Video Study for Parsha Metzora : Who has the 'Cooties'?

[muman613]

Shalom JTF Reader,

It feels good to start early on this thread. My friend has moved a little farther away and thus he is unable to 'drop in' like he has been in the last few weeks. As much as I enjoy his company he was keeping me up later than I preferred to stay up, but I should see him this Sunday...

This week we are reading the portion of Metzora, which continues the theme of last weeks portion, the skin condition of 'Tzaarat' (translated as Leprosy)...

From Chabad's "Parsha in a Nutshell':

http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/1761/jewish/Metzora-in-a-Nutshell.htm

Last week’s Parshah described the signs of the metzora (commonly mistranslated as “leper”)—a person afflicted by a spiritual malady which places him or her in a state of ritual impurity. This week’s Torah reading begins by detailing how the recovered metzora is purified by the kohen (priest) with a special procedure involving two birds, spring water in an earthen vessel, a piece of cedar wood, a scarlet thread and a bundle of hyssop.

A home can also be afflicted with tzaraat by the appearance of dark red or green patches on its walls. In a process lasting as long as nineteen days, a kohen determines if the house can be purified, or whether it must be demolished.

Ritual impurity is also engendered through a seminal or other discharge in a man, and menstruation or other discharge of blood in a woman, necessitating purification through immersion in a mikvah.

As usual I will post Rabbi Richman, of the Temple Institutes, latest talk on this portion:

[muman613]

Rabbi Ginsburg gives some of the best explanations of deep Torah secrets... Here he talks about Metzora..

[muman613]

Rabbi Miller from TorahInTen...

[muman613]

http://www.torahweb.org/torah/2014/parsha/rsob_metzorah.html

Sight and Speech: From the Metzora to the Seder Night
Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky

Seeing and speaking play a pivotal role in the process of evaluating tzora'as. The phrase, "v'ra'ah hakohen - and the kohen will see", appears in both Tazria and Metzora numerous times. A metzora can only begin his purification when the kohen sees that the tzora'as has healed. The kohen seeing the tzora'as is so integral to ascertaining its status that the one cannot report to the kohen with certainty that he himself has seen tzora'as, rather the Torah insists that he merely state "k'negah nirah li b'bayis - what seems like tzora'as is in my house."

The second critical component in deciding an issue of tzora'as is the kohen's speech. Even if the kohen is convinced that it is tzora'as that he is seeing, as long as a formal declaration hasn't been made the person's clothing or house remains pure. Thus the procedure for declaring the house to be impure is delayed until its contents have been emptied to avoid their becoming tamey as well, thereby avoiding an unnecessary loss of possessions for the homeowner.

What message is being sent to the metzora as he observes the eyes and mouth of the kohen deciding his future? He is being taught the lesson that he most needs for his spiritual improvement: it was his eyes and mouth that brought the metzora to this state.

Chazal speak of the deficiency of the "eyes" of the metzora. His jealousy upon seeing others' successes caused him to speak evil. There is a direct correlation between these sins of sight and speech, and as such the metzora must now learn the power of sight and speech. Just as he caused harm by looking and speaking evil about others, his home, clothing, and even his body are being scrutinized by the eyes and mouth of the kohen.

Our eyes and mouths are not only capable of harm, but can also be utilized for great good. The central theme of the seder night is v'higadeta l'bincha. The telling of yetzias Mitzrayim to our children is accomplished by using our eyes and mouths properly. "Ba'avor zeh", one sees the korbanPesach, matzoh and maror and formulates the story around these visual reminders. Chazal instituted many practices at the seder so the children will see and ask.

Not only is the annual mitzvah of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim done through the power of sight and speech, but our entire mesorah is transmitted using these two powerful vehicles. We must show our children what a life of Torah is. They must see with their own eyes what Torah means to us. The image of how we learn, daven and observe mitzvos must accompany them throughout life. Even Yosef had to conjure up the image of his father from his youth to enable him to withstand the challenge of an alien environment. We teach our children by transmitting the words of Torah from our mouths to theirs. Accompanying this oral transmission are the powerful images we show our children.

Our potential to use sight and speech is so great, therefore we must always assure that our eyes and mouths are fit for this monumental task. We must be certain that we and our children look with an ayin tova and our mouths utter lashon tov to enable us to use the gifts of sight and speech for the wonderful tasks for which they were created.

