Tazria Metzora - Leadership & Responsibility

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Harry goldwag recorded with hashem's never running assistance in Roma Israel 5783 2023 this week's prior show we have two parishes tasri and Mansura one of the main themes of our Parsha is the concept of Saras which is a spiritual leprosy a spiritual disease that comes upon a person for a number of different possibilities for a number of different reasons but the main reason is because a person defies the will of Hashem whether it's because of speaking Russian horror speaking negatively about others or whether it's because of Guyver a certain lack of humility hubris we'll see a few different possibilities but what I'd like to share with you is two pieces in the madrish really three pieces in the madrish which speak about the concept and teach us a very interesting idea let's let's study this together for Success that when a human being shall have upon him a leprous type of Affliction so the magic points out that the word Adam means a human being doesn't doesn't say Adam a human from amongst you which would indicate that it's talking about someone from the Jewish people Adam seems to imply that this is something which can actually affect even someone who's not Jewish we find in Tanakh naamon who was not Jewish who was a a general in a non-jewish army came to Alicia to be cured of his Saras which was a result of his gaiva his great hubris so it does seem possible as we'll see the leprosy the spiritual leprosy can indeed affect a non-jew although says the madrish we have a position Proverbs and the Pacific initially says that for those who are late simulates him or are Jokers those who scoff those who make fun so there are judgments prepared for them there are punishments prepared for them the concept of Saras is something which is here you need to know everyone needs to know that there are spiritual repercussions there are physical manifestations of the spiritual repercussions for our hubris for archival our haughtiness for different sins that involve this we need to be aware of um a person I'll say yes a donkey which he uses to ride so sometimes the donkey doesn't listen the donkey doesn't go in the direction that the owner would like it to go so what does the owner do the owner has a whip and the owner whips the Donkey in the same way God wants to ride so to speak on us he wants to manifest in the world through us God's his compassion his humility his greatness his his love when we speak Russian we speak negatively of others when we act in a hearty way so we're not allowing Hashem to ride on us so to speak we're going off the path we're being a donkey that Hashem would like to manifest through but we're not allowing that to happen so what does the verse say the verse says that for such a person just like a donkey they they the donkey can be struck by his owner by his master when he doesn't go the way that he's supposed to so too a human being who doesn't act as a vehicle for Hashem for God to come into the world they can also experience a negative repercussion they can also experience Saras or perhaps in our times we could say a person you know there are natural repercussions when we're selfish the continuation of this verse in Proverbs Chapter 19 Verse 29 says which the Manchester is going to understand to be referring to La um is referring to the nations of the world that this pasok which speaks about the repercussions of holy behavior of negative behavior of Gossip of lording over others it results in Saras this is not just for us it's also for the um and more specifically actually it's a threat to them which as we'll see also has a message for us Marshall it's analogous to a queen a princess a queen the queen came into the King's Castle hanging on the wall there were all kinds of instruments of whips and and different things to make sure that people do what they're supposed to do so when she saw these things she was afraid she thought maybe if she does something wrong if she steps out of line right the king we get angry at her and use one of these whips one of these clubs says the king you need not worry these are not meant for you these are meant for the for the servants and the maidservants if they don't perform correctly if they don't do that which they're supposed to do so then they get struck you need not worry you need not think about it all you need to do is eat drink and be merry in a similar way Kevin Shoshone is when cloudy cell heard the concept of Saras only heard about the negative repercussions that come about because of haughtiness when they saw the so to speak the whips on the wall in the Palace of Hashem when they saw it could happen if they step out of line they became afraid foreign it wasn't directed directly at the Jewish people it was directed towards the um this is something which is a punishment which will happen to the nations of the world worry you just eat drink and be merry foreign the wicked person has a lot of pain because the wicked person receives punishments from Hashem the wicked person it's easy for him to end up with problems but the one who trusts in Hashem the one who is doing hashem's world the one who's focused on God's will so he is surrounded by kindness the punishment that we're speaking about here is not really meant for us it's really meant for others it's meant for the nations of the world who are more likely we could say to fall into these issues to fall into these problems now the acsif points out it's an obvious question another Fortune struggle to deal with this that the project is not talking to the um I'm saying the public