה וְהַגִּלּוּחַ, וְאַחַר כָּךְ הָיָה מֵבִיא עָלָיו אֶת קרְבְּנוֹתָיו.

Shemirat HaLashon, Book I, The Gate of Remembering 6:3

I have seen part of the explanation of this matter in the book, Nachal Kedumim, viz.: It is well known that all of G-d's punishment of a man is for his good, so that he be cleansed of his sins, and, sometimes, that he repent. Therefore, when the Temple stood and we had a Cohein who cleansed, if a man stumbled into the sin of lashon hara, the Holy One Blessed be He would bring upon him the punishment of plague-spots. And even so, He did not bring it immediately upon his body, but upon the beams of his house. And he himself would have to come to the Cohein and say to him that there appeared to him something like a plague-spot in the house. And the Cohein would exhort him to repent — "My son, plague-spots come only for lashon hara, etc.", as we find in Torath Cohanim — so that he should exert himself thereby to depart from the sin. And if he did not take this to heart, the Holy One Blessed be He would punish him yet further in this manner, as explained by Rambam at the end of the laws of tzara'ath-uncleanliness: "House tzara'ath is not in the order of nature, but was a sign and wonder in Israel to warn them against lashon hara. If one spoke lashon hara, the beams of his house would undergo a change. If he repented, the house would be cleansed, and if he persisted in his wickedness until the house were knocked down, the leather appurtenances in his house on which he sat and reclined upon would undergo a change. If he repented, etc. And if he persisted in his wickedness until they were burned, his skin would undergo a change, and he would become a leper. And he would be separated [from others] and exposed [as a leper] by himself, so that he not take part in the converse of the wicked, which is levity and lashon hara, etc." And there was great benefit in this punishment. For when he saw the greatness of his punishment and his disgrace, his having to sit solitary outside the [three] camps always, not being allowed to come even to the camp of Israel, and constantly proclaiming his grief to the populace so that they should pray [to the L-rd] to have mercy upon him (viz. Moed Katan 5a), and (Vayikra 13:45): "and 'Unclean! Unclean!' shall he cry," then, as a matter of course, he would be extremely humbled by his sin and would take it upon himself for the future to take great care against this bitter sin and to conciliate the one he spoke [lashon hara] about. And the Holy One Blessed be He in His [great] lovingkindness would send a cure for his tzara'ath, and the Cohein would go outside the camp to see if the plague-spot had healed, as it is written (Vayikra 14:3): "And the Cohein shall go outside the camp, and the Cohein shall see, if the plague-spot of leprosy is healed, etc.", and then he would proceed according to the whole order written in the parshah concerning sprinkling and shaving, and afterwards, he [the Cohein] would bring his sacrifices for him.

קול דודי דופק, חובת יהדות התורה לארץ-ישראל ג׳

...

