Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: Receiving A Report Card From Hashem

[music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [singing] >> Okay, everybody, thank you for coming. I apologize for being a little late today. I hope most of you at least got word that we were starting at 9:00. Our dedications are as always, and especially now, once again, praying for the lasting unity of Am Yisrael leading to victory and for all of those whose health has been affected by terror, the neshama of all the chayalim, Hashem's protection for all of Klal Yisrael, for the geulah sheleimah very, very soon. Amen. Um and they This is a special dedication which is our heartfelt gratitude to our graduates for honoring us with your presence and for serving as the mesader kiddushin at our wedding. We are especially grateful you were able willing to do so during the war. This is a very, very nice couple, Esther and Jonathan Pranman. Some of you might know Jonathan's first wife who worked for the OU for many years and baruch Hashem he has gotten a zivug sheini and baruch Hashem also it's a wonderful, wonderful, beautiful beautiful shidduch. It was my honor to to participate. Okay, so today Today's parsha, this week's parsha, this really tests how much you really love the Torah because you know how [clears throat] it's easy when you're reading about the sin of the tree of knowledge or Yosef and his brothers. Of course, those are such interesting stories, they're vivid stories, family drama. Okay, that doesn't mean you love the Torah, you just like nice stories. But now we come to the technical aspects of leprosy and tzaraas and that really I was going to say separates the men from the boys, but I have to be more inclusive, separates the adults from the children. And this is a part of the Torah that frankly is very, very difficult for many of us to grapple with. Just in terms of basic p'shat, even if all you wanted was to understand what was going on it would be quite confusing. I I still have this memory and occasional nightmare when I came to the Ner Israel Yeshiva in Baltimore as a ninth grader. I was 14 years old. So our job was we were supposed to learn the parsha of the week and take a bechina, take a test Friday. We didn't have a class, we were supposed to do it on our own. So I often I usually waited till like Thursday and I did it Thursday, learned the parsha and then took a test. You know, it wasn't a hard test. So then parshas Tazria, which is all about leprosy I realized with abject abject terror Thursday night that there's no possible way I'm going to understand what is coming off here. And I had all sorts of fears, are they going to kick me out of Yeshiva and I'll wander the streets and my parents won't take What whatever it is, you know, all sorts of things. They won't take me back. So baruch Hashem I think that the Rebbe himself said that the parsha was so hard that he exempted us from the test. But still it's very, very rough. But before we get to tzaraas, cuz I do want to talk about tzaraas actually the Torah is prefaces the discussion with tzaraas with a very interesting thing that a woman after childbirth is obligated to bring a sacrifice in the Beis Hamikdash. This is a korban of a yoledet. And it's an interesting thing that for a giving birth to a boy she brings the sacrifice the 41st day after birth and if she gave birth to a girl she brings a sacrifice the 81st day after birth, meaning the period is double. 40 and the next day 40 for zachar 80 for nekeivah. In addition, there's kind of a two-track system here and that is 7 days after the birth of a boy she is forbidden to be with her husband like a niddah. For a girl it is 14. There's now Now the maiseh, if this if this sounds totally unfamiliar to you, it's because we don't practice the the the the these time periods at all today. Today typically, for various reasons, a woman after childbirth is generally not able to go to the mikvah till around two or even three months afterwards. So these periods are very, very unfamiliar because they're not practiced today. We have a much stricter regimen, but according to the Torah, 7 days after the birth of a boy a woman goes to the mikvah, she can be with her husband 14 days after the birth of a girl, she goes to the mikvah, she can be with her husband, but there's no korban that's brought until 41 or 81. Now it's interesting point Rashi refers as a point, why is the period for a girl twice as much as the period for a boy? Both in terms of the restrictions with marital intimacy, 7 versus 14 and in terms of when you bring the korban 40 versus 80. So Rashi first points out that when a woman gives birth to a child because blood comes out, etc., she is tamei, right, ritually impure. She can't go to the Beis Hamikdash and the like. And ritual