This and next week’s parshiyot are called torat hanegaim – the laws related to tzara’at – the Divine Punishment of an “eruption” – a nega – on the home, clothing and/or skin. Tzara'at is not a naturally occurring disease in the sense that its cause is not exposure to disease nor is it communicable. Rather, tzara'at is a Divine Punishment brought on by sin. Rashi explains that this punishment is prominently associated with two sins - lashon hara – sins of speech – and gasot haruach – arrogance.
Some averot – like not eating kosher food or having illicit relationships – typically stem from physical desire. Others – such as not believing in the existence of G-d – can stem from a philosophical mistake. But averot like lashon hara and gasot haruach are members of a unique class of sins. These are sins that stem from a character flaw – a problem in the person’s personality.
In next week’s parasha, Rashi teaches a foundational principle about tzara'at: the process of atonement for the one who has tzara’at – the metzora – is designed to enlighten him or her as to how to improve him or herself.
The process of becoming a metzora requires the pronouncement of the kohen. When the metzora identifies what seems to be tzara’at, he or she brings it to the kohen for a determination. After the examination and using his knowledge of the halacha, the kohen decides and pronounces the status of this nega – that is to say, is it tzara’at, is it not tzara’at or does the individual need to be checked again after a waiting period. Interestingly, a chacham who is not a kohen can assist the kohen who is ignorant of the halacha, but the kohen himself must do the examination and the pronouncing of the status of the nega.
Using Rashi’s approach, it seems that the tzara’at process has three elements that are critical to the rehabilitation of the metzora:
Let us begin by looking at the halachic process in general. A clear example of this process exists in today’s special maftir – Parshat HaChodesh.
B’nei Yisrael maintains a solar-lunar calendar. While our months are determined by the approximately 29.5 day period of the moon revolving around the Earth, our calendar is also kept in sync with the seasons – that is to say with the Sun. Through the time of the Sanhedrin – and some say even through the time of the gemara – the Jewish calendar was determined by a three-step process:
How does the metzora benefit from witnessing this process?
At its core, the halachic process demonstrates that the test for truth about the world comes from categories that exist outside of us. The chacham looks at the world through the categories of halacha: tuma and tahara (ritual impurity and purity), kasher and pasul (fit and unfit to use), kodesh and chol (holy and profane).
As we explained before, tzara’at most commonly is a punishment for two sins – gossip and arrogance. Let’s look more closely at the one who speaks lashon hara – gossip.
In a 1997 study, Dunbar, Marriott, and Duncan sampled 45 conversations every 30 seconds while eavesdropping in public. They found that “social topics” concerning either those persons present or third parties were the purpose of conversation about two thirds of the time among both men and women. Only a small proportion (less than 5%) of this conversational time was spent in critical remarks about third parties (i.e., malicious gossip). Similarly, in 1994, Emler reported that about 70% of conversation time involved gossip.
These studies show two things:
Miriam and Aharon’s sin of lashon hara exemplifies this description. They said about Moshe – does G-d only speak with Moshe? Doesn’t He also speak with us? Notice that she is making a comparison between her and Moshe. Notice that she assumes that she has the whole picture of the truth.
This is not the correct approach. The Torah teaches to compare ourselves to the ideal – not to other people. Righteousness is an objective quality. Righteousness is not being more righteous than my neighbor. The Torah teaches us to see the world for what it truly is – not through the lens of invented definitions.
Let’s look more closely at arrogance. Rabbenu Bachya explains that drinking alcohol in excess puts a person in a state similar to arrogance. He explains that drinking impairs the ability to make distinctions. Like the drunk, the arrogant person doesn’t make distinctions – in his eyes, everything is equal. In other words, an arrogant person creates categories to describe the world in a way that suits his or her interest.
A commonality exists between the sins of gossip and arrogance – both do not use objective categories to understand the world. The one who gossips uses other people to create their picture of truth. The arrogant one invents truth internally.
The antidote for lashon hara and arrogance is the halachic process. In using the halachic process we learn to view the world as it really exists and we learn to resist making false comparisons and invented distinctions. By walking the metzora through the halachic process, the kohen reorients the metzora to see the world as it truly exists. He teaches the metzora to have a more objective outlook.
This objective outlook – the ability to see things from another person’s perspective – is one of the prerequisites of empathy and true compassion.
