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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas Tazria-Metzora
A Time to Tweet:
Don’t Kill Two Birds with One
Tone
By: Daniel Listhaus
וְצִוָּה הַכֹּהֵן וְלָקַח לַמִּטַּהֵר שְׁתֵּי צִפֳּרִים
חַיּוֹת טְהֹרוֹת וְעֵץ אֶרֶז וּשְׁנִי תוֹלַעַת וְאֵזֹב
“The Kohen
shall command; and for the person being purified there shall be taken two live,
pure birds, cedarwood, a crimson [tongue of] wool, and hyssop.”
-Metzorah 14:4
After having
detailed the characteristics of the various tzara’as afflictions that
could appear on one’s body and clothing in Parshas Tazria, Parshas
Metzorah opens with a description of the process for the metzorah (person
with tzara’as) to become tahor (pure). Rashi[1]
explains that each of the items required as part of the tahara process
had a specific role and symbolization.
The first component
listed in the passuk (verse) is the pair of birds. Rashi[2]
comments that the reason why the Torah demands that the metzorah bring a
karbon (offering) of
birds is for the following reason: “Since the afflictions of tzara’as come about because of malicious talk, which is an act of verbal
twittering, therefore, as part of the afflicted one’s purification, he is
required to bring birds that constantly twitter with the sound of their chirping.”
The problem with this Rashi is that Rashi seems to conveniently leave out two
important facts about this bird sacrifice. First, there were two birds required
as part of the purification process; Rashi’s
explanation only answers why the
Torah requires the metzora to bring a bird as a karbon but falls short of clarifying why two birds are necessary. Why is it
that the metzora needs to bring two birds as part of becoming
tahor?
Second, the offering of these two birds is
very different from all other karbanos.
The passuk describes that only
one bird was slaughtered as part of the karbon while the other
bird was kept alive and set free over an open field to fly away. What is the
purpose of catching a bird just to set it free? What does it represent?
Furthermore, given Rashi’s explanation as to why the metzora was commanded to bring birds as his karbon, how could we
understand this ritual of setting the bird free? If the whole purpose of bringing
the birds was to serve as a final reminder to the metzora to think before he
starts chirping like a bird with non-stop tweeting, then why was he commanded
to set the second bird free? Wouldn’t that offset the role of slaughtering the
first bird?
The Orchos Tzaddikim[3] writes[4] that
the aveirah (sin) of lashon harrah (evil speech) is compared to the three cardinal aveiros: avodah zarrah (idol worship), shefichus damim (murder), and
giluy araiyos (immoral relationships). At first glance it
seems like quite an exaggerated comparison. After all, how could speaking badly
about someone possibly compare to committing such horrific crimes? Yet, as the Orchos Tzaddikim explains, the comparison is not as extreme as it would appear in the
overall scheme of things for a number of reasons. Besides for the gravity of
the actual aveira of lashon harrah because of the
tremendous damage it is capable of, it is also a very difficult aveirah to do teshuva for. First of all, like by all aveiros which are in the category of bein
adom l’chaveiro (between man and
his friend), it is not enough to go through the teshuva (repentance) process
and ask forgiveness from Hashem. Hashem does not forgive aveiros bein adom l’chaveiro until one has first achieved mechilla (forgiveness) from the one who the person hurt. This makes doing a
complete teshuva particularly difficult in the case of
speaking lashon harrah because, being a “light mitzvah” which is transgressed by many on a constant basis, it is near impossible
to remember everyone one ever spoke badly about – whether true or not – to be
able to ask forgiveness from each one individually. Furthermore, unlike committing
murder or many other aveiros which have immediate consequences and clear
cause and effect chains and are therefore easier to regret right away, lashon harrah takes the form of merely speaking badly about another who is not necessarily
even there when the initial lashon
harrah is being said. All these
factors put into perspective the seriousness of lashon harrah from a teshuva standpoint let alone all the global and perennial damage that the lashon harrah itself could do to a person’s reputation for generations.
