There are many parshiot in Sefer Vayikra that are difficult for us to truly understand. While Vayikra most often deals with sacrifices and the actions of the kohanim, in parsha Tazria the subject turns to a seemingly mysterious skin ailment for which a person must be isolated outside of the encampment of Bnei Yisrael. This ailment is quite often mistranslated as leprosy, which we now know is a contagious bacterial infection. The actual affliction, tzaraas, has no real English translation.
From
reading the parsha and the multitude ways in which tzaraas can appear, one
might wonder at the frequency of diagnosis. While diagnosis is a medical term,
and there are many dermatological medical conditions, tzaraas could only be
determined by a kohain. This is important because the source of tzaraas is not
viral, bacterial, or auto immune; it is spiritual. Tzaraas is caused by the
inimical yet pervasive behavior of lashon harah, speaking badly of others.
Lashon
Harah is one of the most impactful transgressions of Jewish law. It is famously
stated by Hillel that the essence of Torah is “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is
the whole Torah while the rest is commentary; go and learn it.” Loshon Harah,
or, better, refraining from lashon harah, is critical to this essential dynamic
of bein adam l’chavero (interpersonal relationships).
The laws of guarding one’s speech are complex and rather
extensive. Lashon Harah can be the obvious gossip or verbal denigration of a
person, but praising a person publicly can also fall into categories of speech
to be cautious of. And this, the complexity of the laws of Lashon Harah, is a fascinating
fact when reviewing parshas Tazria.
One might expect that a spiritual affliction such as tzaraas
to have very clear and obvious symptoms. One might expect one or two fairly
consistent descriptions of how the skin blemish would look. And yet, while
there is only one perek dedicated to the subject, that perek is 59 pasukim long.
The parsha goes on and on… if it looks like this and if it looks like that, if
it is on a bald spot and if it is on hair, if it goes away and if it comes back,
and etc. For the description of an affliction that must be diagnosed by a
priest, that’s an awful lot of detail and variation.
When we remember that tzaraas is an affliction that is caused
by a spiritual malignancy, by an act that undermines the fabric of
interpersonal relationships, perhaps we can better understand why tzaraas is
not described in a straight-forward way. Lashon Harah is certainly not straight-forward.
If one were simply told not to speak ill of another, one might refrain only
from outright statements such as “Jack is a liar.” But Lashon Harah, like
tzaraas, is not simple.
The Torah does not specify the laws of Lashon Harah, but the lengthy
discussion of tzaraas as expressed in the parsha is an excellent indicator of
just how varied and complex the source of the disease can be.
We today can only imagine what it would be like to live in a
world where our physical selves manifest deficiencies in our spiritual selves. Instead,
we must put in great effort to guard our tongues and monitor our actions
knowing that this is how we not only keep our own neshamos healthy, but how we
strengthen klal Yisrael and the whole world.
This Dvar Torah is dedicated to continued besoros tovos/refua
shelaima for Rivka Bas Golda.
No comments:
Post a Comment