[muman613]

http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5774/metzora.html

Parshas Metzorah   
Shemiras Halashon and Pesach
Rabbi Pinchas Winston

This shall be the law of the leper on the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought to the priest.” (Vayikra 14:2)

When you think of the kind of person who might be plagued by tzara’as, you might think of someone who has a difficult time keeping gossip to the him- or herself. Great people, especially if they are spiritually great people, do not get tzara’as because quite simply they do not do anything to deserve it.

For the most part, that is probably true. However, one of the most famous cases of tzara’as in history was the case of Miriam, Moshe Rabbeinu’s sister. She had spoken loshon hara about her brother and THE Gadol HaDor of all history as mentioned at the end of Parashas BeHa’alosecha.

Even though she was directly involved in the birth of Moshe Rabbeinu himself by advising her parents to remarry in spite of Pharaoh’s decree to drown all male babies, she received no preferential treatment. And, even though what she said was for the benefit of another, her sister-in-law Tziporah, she still had to go through the entire treatment of a metzora including living outside the entire camp for one week. How humiliating for her.

There is a message in this. In fact, it reminds me of a section of the Talmud which I will excerpt here:

Our Rabbis taught: The poor, the rich, and the evil will come before the [heavenly] court. They will ask the poor, “Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah?” If he says, “I was poor and worried about my sustenance,” they will say to him, “Were you poorer than Hillel?” It was reported about Hillel the Elder that every day he used to work and earn one tropaik, half of which he would give to the guard at the House of Learning, the other half being spent for his food and for that of his family. One day he found nothing to earn and the guard at the House of Learning would not permit him to enter. He climbed up and sat upon the skylight to hear the words of the living God from the mouth of Shemayah and Avtalion . . . To the rich man they will say, “Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah?” If he says, “I was rich and occupied with my possessions,” they will say to him, “Were you richer than Rebi Elazar?” It was reported about Rebi Elazar bar Charsom that his father left him a thousand cities on the continent and corresponding to this a thousand boats on the sea. Every day he would take a sack of flour on his shoulder and go from city to city and from province to province to study the Torah . . . To the evil person they will say, “Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah?” If he says, “I was handsome and bothered with passion,” they will say to him, “Were you more handsome than Yosef?” It was told of Yosef HaTzaddik that the wife of Potiphar every day endeavored to entice him with words, and the garments she put on for him in the morning she did not wear in the evening, and those she had put on in the evening she did not wear in the morning . . . Thus [the example of] Hillel condemns the poor, [the example of] Rebi Elazar bar Charsom condemns the rich, and Yosef HaTzaddik condemns the evil. (Yoma 35b)


We could add to this list, perhaps, Miriam the righteous, prophetess, and servant of the Jewish people. When they ask the loshon hara speaker, “Why were you not more careful with what you said and avoid loshon hara?” If her or she answers, “I didn’t think it was loshon hara! I spoke it for altruistic reasons! It was for the benefit of others!” they will answer, “Were you more altruistic than Miriam? Were you as concerned about the well-being of another as she was?”


This is a warning not to speak loshon hara, commanding us to remember the terrible punishment that Miriam received [even though she was] a righteous prophetess, and she spoke only about her brother and only privately with her brother, not in public, so that Moshe himself would not be embarrassed . . . But despite these good intentions, she was punished. How much more so must we be careful never to speak loshon hara. (Ramban, Devarim 24:9).


As an “expert” loshon hara speaker (which is loshon hara on myself), I will confess how easy it is to fall prey to the yetzer hara to speak it. When it comes to some sins, if you are a decent person, it usually requires somewhat of a negative change of lifestyle to do them. They are just so “out there” that it is hard to go to sleep at night with a clear conscience after having done them, so we don’t.

Loshon hara, however, can be seamlessly woven into the fabric of everyday conversation that you can go to bed at night without even knowing that you spoke it. Indeed, sometimes it is easiest to speak it while discussing truly important issues when there might be a halachic justification for saying some things, but not others.

When becoming inflicted with tzara’as was a real issue it was easier to be more cautious about the cause of it. It was not something you could deal with by privately going to a doctor or taking some meds. There was no secret operation a person could have at some private clinic to get rid of it before others knew you had it. There was but one path to leaving the state of a Metzora, and it wasn’t by crossing state lines.

