These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: #1377 – An In Vitro Fertilization Baby, Can You Do His Milah on Shabbos? Good Shabbos!

The Lesson of House Tzaraas: Nothing Is Your Stuff

The pasuk in Parshas Metzora says “When you arrive in the Land of Canaan that I give you as a possession, and I will place a tzaraas affliction upon a house in the land of your possession.” (Vayikra 14:34). Parshiyos Tazria and Metzora deal with different types of tzaraas: tzaraas that appears on a person’s body, tzaraas that appears on clothing, and tzaraas that appears on the walls of a house.

As the Torah describes, when such a blemish appears on the walls of a person’s house, he comes to the kohen and he says, “k’nega” (something like a blemish) has appeared on the walls of my house.” (Vayikra 14:35) The kohen instructs that the house be emptied out so that nothing is in the house when the kohen views the nega (lest everything in the house become tameh (impure) when he proclaims the house tameh).

The Kli Yakar points out several anomalies in the pesukim that describe this process. First, he asks why tzaraas habayis (house leprosy) is introduced with the words “When you come to the Land of Canaan?” Next, he points out that the follow-on phrase, “that I am giving to you as an inheritance” is totally superfluous. We already know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us Eretz Yisrael! Also, the repetition of the phrase “b’beis eretz achuzaschem” (in the house of the land of your inheritance) at the end of the pasuk is redundant and unnecessary. Furthermore, why the switch in expressions from “asher Ani nosen lachem l’achuza” to “beis eretz achuzaschem“? Finally, the Kli Yakar questions the expression at the beginning of the next pasuk: “U’ba asher lo habayis” (and the one to whom the house belongs will come). Who else is going to come? Of course, it is asher lo habayis (the owner of the house) who will be coming to the kohen with this problem!

The Kli Yakar refers to a Gemara (in Eruchin 16) that comments on the words “u’ba asher lo habayis” – that this refers to “mi shemeyached bayso lo” (someone who keeps his house for himself). In other words, the Gemara in Eruchin says that tzaraas comes for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is lashon harah (tale bearing). Another reason is gayvah (haughtiness). Specifically, tzaraas habayis comes for stinginess (tzorus ayin), when someone is unwilling to share his possessions.

The Ribono shel Olam knows how to take care of such a person who doesn’t want to lend out anything to anyone. The Gemara there explains what happens to such a person: For example, his neighbor comes to him and says “Listen, can I borrow some folding chairs? I am making sheva brochos.” He responds, “I don’t have any folding chairs.” Another neighbor comes and says, “Listen, my lawn mower broke. Do you mind if I borrow your lawn mower?” He responds, “I really don’t have my own lawn mower. I have a service that mows my lawn.” A third neighbor comes and says, “My wife had to take my car this morning. Can I borrow your car?” He responds, “It is in the shop” (when really it is in the garage). And so on and so forth. He doesn’t lend out anything.

The Gemara says that the Ribono shel Olam knows how to ‘fix’ this type of person. It is not a vindictive punishment. The Torah wants to teach him a lesson – to not be so stingy. What happens? When a “nega appears to him in his house,” before the kohen views the nega, the owner needs to take out every stitch of furniture and possession. Lo and behold, all the folding chairs and the lawn mower and the car are on the sidewalk in front of his house. The fellow is revealed to be a tzar ayin.

What lesson is the Ribono shel Olam trying to teach this person? The lesson is that “things are not yours!” Even when things are in a person’s possession, that does not make them “his!” When Hashem gives a person possessions, they are not truly his – they are like a pikadon, a deposit entrusted to him. The person is supposed to share those possessions with others when others need them. This doesn’t mean that someone is obligated to make his house or his possessions hefker, such that every Tom, Dick, or Harry who rolls down the street can have free reign over his property. Rather, it is what I like to call the principle of “prudent stewardship.”

The Ribono shel Olam gave us all these things. We are the stewards of this property. So, when a 16-year-old who got his driver’s license yesterday, asks to borrow your car, it is perfectly justifiable to say “No. You wreck your father’s car first before I lend my car to you.” That is prudent stewardship because a 16-year-old who just got his license yesterday probably does not know how to drive very well.

But in general, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu blesses a person with wealth, it is meant to be shared with others. Therefore, says the Kli Yakar, this is what the pasuk is emphasizing in so many ways. “When you come to Eretz Canaan THAT I GIVE YOU AS AN INHERITANCE.” The emphasis is that I gave you this land. I gave you this house. I gave you these possessions. They are not yours!

People have the attitude “I bought this with my hard-earned money.” This is all about “Kochi v’otzem yodi osoh li es hachayil hazeh” (My strength and the power of my hand made me this.) (Devorim 8:17). The person doesn’t want to part with these things because this is his stuff! The Ribono shel Olam is trying to teach us “Nothing is your stuff!” The Ribono shel Olam gave you that money.

