From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 2:57 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Metzora, 5765



                                                               

                                                 Who Am I?
            
                  By Rabbi Joshua (searchingly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


In this week's parsha, the Torah presents the purification process for a person afflicted with tzora'as, as well as the laws of tzora'as that appears on the walls of a house. The Talmud (Arachin, 16a) lists seven sins for which one is afflicted with tzora'as, but the best-known reason for it is for transgressing the prohibition against speaking leshon hora, or evil talk. Rashi on our parsha writes that this is the reason that birds are used in the purification process, since birds are typified by their chirping. He also mentions another reason for tzora'as, which is 'gasus horuach,' or arrogance. Rav Dovid Feinstein explained that the other five sins are all a result of one or the other of these two sins, while Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Lunshitz, author of the commentary Keli Yakar, wrote in his Olelos Ephraim, that leshon hora is, in reality, a result of arrogance (see Netvort to parshas Metzora, 5763, available at Torahheights.com). The Midrash Rabbah on our parsha, however, focuses specifically on the prohibition of leshon hora, and relates a very interesting story regarding it, that helps shed light on the mind-set of the person who is addicted to leshon hora, and who is, as a result, afflicted with tzora'as.

The midrash, in Vayikra Rabbah (16:2), relates that a certain merchant went around asking, "who wants to buy a medicine that gives life?" Rav Yannai came over to the merchant and asked to see the medicine, but the merchant said it is not for him. However, after repeated requests, the merchant finally gave in to Rav Yannai, and cited the verses in Tehillim (34:13-14), "who is the person who wants life, who loves days of seeing good ? Guard your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceitfully." Rav Yannai responded that King Shlomo made a similar remark when he said "He who guards his mouth and tongue from evil guard his soul from troubles" (Mishlei 21:23). However, continued Rav Yannai, he had never understood this verse until this merchant came and announced, "who wants life?" Therefore, he said, Moshe told the Jews, "This will be the law of the metzora" (Vayikra 14:2) - the law of the 'motzi shem ra,' or the one who 'brings out a bad name,' i.e., a slanderer. We need to understand why the merchant felt that Rav Yannai did not need his advice, and what it is that Rav Yannai actually did learn from it.

Rabbi Reuven Katz, in his Dudaei Reuven, explains that Rav Yannai already understood that one can attain life in the world to come through guarding one's tongue from speaking evil. What he didn't understand was that one can attain life in our present world in this way, as well, and this is what he learned from the merchant. As Rabbi Katz explains, a person who engages in leshon hora alienates himself from other people, is considered as a person who cannot be trusted, and eventually loses his livelihood because no one wants to associate with him. Thus, he really does not have a life. Part of the purification process for the metzora - the person afflicted with tzora'as - is to live outside all three camps, alone. By doing so, he will have an opportunity to contemplate his loss of status within society, which came as a result of his uncontrolled gossip and slander. If he hasn't yet come to that point in his life, the tzora'as serves as a warning to him of where his current life-style will eventually lead him. I would like to expand on this explanation, through an understanding of the root causes behind the practice of leshon hora, and show that there is a further dimension of the negative results of this practice, not touched upon by Rabbi Katz.


A primary reason for people engaging in leshon hora is, actually, a sense of low self-esteem, and a feeling that in order to build oneself up, he must bring others down. Viewing leshon hora as the primary cause for tzora'as, with all the other sins coming as a result, perhaps we can then view arrogance as an outgrowth of leshon hora. As a result of the leshon hora one speaks, bringing other people down, the one who speaks becomes arrogant, building his self-esteem atop the edifice of other people's shame. In both cases, the offender is not evaluating himself accurately, but basing his assessment on his view of others. Thus, he never truly understands his inner self, who he really is, because he is always defining himself in terms of other people. Perhaps it is for this reason that the rabbis tell us (Nedarim, 64b) that the metzora is one of four people who are considered dead even during their lifetime. The person who is addicted to leshon hora never develops his true self, and, thus, is, in a sense, dead, and draws those who listen to him into his web of deceit and self-alienation. By slandering others, he robs them of their identity, as well. It is, perhaps, this process that is reflected in the statement of the rabbis that leshon hora kills three people - the one who speaks it, the one who listens to it, and the one of whom it is told. To paraphrase, albeit in a different context, Fast Eddie Felson (aka Paul Newman), the main character in the classic 1961 film, The Hustler, the metzora is dead inside, and, so, he makes everyone around him dead, as well. Therefore, he must remove himself from the company of others, for a time, so that he can reconsider his role in life, unrelated to the success or failure of others, and try to understand who he really is.



Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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