is talking to us the the concept of terras crane has to check out the Jews these are Hal office that apply to a Jewish person in the pastures not so much applying to the nations of the world so what is the meaning here what is the measure trying to say that this is something which applies to the nations of the world and not so much to those Jewish people says a beautiful idea he says that really when Hashem speaks about this it's not meant for us to be worried that this is what's going to happen to us because it's like a parent who loves a child parent loves the child wants to make sure the child does what's right so the parent says to their child if you don't do as they say you're going to get a smack you're going to be struck parent has no intention or interest in Striking a child it's not as that's not his his game it's not his Gambit the parent wants to make sure that the child does what's right and in order for the child to do what's right they need to have a an awareness that if they do what's wrong there will be a solid repercussion there will be a repercussion that they really don't want but the parent is not interested in giving the child any kind of uh capital punishment capital punishment uh corporal punishment what's the word yeah the parent is not interested in giving punishment at that level so but the parent a wise parent a wise parents before all the liberal-minded Western ideas and according to the Toyota according to the Torah we are indeed supposed to raise our children properly there should be a proper balance between Europe and Ava we can't just expect our children to do what's right because we love them love them love them we also need to show them that there are negative repercussions and in fact when they get into life you know a person can end up in jail if they steal or they don't pay their taxes right there there's there's real repercussions so it's important to teach your children from a young age that there are real repercussions and the parent who does so is not doing it of anger not doing out of hatred of the child but rather he's doing it because the parent loves a child and does not does not want to give the child any kind of punishment doesn't want to hit his child but the child needs to know that that's a possibility so the child doesn't do what what's wrong and in a similar way says the AC Asif was saying to the Jewish people I'm not interested in giving you the gun but you should know that this is a possibility it's something that we'll say we'll give to the to the um to the nations of the world but you should know that it could it could happen to you just watch out I'm not interested in giving it to you but it could happen to you you know when we look at this analogy when we look at the analogy of the mendrish so it's very interesting the queen comes into the palace and she sees on the wall these uh implements which are meant to convince people to do what they're meant to do right why is it hanging on the wall in place where the queen will see it I would suggest that what the magician is trying to teach us is that it is also intended for the queen and according to the acsif the the whip of course the king says it's not meant for you you should eat and drink and be merry but really the whip is also there as a symbol to the queen to remember to do what's right she would do what's right she naturally does do what's right but we all need a reminder we all need a reminder it's not meant for her but it's good to have that uh that's good to have it there so remember the power of the king and to remember the repercussions of what happens when an individual does not listen to the king and soon I'd like to offer an even deeper shot a deeper understanding of it but before that let's see which says something which tells us a story which seems to be only slightly related but I think it's it's also deeply related which is the author of The mishnah the co-leader of the mishnah he rabies and and he was Sid they were sitting for ice cream and McGillis kinesis it was day before Tish above and it fell out on Shabbos so Shabbos was Arab Tish above Sunday was going to be Saturday night and Sunday was going to be Tish above so um we got close to evening and still Shabbos still Arabic so it came to a point in time where they were permitted to start to read from acha which is a sad document but because it was close enough to tishima they were starting to read it okay so the Yoon in the fortune here exactly what's the point here but bottom line I'm sorry so they finished all of the chapters of except for one and they said well complete this tomorrow got up as he was getting up to go so he hurt his his pinky his small finger Carolina so when he he saw that he hurt himself he said about himself this past like that the one who is wicked experiences pain it was possible that we mentioned before meaning he was saying I've done something wrong and obviously I'm getting punished for the thing I've done wrong that's why I hurt my finger I'm really small so I'm about to say I would have said even if we weren't involved in studying what would you studied which is Hashem the wind of our our face the wind of our nose is the chosen one of us Hashem is a reference to pastures the Messiah but it's also a reference to the leaders of the Jewish people the leaders of the Jewish people are the wind of Hashem what does it mean so what they understood from this project is that those who are the leaders of Hashem Hashem can also refer to God's anger God's anger can be meted out upon the leaders of the Jewish people instead of Hashem taking out his anger on the Jewish people