Rather, as described in this week’s parshah, it was a process, one that involved a kohen, isolation, hair removal, and sacrifices. Even Miriam who epitomized self-sacrifice for the Jewish people and a modest lifestyle was forced to endure it in order to return to her place among the rest of the nation.

The real problem is what we think about speech itself. Everyone agrees that speech is an important attribute of being human and would not want to do without it. But, how many people see it as one of the holiest activities in which a human being can engage? How many people see what comes out of their mouth as being a defining factor of the value of their very existence?

Here’s a tip for anyone interested in curbing their speaking of loshon hara. Before you say anything that might be loshon hara, say one word: Pesach. “>Pesach?” you might be asking yourselves right now. “What does Pesach have to do with loshon hara?”

Everything, as the Zohar says:

From a man’s mouth you can tell what he is. (Zohar, Bamidbar 193)

As the Arizal explains, Pesach is a combination of two words: peh and sach, which mean the “mouth that spoke.” At first that seems to be irrelevant because the holiday seems to have nothing to do with speech until we recall that it has everything to do with speech. An example is the first dialogue between God and Moshe Rabbeinu about saving the Jewish people.

Moshe said to God, “I beseech You, God. I am not a man of words, neither from yesterday nor from the day before yesterday, nor from the time You have spoken to Your servant, for I am heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue.” But God said to him, “Who gave man a mouth, or who makes [one] dumb or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, God? So now, go! I will be with your mouth, and I will tell you what to say.” (Shemos 4:10-12)

Another example is the main antagonist, Pharaoh, whose Hebrew name can be read: peh ra’ah—evil mouth. Furthermore:

The Egyptians made the Children of Israel serve b’pharech—with rigor. (Shemos 1:13)

Rebi Elazar said: “Bepharech” means “with a soft mouth” . . . (Sotah 11b)

And let’s not forget that when all was said and done, God told Moshe:


Speak to the Children of Israel, and let them turn back and encamp in front of Pi HaChiros—the mouth of freedom . . . (Shemos 14:2)

No wonder Moshe Rabbeinu was heavily criticized by God for speaking loshon hara about the Jewish people:

Moshe answered and said, “They will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; they will say that God has not appeared to me.” God said to him, “What is in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” He told him, “Throw it to the ground.” He threw it to the ground and it became a snake, and Moshe ran away from it . . . (Shemos 4:1)

This indicated to him that he had spoken loshon hara about the Jewish people, and that he had imitated the trade of the serpent. (Rashi)

It also explains a very perplexing account in the Torah in which Moshe Rabbeinu almost died, by a snake no less, on his way down to save the Jewish people. Apparently, he had delayed the Bris Milah of his son:

It happened along the way to the Inn that God met him and wanted to kill him. Tzipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and threw it at his feet, and said, “Your a bridegroom of blood to me!” She loosened her hold of him and said, “Your are a bridegroom of blood, because of circumcisions.” (Shemos 4:24)

The angel became a serpent and swallowed him from his head to his thigh, and then spit him out again, and then swallowed him from his legs to the place [of Bris Milah]. Tzipporah thereby understood that it had happened on account of the delay in performing Bris Milah on her son. (Rashi)

After all, the literal translation of Bris Milah is “covenant of the word.” Thus, as I said earlier, if you want to remember not to speak loshon hara just say the word “Pesach” before you speak. It was to avoid speaking loshon hara that we were freed from Egyptian slavery at the beginning of Jewish history. As we will see next week, b”H, it will be in the merit of not speaking loshon hara that we will survive to be redeemed at the end of Jewish history.

It’s not for naught that we spend the entire Seder speaking.   

[muman613]

Shalom,

I am happy that my shmura matzah was delivered today, along with a pocket-sized edition of Tanya my rabbi had published...

[Israel Chai]

I got my mom to watch the first few, and she loves these! B"H! G-d willing she will make a complete teshuva, and I also as well.

With one Jew you saved Muman, I hope I can get you the merit to have a share in saving 1000 G-d willing, and much, much more!

[muman613]

I got my mom to watch the first few, and she loves these! B"H! G-d willing she will make a complete teshuva, and I also as well.