impurity, Rashi says, is always a connection to death. Because death is a reenactment, we spoke about this a number of times, death is the reenactment of the expulsion of Gan Eden and therefore you get expelled from the temple and therefore you need to purify by the ashes of the parah adumah, which is humility and the mikvah water, which is a return to the womb, etc. All tumah is connected to death. In the case of a dead body, that's obvious. A seminal emission is also a potential death because it could have become a life. A dead animal has this a level of tumah. But the question becomes, in what way would childbirth be connected to death? Childbirth is the opposite. Childbirth is bringing new life. Why would there be tumah that's connected with the birth of a child? So one answer might be that childbirth is connected to death in the sense that every childbirth, we don't like to think about it this way, is a brush with death. Because childbirth is a very dangerous condition. We violate Shabbos to take a woman to the hospital and the like. So its connection to death is the risk of death that can exist in childbirth. But Rashi offers another explanation which is really quite striking. He says every childbirth birth is the death of the life that was within the person's body. It's a strange way of looking at it. There was a life in the woman's body. That life no longer exists. It exists as a separate life. So therefore childbirth is considered to be the death of a life within. Now, in that sense the loss of life is double in the case of a woman because a man or a boy is born and all you have is the boy, one person. With a girl the girl the girl at birth contains all of the eggs that she will need for her own life. So therefore a girl represents not only her life but all of the lives that can come out of her and therefore that's signified by doubling the contact with with death. In fact, it's an amazing thing that um they have developed in in vitro for fertilization technology they can harvest eggs from aborted female fetuses. Like a million eggs. So as a result, it's it's possible for a person who was never born, never born to be the mother of many, many children. So it's a No, where did your mother live? She says, "Well, she she never lived. You know, she She wasn't born. She was aborted." But that's the idea that even an aborted fetus, you know, within at least a late a late term abortion, the ovaries are already developed and there are eggs. So Rashi says that is why there is a double loss of life. Now why does a woman in childbirth give bring a korban? Now the instinctive response you might give is it's a thanksgiving offering. She's expressing thanks. But in truth, that's not true. The korban is not a thanksgiving offering. The korban is a sin offering. Why a sin offering? Why why why is she bringing a sin offering? And Rashi brings the Gemara because the pain of labor might be so great that perhaps she made a shevuah, she took an oath, "I'm never going to do this again." And as a result, that would be sinful. So she needs the atonement, >> [laughter] >> so to speak, of making that. And that's why the halacha is, it's it's very interesting halacha, the chiyuv, the obligation of a yoledet a woman after childbirth to bring a korban is not only if it's a live birth, it's even if it's a stillbirth or a miscarriage because it's not a thanksgiving thing, it's a question of atonement for things that may have been not properly expressed. And [snorts] therefore, uh you know, at the time of the base of mikdash, if there was a an abortion even, uh either spontaneous or even if it was a medical abortion, there would still have to be the korban of a yoledet after the 40 days or after the 80 days for zachar or nekeva. So, that's the idea of korban yoledet. Now, in addition, when the Torah describes the yoledet, it mentions as an aside, "For 7 days you can't be with her husband. On the 8th day, we do circumcisions." So, this is the second place in the Torah where there's a mitzvah of brit milah. The first place is Avraham. And this is the second place. This is the post-Sinai mitzvah of brit milah. B'yom hashmini yimol basar laso. And the Gemara gives a very, very interesting drasha. There are many, many reasons why a brit milah is on the 8th day. But one of the reasons is that it's not right to have a joyous occasion when husband and wife have to be separated. And since for the first 7 days after the birth of a son, man and wife are not able to be physically together, so their joy is not strong enough to justify a brit milah. We want the brit milah to be at a time when husband and wife can be together. Now, that logic totally fails today given the fact that our periods of separation are much, much longer. But at least in the time as far as the Torah was concerned, uh it would