Some averot – like not eating kosher food or having illicit relationships – typically stem from physical desire. Others – such as not believing in the existence of G-d – can stem from a philosophical mistake. But averot like lashon hara and gasot haruach are members of a unique class of sins. These are sins that stem from a character flaw – a problem in the person’s personality.
In next week’s parasha, Rashi teaches a foundational principle about tzara'at: the process of atonement for the one who has tzara’at – the metzora – is designed to enlighten him or her as to how to improve him or herself.
The process of becoming a metzora requires the pronouncement of the kohen. When the metzora identifies what seems to be tzara’at, he or she brings it to the kohen for a determination. After the examination and using his knowledge of the halacha, the kohen decides and pronounces the status of this nega – that is to say, is it tzara’at, is it not tzara’at or does the individual need to be checked again after a waiting period. Interestingly, a chacham who is not a kohen can assist the kohen who is ignorant of the halacha, but the kohen himself must do the examination and the pronouncing of the status of the nega.
Using Rashi’s approach, it seems that the tzara’at process has three elements that are critical to the rehabilitation of the metzora:
- The process begins with metzora realizing that there is a problem
- A relationship is forged between the metzora and the kohen
- The kohen conducts a halachic process to determine the status of the nega on behalf of the metzora
Let us begin by looking at the halachic process in general. A clear example of this process exists in today’s special maftir – Parshat HaChodesh.
B’nei Yisrael maintains a solar-lunar calendar. While our months are determined by the approximately 29.5 day period of the moon revolving around the Earth, our calendar is also kept in sync with the seasons – that is to say with the Sun. Through the time of the Sanhedrin – and some say even through the time of the gemara – the Jewish calendar was determined by a three-step process:
- If available, witnesses would come to the court to testify that they saw the moon at the beginning of its new phase – re’iyah.
- Knowing the calculations that were taught ish mipi ish from Moshe Rabbenu, the judges would determine the veracity of the witnesses – cheshbon.
- Using these calculations and taking into consideration the ideal days of the week for holidays, the court would render a decision about when to declare Rosh Chodesh – hora’a.
How does the metzora benefit from witnessing this process?
At its core, the halachic process demonstrates that the test for truth about the world comes from categories that exist outside of us. The chacham looks at the world through the categories of halacha: tuma and tahara (ritual impurity and purity), kasher and pasul (fit and unfit to use), kodesh and chol (holy and profane).
As we explained before, tzara’at most commonly is a punishment for two sins – gossip and arrogance. Let’s look more closely at the one who speaks lashon hara – gossip.
In a 1997 study, Dunbar, Marriott, and Duncan sampled 45 conversations every 30 seconds while eavesdropping in public. They found that “social topics” concerning either those persons present or third parties were the purpose of conversation about two thirds of the time among both men and women. Only a small proportion (less than 5%) of this conversational time was spent in critical remarks about third parties (i.e., malicious gossip). Similarly, in 1994, Emler reported that about 70% of conversation time involved gossip.
These studies show two things:
- By and large people talk about people.
- Even when the gossip concerns a third party who is not in the conversation, gossip is usually not negative. The gossiper simply speaks about another person.
Miriam and Aharon’s sin of lashon hara exemplifies this description. They said about Moshe – does G-d only speak with Moshe? Doesn’t He also speak with us? Notice that she is making a comparison between her and Moshe. Notice that she assumes that she has the whole picture of the truth.
This is not the correct approach. The Torah teaches to compare ourselves to the ideal – not to other people. Righteousness is an objective quality. Righteousness is not being more righteous than my neighbor. The Torah teaches us to see the world for what it truly is – not through the lens of invented definitions.
Let’s look more closely at arrogance. Rabbenu Bachya explains that drinking alcohol in excess puts a person in a state similar to arrogance. He explains that drinking impairs the ability to make distinctions. Like the drunk, the arrogant person doesn’t make distinctions – in his eyes, everything is equal. In other words, an arrogant person creates categories to describe the world in a way that suits his or her interest.
A commonality exists between the sins of gossip and arrogance – both do not use objective categories to understand the world. The one who gossips uses other people to create their picture of truth. The arrogant one invents truth internally.
The antidote for lashon hara and arrogance is the halachic process. In using the halachic process we learn to view the world as it really exists and we learn to resist making false comparisons and invented distinctions. By walking the metzora through the halachic process, the kohen reorients the metzora to see the world as it truly exists. He teaches the metzora to have a more objective outlook.
This objective outlook – the ability to see things from another person’s perspective – is one of the prerequisites of empathy and true compassion.
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