Again, your possessions are not hefker, but they are yours in order to help others when possible. That is why the pasuk emphasizes “that I gave to you as an achuzah” (inheritance). If you refuse to share, “I will place a tzaraas blemish upon beis eretz achuzaschem.“ You said it is my house, my chairs, my lawn mower, mine, mine, mine. That is why the pasuk needs to emphasize “u’ba asher lo habayis.” The person who says “it is MY house” needs to come to the kohen. This plague comes to him because he felt too strongly that the house and its possessions belonged solely to him. He is not the owner of these possessions. He is the custodian.

The kohen will order him to empty out his house. This way everyone sees the reality. The homeowner will then need to think “Why is this happening to me?” The Torah wants him to conclude that it was because he was being too stingy, too much of a tzar ayin, a person who doesn’t want to share.

Complements are the Easiest and Cheapest Chessed Out There

The second insight I want to share also comes from Parshas Metzora. The Torah delineates the process of how a person who was a metzora becomes tahar (pure). The kohen goes out of the camp to visit the isolated metzora. If he sees that the tzaraas has healed he orders two live kosher birds be taken for the metzora (as his purification offering) along with etz erez, u’shnee tola’as, v’ezov (cedar wood, crimson thread, and hyssop) (Vayikra 14:4).

What are done with these two birds? One bird is slaughtered upon an earthenware vessel over spring water. The second bird is dipped into the blood of the slaughtered kosher bird. This blood is then sprinkled upon the metzora and the second bird is then sent out free over the open field.

This treatment of the second bird is unique among all korbanos (sacrifices). This is the only korban (sacrifice) that is not slaughtered, but rather is sent away alive. Normally, shechita is an essential avodah for any korban! What is the symbolism of the fact that the second bird is sent away alive?

The Gemara (in Eruchin 16b) says the reason that birds are the appropriate korban (as opposed to animal offerings) for the metzora: “He performs a deed of chattering; therefore, the Torah said, ‘Let him bring as an offering a chatterer.'” Tzaraas comes for the aveira of lashon horah (the aveira of a person who talks incessantly, and in the course of such conversation, he says evil about other people). Birds talk incessantly. They are constantly chirping.

The Torah is trying to send the person a message: Your aveira was that you talked too much. Therefore, you bring birds to remind you of the incessant talking of which you were guilty. But why shecht one and send the other one away? The Zohar explains that the two birds represent different kinds of conversation: One is for ‘bad speech’ (what the Zohar calls ‘lishna bisha,‘ i.e. – lashon harah) and one is for ‘good speech’ (what the Zohar calls ‘lishna tava‘).

The Sefas Emes and others explain that when the Zohar speaks of “the aveira of lishna tava,” it doesn’t simply mean talking good. Rather, it is means refraining from talking good. When you can say something nice to a person, and when you know that a person is down and you are in a position to give him encouragement and cheer him up, but you hesitate to get involved and don’t want to start a conversation, you refrain from offering “lishna tava.” That is what the second bird offering is about.

Two offerings are brought: One for speaking negatively when you should have kept quiet, and one for not speaking when you should have spoken positively. And that is why one korban is shechted and one korban is sent away. One bird is shechted – you kill it! You stop speaking lashon harah. But the other bird that is sent away and lives is symbolic of that other type of conversation that you are supposed to engage in. You are not supposed to squelch it.

Rabbi Buchspan cites a Medrash Rabbah, which is actually a pasuk in Mishlei. The pasuk says, “Death and life are in the hands of the tongue” (Mishlei 18:21). The simple interpretation of that pasuk is that a person can literally be destroyed and ruined through speech. You can ruin a person’s shidduch, you can ruin his business, and you can ruin his life with lashon harah. Speech is literally a matter of life or death. However, this Zohar provides us with a new insight into that pasuk. Mav’es (death) is when you speak lashon harah; chayim (life) is when you can, so to speak, resurrect the dead, i.e. – uplift a person’s spirits by saying something positive, something nice to him. The pasuk doesn’t mean that speech is a matter of life and death. It means there is speech that causes life and speech that causes death.

Positive speech, chizuk, empathy and sympathy is the “lishna tava” that we are going to be held accountable for (not speaking).

The Medrash says on that pasuk: Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said to his servant: Go to the market and buy the best thing there! The servant came back with tongue. Tongue is among the most expensive types of meat. If you go to the deli and order yourself a pound of tongue, you will pay a fortune. What is better than tongue? Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel then told his servant: Go to the market and bring me back the worst thing there. Again, the servant came back with tongue.

Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said to his servant, how can tongue be both the best thing in the market and the worst thing in the market at the same time? The servant responded – that is exactly correct. Tongue can be the best thing and it can be the worst thing; but he was not talking about sliced tongue. He was talking about what a person does with his own tongue.

A person recently came over to me and told me the following story:

His son and daughter were shopping in Monsey before Pesach. They finished shopping, got back into the car ready to leave, and the son saw across the street a Rebbi he once had in yeshiva. He told his sister, “I just want to say ‘Shalom’ to my Rebbi and tell him how much I appreciate what he did for me.” He went across the street, gave ‘Shalom’ to the Rebbi, came back across, and got back into the car.