have been relations would have been permitted after 8 days. Okay. Or after 7 days. All right, on the 8th day you could have relations. Okay. So, that's the first thing that's discussed in the parsha. But then, the Torah moves to a totally different topic. And a topic that's extremely detailed and actually gets carried over into much of the next parsha as well. Tazria-Metzora. In fact, this week actually will be two parshiot. So, you're going to read it all in one one week. And tzaraas is commonly translated as leprosy. But that may not be a very good translation. In fact, the best translation for tzaraas is psoriasis because of the fact that this this really comes to the Greek comes from that. Because the the disease, the medical disease that used to be called leprosy, that name is not used today anyway, is Hansen's disease. And that has nothing to do with white splotches on the skin. Tza- psoriasis actually does, right? So, uh so tzaraas is a skin condition that involves discoloration. And according to the Torah, the particular of tzaraas is not a contagious disease, but it is a physical manifestation of a sinful behavior that a person engages in. It is a manifestation of sin. And it is dealt with in a spiritual way. Although it is a physical manifestation, but it's spiritual. For example, the Rambam writes that some people think, and the Rambam himself was a doctor, some people think that the reason why a metzora is quarantined, he goes outside of the camp, is because he has a contagious disease. The Rambam says that's absolutely not the case. Tzaraas is not a contagious disease. Tzaraas is a spiritual blemish. It's contagious only in the sense that sinful behavior can be spread and can be imitated and the like. And the Rambam says, "The fact that every aspect of tzaraas is managed by a kohen more than a doctor shows you're you're dealing with spiritual afflictions." Okay. So, there are many different types of tzaraas. I want to take us through what you might call, no pun intended, plain vanilla tzaraas. And we'll see the exact steps and what those steps teach us. The simplest tzaraas, because there are many, many different types and each of First of all, there's different tzaraas on a person. And then there's tzaraas on garments. And then there's tzaraas on houses. So, there's person, houses, clothing. And then within a person, there's tzaraas on the flesh. There's tzaraas on hairy areas like the beard or the scalp. Uh right? Different There's tzaraas that comes after burns or injuries. Each of them have different halachas. The amount of detail that the Torah gives to tzaraas is absolutely amazing. If you think about the amount of psukim the Torah devotes to Shabbos or kashrus or taharas mishpacha that we consider to be the fundamental observances of Judaism, >> [snorts] >> tzaraas is either double or triple those areas. Even though you would think it's a relatively marginal area. And yet the Torah goes into detail, detail, detail, detail. It's still very obscure, but it gives in much more detail than virtually every mitzvah every mitzvah in the Torah. So, the tzaraas I'm going to talk about tonight is called tzaraas or basar or with an ayin. Tzaraas on the skin. Not on the scalp and not coming from bruises or burning, which is separate thing, but regular tzaraas on the skin. So, what happens? A guy wakes up in the morning, guy or a woman, man or a woman, wakes up in the morning and they notice a patch of white on their skin. Now, at that point, they're not yet a metzora. What is the saying of baseball umpires? It's not a strike until I call it a strike. You're not a metzora just because you have the condition. You're not a metzora until a kohen pronounces you having that condition. And at the day of that the Gemara In fact, this is another proof that you're not dealing with a contagious disease. If you have a medical condition, you're sick whether the doctor announced it or didn't announce it. That's a fact. Tzaraas is very unusual. You're not a metzora until the kohen declares you to be a metzora. And because of this, we have a very odd rule that there are certain times of year that a kohen is not allowed to declare a person to be a metzora. Yom Tov and Chol HaMoed. A person has a white spot. The kohen says, "We'll talk about it after Yom Tov." Sheva brachos. Chasan and kallah get married during the 7 days of rejoicing. Right? It's an interesting point. The kohen is not supposed to pasken on it. Okay. But let's assume that you have the spot, you got to go to a kohen. So, a kohen looks at the spot. So, there are two things the kohen is looking for. First of all, he's looking for the shade of white. Now, this is something that, you know, we we just know white, but it has to be a certain brightness of white. And there are many, many different shades of