themselves sometimes the leaders of the Jewish people can be punished and they can receive pain you heard his pinky finger why did he hurt his pinky finger so he attributed it to the fact that he himself had sins wherever Shem says no the reason that you had this pain on your finger was because the Jewish people are not acting properly and through you they have a capara through you they have a a an atonement for their sins so he said I would have said this if we weren't studying this concept but now that we're studying this concept certainly I can attribute the pain that you're experiencing not to your own sins per se but because of the sins of the Jewish people you because of your greatness are acting as an atonement as a couple of for the entire Jewish people through your pain so what's the idea here what's the idea here on the simple level the idea is that a person who's a great sad like a person who's a righteous individual individual because of his responsibility for those people because of his responsibility and connection to all of the Jewish people so the pain that he endures is something that can serve as a kapara as an atonement for them I'd like to understand this on a deeper level and in order to do so I'll read you one more piece which is also the the next piece and I also don't understand really in the simple understanding what is this idea of him hurting his pinky and being as a result of other people what does that have to do with the concept of the nations of the world getting getting okay we had this possible which should be quoted which refers to the fact that there's a lot of pain to those who are wicked but that was talking about um was talking about the nations of the world what's the connection here on a deeper level I'd like to read you one more piece in the message to the next piece which says as follows posix says that before speaking about the whole concept of Saras so the verse is the beginning of a pressure speak about a woman who gives birth what's what's the concept afterwards is the concept of Saras of this spiritual leprosy became why did the Torah place these two concepts next to each other foreign exactly the analogy but let's at least hear it on a very superficial level it's an analogy to a female donkey that did something wrong and got burned and because of the way that the donkey was burned the the donkey that she birthed that was inside of her womb at the time when she got burned to somehow the burn got inside of the womb and the baby came out burnt as well the baby donkey migration what causes the child to come out with a burnt it was the recalcitrance so to speak of the mother donkey that caused the child to come out burnt the baby donkey Kong it can happen says the magic that a child a baby can be born with Leprosy why would a child be born with Leprosy what sin have they done says the madrish the sin of the mother there is a sin of the mother that can cause a child to come out with leprosy if the mother is not careful about the halachas of tahara of family purity of making sure to go to the Mikvah when she has her period counting seven clean days after the period stops checking before checking at the end Etc all the Allah if she wasn't careful about that the result of her sin is that it affects her child she is burned by it there's a spiritual ramification for her as well but it can come out in the child as well just like the mother donkey was burned and somehow the baby was burned as well okay if a person is with his wife when she's a needle when she's when she's menstruating and she hasn't or even afterwards if she hasn't gone to the Mikvah properly she hasn't gone through the spiritual purification the children can come out leprous there's a concept that children can be affected by the sins of their parents we find such a thing with the momzer a child who's born out of wedlock [Music] the you know when there's an illicit relationship the children are our mom's there affected by their parents the parents can do something which adversely affects their children and the results are seen elsewhere so it's a very difficult concept right why should I be punished for something that my parents did haven't forbid why should someone be punished for something their parents did but we see that there are spiritual ramifications for the sins that a person does that's why we have these two concepts next to each other when a woman shall give birth then afterwards it's followed by leprosy because there's a concept that the woman can cause leprosy to our child because of her sin because of something that she has done wrong now we must ask ourselves not So Much from the perspective of the child but I want to focus for a moment on the perspective of the parent why is it that the parent you know it's it's a Tsar for a parent it's painful for a parent when there's something wrong with their child what is the understanding of the fact that the child has leprosy because of the sin of the parents and I would what I would like to Garner from here perhaps we can understand from here a lesson from here is that sometimes or often times perhaps even the results of our actions can be seen outside of ourselves and that result is something that we see in order for us to to learn something from to change from let's not focus so much on nomzarim let's focus on this particular case a parent has a child and she's a sees that the child's in pain they're covered with leprosy that's my fault I need to do something different I need to change myself because if I don't change myself what's going to be with my children in the future right forget for a moment the the physical