Kol Dodi Dofek, The Obligation of Torah Judaism to the Land of Israel 3

Let us publicly and frankly confess: we complain about certain Israeli leaders and their ‎attitude ‎toward the values of our tradition and religious practice. The complaints are justified. We ‎have ‎serious charges against the secular leadership of the Land of Israel. However, are only they to ‎be ‎blamed, and are we as faultless and pure as the heavenly angels? Such an assumption is ‎without ‎foundation. We could have extended our influence and done something to shape the ‎spiritual ‎character of the Land if we had but hurried to awaken from our slumber and open the ‎door for the ‎Beloved who is knocking. I fear that we Orthodox Jews are still enveloped in sweet ‎slumber. If we ‎were to establish more religious kibbutzim, if we were to build more housing for ‎religious ‎immigrants, if we were to establish an extensive system of schools, our situation would ‎be ‎completely different. Then there would be no need to come forward with complaints against ‎the ‎leaders of other movements. We Orthodox Jews suffer from a unique illness that is not found ‎in ‎nonreligious Jews (with some rare exceptions). We are all miserly. We do not excel when it ‎comes ‎to giving generously, in comparison with the rest of American Jewry. We are satisfied to ‎part with a ‎couple of pennies, and we demand, in recompense for our piddling donation, our ‎reward in this ‎world and a share in the first allocations. Thus, our dignity has reached its nadir, and ‎we do not ‎exercise appropriate influence on Jewish life here in America and on the course of ‎events in Israel. ‎Great and free America is a land of charity. The government itself, in the years ‎‎1945 to 1956, ‎disbursed $55 billion, $350 million in foreign aid projects (the numbers are truly ‎beyond our ‎comprehension), and philanthropists are truly respected in this land that knows how ‎to give and ‎help in such proportions. Accordingly, we Orthodox Jews are not entitled to the ‎greatness that ‎others possess. Lately, we have become experts at criticism and fault-finding. (“And ‎the priest shall ‎look on him, and pronounce him unclean” [Leviticus 13:3]). We know well how to ‎criticize, to look ‎for blemishes and to express opinions as self-styled experts. One thing, however, ‎escapes us, and ‎that is that the priest who pronounces defilement must leave the encampment to ‎be with the ‎afflicted sufferer so as to purify him. “And the priest shall leave the encampment ... ‎and the priest ‎shall command” (Leviticus 14:3–4). We must build not just a few small nooks, whose ‎impact is ‎unfelt, but central institutions throughout the length and breadth of America and the ‎Land of ‎Israel. We have an obligation to purify those who are “outside the encampment,” who are ‎situated ‎in the huge camp of ignorance. To this end, there is a need for vast sums; and we, the ‎Orthodox ‎Jews, are far from being generous and charitable. For this reason, our institutions here ‎and in Israel ‎suffer from want. The Religious Zionist movement especially has to content itself with ‎paltry sums. ‎Due to lack of funds, the movement cannot function appropriately. Indeed, the loyal ‎Lover is quite ‎splendid, her eyes are like twin doves and her face radiates a beautiful charm (Song ‎of Songs 1:15, ‎‎4:1). She is much fairer than the nonreligious lover. However, beauty is vain and ‎grace is deceptive‎‎ (Proverbs 31:30) if this Lover is stingy and very lazy. “I have removed my cloak, ‎how shall I put it on ‎again?” (Song of Songs 5:3). When one calls a rich Jew and asks him to give to a ‎just cause, he ‎answers, “I am going to Florida, and this year I have decided to stay in a luxury hotel, ‎and I don’t ‎have the wherewithal to give you what you requested.” What did the scholar tell the ‎King of the ‎Khazars? “You have embarrassed me, King of Khazars! … And our saying ‘worship at His ‎holy hill’ ‎‎[Psalms 99:9] is but the chirping of a starling” (HaKuzari 2:24). Do we not hear in ‎our ‎trembling over the safety and tranquility of the Land of Israel in our day, the beckoning of ‎the ‎Beloved who begs the Lover to let Him in? He has already been beckoning for eight years, and ‎still ‎He has not been properly responded to. Nonetheless, He continues to beckon. To our ‎good ‎fortune, our inherited Land has become more beautiful. The Beloved has not shown the ‎Lover any ‎favoritism, but He has compassion for her. The Beloved beckoned for only a short ‎moment that ‎night and disappeared, yet with us He has exhibited extraordinary patience. It is ‎eight years that ‎He has continued to beckon. Hopefully, we will not miss the opportunity!!‎

שני לוחות הברית, תורה שבכתב, כי תצא, תורה אור מ״ז

וזה לשון הגה"ה ציוני בפרשת בראשית דף ח', גם הזהרנו להשמר בנגע צרעת. נודע כי זאת תורת המצורע מוציא רע וארס הזוהמא בא מזוהמת הנחש, והקב"ה מגלה סימן זה כדי שיתעורר האדם ויתחרט ויעשה תשובה, ואז ארס זוהמת הנחש יוצא חוצה ואין לו טהרה אלא באמצעית הכהן שהוא מצד החסד סטרא דימינא, כי מצד השמאל נפתח הרעה, כי מצד שמאל נמשך בהשתלשלות למטה סמאל, ומצפון תפתח הרעה (ירמיה א, יד). ועתה שאין לנו כהן, אזי התשובה על הכל כי ימין התשובה פשוטה:

Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Torah Shebikhtav, Ki Teitzei, Torah Ohr 47

The Tziyoni writes in a gloss on פרשת בראשית that the reason we are to be so careful with observing the details of the legislation of צרעת, blemishes of the skin, the clothes, or the house, is that we are dealing here with inner blemishes, i.e. sins, which have become visible externally. G–d has been very kind in externalizing the effect of these sins so as to give the afflicted person an opportunity to repent and rid himself of the pollutant of the serpent which his sins are due to. The priest is the only one who can effect a cure because the priesthood originated in the "right" side of the diagram of emanations in the emanation חסד, whereas the pollutant of the serpent has its origin in the "left" of the diagram of emanations, the side from which Samael originates. Nowadays, when we do not have priests who can perform the steps leading to the rehabilitation of an afflicted person (including the sacrifices he has to bring at the end of the period of his isolation as outlined in Leviticus 14,2-32), repentance is the only instrument by which we can cleanse ourselves. The right hand of G–d is always stretched out to welcome penitent sinners.