white. And a lot of shades would not be tzaraas. I mean, there's nobody today that really is an expert in this area. >> [snorts] >> But the kohen is looking for a very bright white. And number two, it has to have a certain size. It has to be the the size of It's around Well, if you if you know if you know the old half dollar, they don't they're not in circulation anymore, but old US Kennedy half dollar. Right? So, if the person either doesn't have the requisite shade of white or it's not big enough, he goes home, nothing happens. If, however, there is both the requisite shade of white and the requisite size, so the kohen declares him to be a provisional metzora. Meaning he goes into quarantine and he remains in quarantine for 7 days. >> [snorts] >> On the 7th day, the kohen examines him. And the kohen looks to see what happened. So, here's the thing. It Again, I I know this is very technical. I I I promise you there is going to be a spiritual message at the end of this, but you're going to have to bear with this for a while. So, step one is quarantine if there is the requisite size and color. Step two is first examination on day seven. So, the kohen looks for one of three things that might have happened. Either the nega, the tzaraas, expanded. It grew a little bigger. Or there had been a black hair in the area of the nega, let's say on his arm, and that black hair or two black hairs turned white. Or, this may counterintuitive, in the middle of the nega, there's some clear flesh that that been totally covered and then a part of it looks like it seems to be getting better, but that's considered to be a bad sign. These three things are called simanei tumah. And again, they are either pisayon, expansion, or or two hairs, black hairs turned white, or michyah, healthy flesh in the middle. If any one of those three signs happen on day seven, he is no longer a provisional metzora, he is a definitive metzora. And as a definitive metzora, he remains tamei until the nega goes away. Then he has to count another seven days, and then he has to bring sacrifices. Now, what if the none of those three signs materialized? He still has the nega, but uh not the signs didn't materialize. He then is quarantined for another seven days. And on the 14th day, he undergoes a second examination for those three simanei tumah. If one of those simanei tumah are there, he is upgraded or downgraded to be a permanent metzora, meaning until it goes away, he's tamei, and when it goes away, he has to count seven days and bring a sacrifice. If on the other hand, after 14 days, he still has the tzaraas, but there's no siman tumah, he just goes home. So, he can go home even though he still has the tzaraas, if there's not a siman tumah by day 14. Okay, if there is a siman tumah, he's upgraded. He remains a tamei dikka metzora until the nega goes away, and then he counts seven days and brings a bunch of sacrifices. Okay, this is the basic halacha of tzaraas. [clears throat] Now again, there are other types that have other halachas and other waiting periods and other signs. And the Chumash itself is complicated, and there's a whole tractate of Mishnah that's extremely complicated, Maseches Negaim. I just want to go over this because this is the most relatively most common tzaraas. So, the question is what is what is all of this mean, and what particular message can we get from all of this? So, remember that the idea of tzaraas, that's why today, by the way, today there's no way you can become a metzora because even if you have a splotch that might be identical to tzaraas, but you have to have a Beit Hamikdash and a kohen who can declare it as such. So, that's why one doesn't have to worry today if they have psoriasis. I Is it tzaraas? But tzaraas is a message that God is sending a person that there's a sin in your life that you need to correct. And Chazal say there are many different sins which tzaraas can come for. But the most well-known is lashon hara. Lashon hara is when you speak derogatorily about other people, even if it's true. And one of the punishments of lashon hara is tzaraas. How do we know this? We know this that when Moshe Rabbeinu said to God, "The Jewish people are unworthy of redemption." at some point when he was arguing with God, so God said, "Put your hands in your chest." And he pulled it out, and his hand was leprous, tzaraas. And we also find it with Miriam. That when Miriam said lashon hara about Moshe Rabbeinu, she became a metzora. Now granted, both Moshe and Miriam, their tzaraas did not follow all of the halachic protocols that the Torah lays down because it was a special divine type of thing. But it does show you that there's an association between tzaraas and lashon hara. And the very word metzora means that because metzora is motzi ra. It's It's a a composite of two