With one Jew you saved Muman, I hope I can get you the merit to have a share in saving 1000 G-d willing, and much, much more!

Baruch Hashem!

I love you LKZ... I am so pleased that you learn and appreciate the effort I make... It is surely worth it if it can bring light to you and your mother.

May Hashem grant your mother long years, and you should have parnassa (livelihood) to support the future generation.

[muman613]

Rabbi Odze covers some ideas of our portion:

[muman613]

I met Rabbi Mendy Cohen several years ago at a Shabbaton I attended... He is the Chabad Rabbi of Sacramento, and he made some videos on youtube... Here he discusses our portion.

[muman613]

The charismatic Rabbi Levi Chazen gives a talk about Metzora..

[muman613]

I like Rabbi Chaim Schwab but I cannot think of an adjective to describe his presentation. Wow, I was about to engage in some L'H'... Stopped myself...

Talking about the parsha of Metzora, and some Q&A on Passover...

[muman613]

http://www.torah.org/learning/hamaayan/5763/metzora.html

Today's Learning:

Me'ilah 6:5-6
Orach Chaim 9:4-6:2
Daf Yomi (Bavli): Avodah Zarah 30
Daf Yomi (Yerushalmi): Rosh Hashanah 12

In this week's parashah (and last week's), we read that a metzora must leave the camp or city for seven (or more) days and sit alone. Chazal say that this is a punishment for the antisocial behavior of speaking lashon hara.

R' Yaakov Emden z"l (died 1776) points out the many benefits which man can attain only when he is part of society. Indeed, Chazal say, "Give me a friend or give me death," and the Torah says, "It is not good for man to be alone."

All alone, man could not obtain all of his physical needs, including proper food, drink, clothing, and shelter. A person also could not fulfill the Torah if he were alone. For example, he could not carry out the laws of property, the laws of marriage, and the laws of child-rearing.

A person who is all alone can never pray with a minyan or have his Torah questions resolved by scholars, and thus he can not properly practice a single one of the six pillars on which the world stands (as listed in Pirkei Avot): justice, truth, peace, Torah, prayer, and acts of kindness. Also, how can man emulate Hashem if he is all alone? For example, just as Hashem is merciful, man must be merciful to his fellow men.

Of course, there are times for being alone, but even in those times, man should not roam too far from home. Man is even capable of achieving the concentration that comes from solitude while he is surrounded by people. (Migdal Oz: Perek Aliyat Habedidut)

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"This is the law of the metzora . . ." (14:2)

The Gemara (Erachin 15b) elaborates: "This is the law of the motzi shem ra /one who speaks evil of another." [The Gemara is reading the word "metzora" as an abbreviation of "motzi shem ra" in order to teach that tzara'at is a punishment for speaking lashon hara.]

The Chafetz Chaim writes that one may transgress as many as 31 of the 613 commandments with one act of speaking lashon hara. A partial list of these includes: the prohibition on being a gossip; the commandment to avoid tzara'at; the prohibition on placing a stumbling block before another (because the one who speaks lashon hara causes others to listen to lashon hara, which also is a sin); the prohibition on forgetting G-d (because a person who speaks lashon hara thereby demonstrates haughtiness, whereas a person who remembers G-d is aware of his own faults and is never haughty); the two prohibitions on taking revenge and bearing a grudge; the prohibition on giving false testimony; the prohibition on following in Korach's footsteps (i.e., by bringing about hostility between people); and others.

(Sefer Chafetz Chaim: Introduction)

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The Mishnah (Nega'im 2:5) states: "A person sees all nega'im-- tzara'at wounds--except his own." Literally, this means that a person, even a kohen, may not be the judge of whether he himself has tzara'at. Rather, he must go to another kohen.

Figuratively, however, this statement is frequently interpreted as referring to the fact that people are rarely objective about their own faults. A person sees everyone else's faults, but not his own.

If so, asks R' Eliezer David Gruenwald z"l (1867-1928; Hungarian rabbi and rosh yeshiva), how can a person assess where he stands? The answer is found in another Mishnah: "One does not search [for chametz] by the light of the sun and by the light of the moon, but only by the light of a candle." Kabbalists and mussar works teach that chametz represents the yetzer hara. The strong "light of the sun" represents wealth, and the weak "light of the moon" represents lack of success. Wealth is not an accurate indicator that a person has conquered his yetzer hara and therefore Hashem is happy with him, and lack of success is not an indicator of the opposite. Only the "light of a candle," an allusion to the verse, "A mitzvah is a candle" / "ki ner mitzvah," is an accurate indicator.