The brother then remembered that he had to go into one more store. In the meantime, his sister saw her sixth grade English teacher walking down the street. She said to herself, “What my brother did is a nice idea. I am going to thank my English teacher for what she did for me.” She got out of the car, walked over to her former teacher and said, “I want you to know that you taught me all that I know about English, and when I applied to a ‘high-end Beis Yakov school’ and I had to write an essay, it is because of what you taught me about the English language that I got in. My life has changed because I got into such a high-end Beis Yakov. Therefore, I want to thank you for being such a good English teacher.”

A few days later, her parents got a note from that teacher telling them the following story:

I have been teaching for 37 years. When the school asked me if I wanted to come back next year to teach, I told my husband “I think I am finished with teaching. I have been teaching for 37 years. I don’t think I am relating to the girls anymore. When you start teaching, you are maybe ten years older than your students. When you are in your sixties, you are forty years older than your students. I don’t think I relate to the girls anymore. We don’t need the income. I think I am going to tell the principal that I am ready to retire.” She wrote in the note: I had to give my final answer to the school the next day. Just that day, your daughter came to me and told me that I made all the difference in her life. “Because of the way you taught me, I got into the right high school, etc., etc.” The woman said “Because of that, I decided not to retire.”

This is not only a story about hashgocha pratis. (This woman had to give an answer the next day whether she was going to continue teaching or not. She actually prayed to the Ribono shel Olam for a siman whether she should retire or not. Then this former student tells her this!) This is the meaning of the Zohar that we are going to be held accountable for both lishna bisha and lishna tava. One complement can make all the difference to a person. Here an adult woman made a life decision based on a complement from a sixth grader!

As I always say, “It costs nothing to give a complement. It is the easiest and cheapest chessed out there! I don’t need to write a check. I don’t need to go anywhere. Talk is cheap. With a little talk, you can bring the dead back to life!” That is what the Zohar means that we will be held accountable, not only for the lishna bisha but for lishna tava (that we didn’t speak) as well. This explains the symbolism of the slaughtered bird and the bird that is sent away, and this explains the pasuk in Mishlei: “Life and death are in the hands of the tongue.”

Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]

Edited by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]

This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Tazria (/Metzora) is provided below:

• # 007 – Self-Defense
• # 051 – Moser: The Dilemma of the Jewish IRS Agent
• # 094 – Hallel on Yom Ha’Atzmaut?
• # 142 – Eyeglasses in Halacha
• # 189 – Mikveh: Tevillah and Chaziza
• # 279 – Women’s Testimony in Hilchos Niddah
• # 325 – The Microscope in Halacha
• # 369 – Bris Millah That Causes Chilul Shabbos
• # 413 – Speaking Lashon Horah on Baalei Machlokes
• # 457 – Getting an Aliyah After Childbirth
• # 501 – Milah and the Sick Baby
• # 545 – Dangerous Medical Procedures
• # 589 – Pidyon Haben – Daytime or Night?
• # 633 – Lashon Harah and Lashon HaTov
• # 677 – Tallis Koton — Wool or Cotton?
• # 721 – Eruv Pesach – Mores Special Than You Think
• # 765 – How Many Mitzvos of Sefira Are There?
• # 809 – Netilas Yadayim – Things You Never Knew
• # 853 – Mila on Shabbos: Fascinating Questions
• # 897 – Insights Into Sefiras Ha’Omer
• # 942 – Kiddush Hashem – Is Everyone Obligated?
• # 984 – “What’s Tonight’s Sefira?” and other Sefira Issues
• #1028 – Davening Maariv Early: Does it Make it Tomorrow?
• #1073 – Bracha Achrona – How Fast Or Slow Must One Eat?
• #1115 – Office Lashon Horah – How Far Must You Go To Avoid It?
• #1157 – But the Butcher I Buy From Has a Reliable Reputation!
• #1201 – The Shabbos Bris and the Borei P’ri Ha’gefen
• #1246 – Wearing Sunglasses on Shabbos? Contact Lenses? A Lens that Popped Out? and other “Glasses on Shabbos” Issues
• #1288 – An Aliyah After Your Wife Gives Birth Revisited
• #1333 – Oops! There is a Sticker on the Kli I Just Toiveled – Must I Toivel It Again?
• #1377 – An In Vitro Fertilization Baby, Can You Do His Milah on Shabbos?
• #1465 – Milah Shailos During the Corona Pandemic
• #1508 – Making Shabbos Early in the Days of Sefiras Ha’Omer: Not as Simple as you Think
• #1550 – A Few Interesting Lashon Horah Shailos
• #1593 – The Baal Teshuva and his Parents’ Chametz
• #1633 – Does Davening Maariv Early Make it the Next Day For Milah -Aveilus – and Other Dinim

A complete catalogue can be ordered from the Yad Yechiel Institute, PO Box 511, Owings Mills MD 21117-0511. Call (410) 358-0416 or e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.yadyechiel.org/ for further information.