However, there is yet
another aspect of lashon harrah which is often overlooked. If one stops for
a moment and considers the aveiros
that are done between man and a
fellow man, there is more often than not a motive attached to the action done. Stealing,
damaging, murdering, or committing any aveirah are often linked
back to a flawed character trait. Perhaps there is jealousy or anger, perhaps lust
or greed, but with little exception there is always something behind an action
done. We must keep in mind though that it is a two-way street. Just as motives
and flaws in one’s character lead to committing terrible aveiros, so too does giving in to these drives and turning them into actions
further make the person more imperfect and increases the likelihood of
repeating the aveiros in the future. As chazal teach us, “aveirah goreres
avairah” (sins lead to more sins).
This idea is in a way
scarier when it comes to lashon
harrah because oftentimes when lashon harrah is being said it is not necessarily done with any malicious intent. Sometimes
people just start talking about other people and some things are good and some
things are bad. There may be no surface jealousy, anger, or any reason per se`
to be saying the lashon harrah other than for the sake of keeping a
conversation interesting. Yet, it is important to bear in mind that the two-way
relationship still exists and that as a result of merely speaking lashon harrah – an aveirah which at its core is an insensitivity to
others and a general negativity – the one who speaks it or listens to it
further becomes an insensitive person and one with a general negative outlook on
the world. For example, the Orchos
Tzaddikim relates a simple, but
telling story of two people who were walking across a field and passed by a
dead animal carcass. One person who was accustomed to speaking lashon harrah commented, “See how rotten and smelly this carcass is!” While the chochom (literally: wise one; here loosely means one who is more meticulous of
mitzvos) who was with him observed, “Notice how white
its teeth are!”
One who accustoms
himself to speaking and listening to lashon
harrah simultaneously trains his
head to be less sensitive to others and to see things in a more negative light.
Such people enjoy searching for the dirt on people just as flies are attracted
to filth and garbage.
As
some of the 2016 United States presidential candidates have formally announced their
running for president, all are aware of the bad-mouthing and dirt digging that
follows. Past mistakes that were made, letters that were written, rules which
were not followed – all will surface in the upcoming months. Years worth of phone
calls and emails which may have been recorded by someone and saved will come
back to haunt them while government records and tax reports are dusted off to
re-examine.
As scary all
this sounds, it is nothing compared to what presidential candidates in the year
2040 and beyond will have to worry about. With social media platforms such as
Facebook and Twitter being founded in the early 2000’s, when the year 2040
comes around, chances are that any given potential candidate will have tons of
dirt and bad stuff to their name. Whether it be dumb comments or unflattering
pictures, there will likely be more garbage that they will have to worry about
going public then all presidential candidates before them combined had to worry
about. However, the amazing thing is that a large chunk of it will not have
originated by early enemies or opposing parties, but rather information which came
from what was posted and volunteered by the closest friends of the candidates
and the candidates themselves when they were younger. There is practically no
filter of what people are willing to publicly post about themselves and their
friends; not necessarily out of jealousy, anger, or anything other than fun, or
more accurately – insensitivity to the basic respect deserving of a human. The
more that is posted, the lower the standards drop and rubber-bands back to desensitize
people even more to humiliating and debasing others.
Lashon harrah,
like all speech, comes out through the mouth, but it really starts and ends in
the head. One will say things based on his or her outlook, attitude, and
mindset; and at the same time, what one says bounces back and reinforces the
initial apathy towards debasing others while also setting a stronger foundation
for one to have a negative perspective in general.
However, as is
often the case, things that could be so destructive with one application could
be powerfully constructive the other way as well. Words could be used in so
many good ways to build self esteem and encourage others. The extent of
goodness that that could reach has the potential to be just as great – spreading
inspiration on a global scale as well as ripple effecting through generations. Perhaps
this is the symbolism in the metzora’s tahara process. The requirement
of bringing two birds – one to be slaughtered and the other to be set free,
serves as a final reminder as the metzora prepares himself to rejoin k’lal
Yisroel that we are tasked not just be extremely careful to stay away from lashon
harrah, but even more – to try hard to say encouraging and nice things to
people. In this way the former metzora could not just be a part of
ensuring that society does not break down, but actually help in building it up
and keeping it together and strong.
May Hashem help
us during this time of sefiras ha’omeir, a time which reminds us year
after year to work on our relationships bein adom l’chaveiro, to take
the lesson of the metzora to heart and take at least a small step forward
in being cognizant not just of what we say or spread about others but also what
we say or spread about ourselves. In the merit of working on lashon harrah and
perfecting bein adom l’chaveiro may we be ready to receive the Torah on Shavuos
in Yerushalayim.