words, he who brings out bad about other people. Either lashon hara if it's true, or motzi shem ra if it's false. But that's metzora. So, the ikar cheit of tzaraas is lashon hara. Now, you might ask the obvious question, if the ikar cheit of tzaraas is lashon hara, since almost everybody >> [snorts] >> occasionally speaks lashon hara, how come everybody wasn't a metzora? I mean, how many people were metzora? We have We We don't have numbers, but we have to assume it was never a large percentage of the population at any given time in the time of the Temple. Maybe only a small group were metzora. It certainly wasn't everybody was a metzora, but if it's lashon hara, how come only so few people were lepers? So, the answer has to be uh two possible answers, and they they they they are they move in opposite ways. Answer one is, you didn't get lashon You didn't get tzaraas cuz you spoke lashon hara once. Tzaraas was for people who were really habitual and addicted to it and over and over and over and over and over again. It was an extreme punishment for extreme abusers of lashon hara. And it certainly did not apply to the average person who once in a while would say something wrong. That's answer number one. Answer number two might actually be the opposite. That it was a punishment only for the very, very righteous, meaning the average person committed these sins, there was not necessarily the same accountability. A righteous, great tzaddik committed the sin of lashon hara, the consequences might be much, much graver. Be that as it may, Ramban actually writes that tzaraas correlates with prophecy. You know, people often say, you know, when I when I used to teach law school, so in law school, typically, uh you don't get exams during the semester. You only get one exam at the end of the course. Sometimes at the end of the semester, sometimes at the end of the year if it's a year-long course. So, students who were used to periodic quizzes often have a sense of anxiety. They say, "I I like feedback. I'd like to know how I'm doing. I have no sense how I'm doing till the very end of the course." So, all of us, you know, we we like feedback, and we'd like Hashem to tell us, "How are we doing?" Usually, we don't get those report cards. The Ramban says, "As bad as tzaraas is, it was kind of a divine gift because God was telling you exactly what you have to do to fix yourself." And as a result, the Ramban says, "Tzaraas existed only in the age of prophecy, when prophecy existed. So, God was giving direct messages to man. So, tzaraas, you might say, is an inferior type of prophecy. You know, you're not You're not good enough to be a prophet, but you'll get your messages this way." So, it's an interesting thing that tzaraas, which we would see as negative, was seen as a form of prophecy from God. Feedback. Telling a person what he needed to uh what he needed to do to rectify themselves. And that's why tzaraas is so much connected to the kohen. Because what is the message here? When a person speaks lashon hara, they often introduce animosity and hatred in a community or in a family. Like I'll go over to you and say, "Oh, do you know what so-and-so said about you? Would you like to know?" Right? That's a ba'al lashon hara. Creates machlokes. Creates dissension, creates disunity. Can create hatred. And the like. So, what does the kohen represent? The kohen, Aharon a kohen, represents the lover of peace and the pursuer of peace. Pirkei Avos tells us, "You shall be like a disciple of Aharon, to love peace, ohev shalom, v'rodef shalom, love peace, pursue peace, >> [snorts] >> ohev es habriyos, to love all of Hashem's creations, u'mekarvan laTorah, and draw them near to Torah." So, what do we tell the ba'al lashon hara? "You have used your speech to foment hatred, resentment, and machlokes. Go spend time with the kohen who exemplifies ohev shalom, v'rodef shalom." And that is why the metzora is quarantined. Right? The metzora is the only tamei. Right? Even a tamei meis, he's not allowed to go in the Beit Hamikdash, but he can remain in regular society. Right? A tamei meis remains with his family. The metzora is isolated. Why is the metzora isolated? People can visit him. It's not like Again, in the leper's hospital, they often didn't allow you to visit because of contagious. That's a separate thing. But but a halachic metzora is quarantined outside of the camp. But people can visit him. His family can visit him. It isn't like uh the hospital, you know, an old leper's hospital. But why is he quarantined? So, it's two ideas. One is >> [snorts] >> we want him or her or her to recognize that negative speech is so destructive that we have to keep you away from people. So, you shouldn't create the animosities and resentments. That's one idea. Meaning, it's really reinforcing to a person. You think words don't make a difference. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me as the saying goes. It's sometimes very much the opposite. The sticks and stones that break bones, the bones heal, especially if you're younger. >> [clears throat] >> The words don't always heal. The words create damage and hurt and harm that can remain forever and ever. You know, I remember seeing an interview with Richard Nixon. Uh Richard Nixon, a fascinating person really, isn't there no question about it and um you know, he had an interesting relationship with Israel in many ways. Uh he was a strong defender of Israel, some ways not, but uh but obviously he went through the ringer. I mean, he had to resign the presidency and the like. And he was being interviewed and by the time of his death he was kind of rehabilitated. He became part of the you know, former presidents club. Uh but he was asked about the difficult experiences in his life. So, he could have talked about a million things. He could have talked about starting with, you know, Eisenhower uh wanting to drop him from the vice president to uh losing the presidency to Kennedy to Watergate and resigning. He had So, but the thing that he started talking about was he started talking about playground taunts >> [snorts] >> when he was in the sixth grade. And how he you never really get over that. This is a very frightening thing. That world leaders who control nuclear weapons some of their decisions are being motivated by playground slights that they had when they were in sixth grade. Right? [laughter] You don't grow out of it. It's very, very frightening. So, uh if your kids are uh bullying somebody, so you never know what that guy's going to be, you know, etc. Uh okay. So, one reason why he's quarantined is to tell the person your behavior represents something that is so socially destructive and hurtful that you got to be away. Got to be away from people. >> [clears throat] >> It's a symbolic gesture. There's another aspect though, which maybe is the opposite. Did you ever read the the this is often a story they assign in the United States in middle school. Uh The Man Without a Country. Did you ever read that? It's it's a famous short It's a famous short story from I think from the 19th century about a guy who was tried for a treason with Aaron Burr. Okay, there's a whole story. Aaron Burr in the the early years of the United States tried to lead overthrow uh the government when it was very small and he got caught etc. And this was the guy who was collaborating with Aaron Burr and he was sentenced to something and he declared I hope I never see the United States again. And the judge was so shocked that the judge created a certain prison sentence that the guy will go on a boat for his whole life uh guarded by American soldiers, but he will never see or hear the word United States his whole life. So, the newspapers would cut out the United States etc. And he lived like for years and years and years and years that without without ever hearing the word United States, without ever seeing the word United States. And they talked about his existential loneliness, how much he yearned to be connected to his country, to his nation, to his people. So, okay. That's a story. It's a story that they they give to middle middle school kids to read. Uh but [clears throat] the thing is that in a sense the baal loshon hara who doesn't care about the social breakdowns that he engenders. So, we tell him you think poisoning relationships is not a big deal? We'd like you to live without relationships. Live alone. Live in isolation. Feel what it's like not to have friends, not to have connections. And then you'll think twice before you do something that creates that disunity. Okay, so so far the idea here is the sin that causes tzaraat is loshon hara. He goes to the kohein because the kohein is oheiv shalom v'rodeif shalom. And that teaches him to use his power of speech in good and positive ways instead of negative ways. He is quarantined both to reinforce the danger of his behavior in society and to let him feel the loneliness of social breakdown. So, he'll understand the serious consequences of what he is of [snorts] what he is doing. And finally, finally, the whole idea that tzaraat is so dependent on the kohein saying the right words. He's not a metzora till the kohein says the words. The words create reality. What does that remind a person? Don't think that words are insignificant. Words create realities. Your whole halachic uh condition >> [snorts] >> depends on words. Okay? And this is the Rambam's point. In the case of a sickness, that's certainly not true. If a person, God forbid, has cancer, whether the doctor said the person has cancer or not. So, for example, if a person were to say, "I don't want to go to a doctor because