element of the leprosy there's also a statement here that if I don't change myself from my hubris for my lack of humility for my let's say sinning my unwillingness to to be near myself to submit myself to the torah's will I'm gonna do what I want I'm that person is you know they're they're not willing to do what the terrorist says as far as when it's permitted to be with their spouse and when not that's gonna have an effect on the child besides for the physical attack effect which we're speaking about here the parents what the parents do even in in secret there's a sense there's a Feeling that can be sensed in the home and it's communicated to the children and affects the children the parent needs to see that and realize that what they are doing has an effect on all of those around them especially on their children and so Miguel the pairing causes a moon a physical blemish a spiritual blemish an emotional psychological blemish in the child if we don't work on ourselves it will have a negative effect on our kids heaven forbid and so the inverse is also true if we are working on ourselves we're trying to be better we're trying to commit ourselves to God's will it's going to have a tremendous impact on our children and all those around us now I'd like to bring us back to the previous case where Reby hurt his finger and he said it must be because of my sins you know it's not because of your sins because of the sins of the Jewish people now I would ask why why is a Sadiq why is the righteous person affected so on one hand it's a nice thing it's a capara it it helps to atone for the people of his generation but why is he being affected by it number one and number two how is it a cut part for these people they didn't do any chuva they didn't repent and I would say that the magic is teaching us something profound they're really both true he sees it had a rebbe seed he saw it as his own fault his own availa caused it no it's not you it's the people but really they're both right because that scientific is held accountable for what happens in his generation sadik the righteous individual is held accountable so he can be hurt by it but it's a symbol it's a symbol that perhaps he has done something wrong and as far as insofar as his leading of the generation if they are sinning is that not a lack in his own leadership is it not a lack in his own being an example for them and he has to do chuva but he also has to make sure that the people do chuva he has to make sure that they all repent as well from whatever it is that he hasn't noticed that they're doing which is why he's getting punished so that's also represents the accountability and the responsibility that we as Leaders whether it's in our families whether it's in our communities we have a responsibility we need to be looking around and saying when something bad happens to me heaven forbid I can't be saying well you know I can't I have to recognize I can't be saying that it's just Democrats a coincidence whatever no no I need to wake up and say why is this happening what have I done wrong why why why am I experiencing this negative situation I need to take responsibility for myself and for those around me and now let's bring it back to the first point which is the queen who walks into the palace and she sees those the straps on the wall and the Jewish people who are told on one hand eat drinking me Mary that's for the um that's that's a punishment for them but I wanna I wanna bring it a step further and say no it's really speaking to us like the passion the simple understanding of the verses the person is teaching us something by let's say mentioning that this is something that could happen to the UMAS Island the nations of the world it's teaching us that what they're going to be doing with the Jewish people are the queen of the world we are the rebbe the the leader of the generation so if they're doing something wrong it's a reflection on us that we're not doing our job properly so when they get hit now now it's the opposite of it when they get hit or if they deserve to be hit or if there is a if there is a whip on the wall prepared for them it's a message for us because we have to feel a sense of responsibility that they shouldn't even deserve to be whipped if the servants and the maidservants have a proper uh example which is the queen doing whatever the king says let's say so then the the servants and the maidservants will also do that which is meant to be done they'll also serve the king properly if the Jewish people are serving God properly so then the nations of the world will reflect that we'll see a reflection of that so what do we take out of this entire measure what I understand what I feel we learn from this is that each and every one of us and on an individual level and also on a national level we have a responsibility and we need to see that sometimes we see the replica repercussions of our actions but we need to realize that whether we see it or not we need to look for it and we need to examine ourselves and examine those around us and say hey where am I where am I perhaps not living up to what I should be doing where my eye perhaps not serving Hashem in the fullest way possible I want to bless you and I ask you to bless me that we should be able to see we should be able to recognize we should be able to focus on ourselves and understand what it is that we need to improve and the profound impact that we have on all of those around us thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shamas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.regoldwag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag foreign