What does this mean? If a person wants to know where he stands in his service of Hashem, he should look at his attitude towards mitzvot. If he or she considers mitzvot to be a burden, then he or she has a long way to go. However, if a person enjoys performing mitzvot, then that person is on the right track.

(Haggadah Shel Pesach Chasdei David)

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Pesach
A young man in Israel married into a family which did not have the custom of stealing the afikoman. When he had a son who was old enough to "steal" his grandfather's afikoman, the latter insisted that such behavior violated the Torah's prohibitions on theft and extortion. This dispute was then brought before R' Chaim David Halevy z"l (Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv; died 1998), who wrote as follows:

The Gemara (Pesachim 109a) mentions a custom of "grabbing" the matzah in order to keep the children awake. As explained by Rashi and Rashbam, this does not refer to a custom that children steal the afikoman, but rather that the matzah was stolen _from_ the children. Why was this not prohibited as stealing? Apparently, writes R' Halevy, because it is justified as one more strange thing that we do on the seder night to highlight for the children the uniqueness of the night.

The Gemara (Bava Metzia 61b) states that stealing is prohibited even if one does not desire the object of the theft, but merely intends to pain the victim. Interestingly, Rambam does not quote this law in his Code. Instead, Rambam writes that one may not steal, even in jest. Why doesn't Rambam quote the Gemara's law? Also, what is the source for Rambam's law that one may not steal in jest?

R' Halevy explains: Since we know that Rambam did not invent laws, nor did he ignore laws that were found in the Talmud, we may assume that Rambam was merely reformulating the law that one may not steal in order to pain another. Rambam's use of the phrase "in jest" must be equivalent to the Gemara's phrase "intended to cause pain." Why did Rambam change the words? Because he wanted to teach us, incidentally, that the only time that stealing in jest is prohibited is when it is intended to cause pain. However, stealing the afikoman at the seder is not intended to cause pain. Rather, it is intended only to "liven- up" the seder and interest the children.

(Aseh Lecha Rav Vol. VI, No. 35)

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R' Shimon Schwab z"l (1908-1995; rabbi of the K'hal Adath Jeshurun "Breuer's" community in New York) writes:

From my earliest youth, I remember that the children would ask each other on the first morning of Pesach, "How long did your Seder last?" This was true in my youth, and it is still the case today.

If the children were to ask me this now, I would answer them, "I made sure to eat the afikoman before chatzot [halachic midnight]." According to some poskim [halachic authorities], even the recitation of Hallel should be completed before chatzot. I must point out, R' Schwab says, that the present-day practice in which all the children read from their prepared sheets which they received in school is not exactly in accordance with the mitzvah of "v'higadeta l'vincha" / "and you shall tell to your children" (Shmot 13:8). The children have started a new "mitzvah" of "v'higadeta l'avicha u'l'imecha" / "and you shall tell to your father and mother," which makes it extremely difficult to reach the mitzvah of achilat matzah / eating the matzah - and certainly the afikoman - before chatzot.

R' Schwab continues: Rather than discourage the children from actively participating, parents should encourage their children to keep their remarks brief so that the father or other leader of the Seder can read the text of the Haggadah and explain the miracles of Yetziat Mitzrayim / the Exodus. Children should be encouraged to say their divrei Torah during the meal if there is time or, otherwise, during the daytime meals of Yom Tov.

On the Seder night, concludes R' Schwab, it is a mitzvat asai d'Oraita / an affirmative commandment from the Torah to retell to one's children the events surrounding Yetziat Mitzrayim. If one has merited to have children or grandchildren, it is a mitzvah for the father or grandfather to hand down to them the details of the Exodus. The saying of "vertlach" / short divrei Torah is very nice, but if these are not the details of the narrative of the Exodus - or its meaning or message - they are not a part of this mitzvah. On the Seder night, the children are encouraged to ask any question relevant to Yetziat Mitzrayim, and the father has a special mitzvah d'Oraita to respond to these questions, and to tell his children about the miracles that G-d did for us.

(Rav Schwab on Prayer p. 541)