he may find something wrong with me." That's kind of a stupid attitude because if there is something wrong with you, it's wrong whether the doctor says it or not. But in the case of tzaraat, there actually is a logic here. Until I go to the kohein, I'm not a metzora. Now, a person cannot say that because there's a mitzvah to go to the kohein, but but nevertheless there would be a logic in not going to the kohein. Okay. So, if we understand therefore that the whole experience of tzaraat is designed to awaken a person to a level of introspection and teshuvah, you can understand the meaning of the quarantine rituals and the three simanim of tumah. Right? The guy has a splatch of white. God is telling him, "You have an aveirah that you got to fix. Go to the kohein." The kohein quarantines him for 7 days. Now, if you think about this, when a person has an aveirah, a big aveirah, and they have to do teshuvah, they have to rectify, they have to fix. So, if one can fix it, one tries to fix it, but we often have defense mechanisms. We often have rationalizations. We often have escape hatches. This is true for every aveirah. Meaning, we don't like to confront our guilty selves. And there are two reasons why I don't want to confront my guilty self. One is I don't like to feel guilty. I prefer not to feel bad. The other is if I confront myself honestly, there'll be a lot of work I have to do. And I don't want to do work. So, so there there two different motivations why people seek defense mechanisms. Either to avoid the guilt or to avoid the work. But that's the way it is. We always have a plan B. We always look for a way out. And the meforshim say that psychologically when a person is confronted with aveiros, there might be three types of excuses that they will provide to themselves. We're not talking about excusing yourself to other people, to yourself. What narrative are you going to tell yourself to change the story? So, narrative one we'll simply call denial. I really didn't do anything so bad. Not so bad. It's not a big deal. Or the person deserves it. Let's take loshon hara as an example. Now, this is This analysis is not going to be limited to loshon hara, but since tzaraat is about loshon hara, we'll use that as an example. We'll use this loshon hara as an example. A person said really nasty loshon hara. And they realized they got to do teshuvah. But they might tell themselves, you know, "What I said really wasn't so bad. Number one, everybody knows it already. I mean, these are not halachic excuses, but these are the excuses a person Everybody knows it. Number two, he's a lot worse than I said. I could have said it a lot worse. Number three, he deserved it because he did worse things to me. Uh So, we'll call this denial. You deny either the commission of a sin or you do not you deny the magnitude of the sin. You give yourself the excuse of denial. It's not so bad. It's true and of course it's true is not at all a defense for lashon hara because the very definition of lashon hara is even if it's true. But psychologically people give those defenses. Psychologically a person says, "Oh, it's true. So, what's the problem?" I mean there's even a saying in law by the way uh the greater the truth the greater the libel. In many many ways saying bad things about somebody that are true are even worse than saying bad things about somebody that's false because if I say bad things about somebody that's false I can make an announcement, "Oh, it's false. It's false. It's false. It's a lie." Hopefully people will believe me. But if I said things that are true, what am I supposed to say? Am I allowed to lie? That's an interesting halachic question. Can [laughter] I lie and say that what I said as true was was actually false even though it is true? Interesting question. Okay. So, defense mechanism number one is denial of wrongdoing by either denying it by justifying it or by minimizing it. We'll subsume all of those things under denial. One of the English terms we use for denial is whitewashing. You whitewash yourself. So, the first siman of tumah is I I I I mentioned it second but the two black hairs turn white. Meaning like this, the person goes into quarantine for 7 days to do teshuvah. At the end of the 7 days the cohen examines him. And the external simanim of tumah are God giving him a report card, "How is your teshuvah progressing?" You see? So, if the black hairs turned white what is Hashem telling the cohen and telling the person? "You are not seriously engaged in teshuvah because you are still in the process of whitewashing and denial. You're going to be tamei until everything goes away and you complete your teshuvah. The whole nega goes away." So, that's siman tumah number one. So, the reason why the black hairs turning white upgrades him or downgrades him to be a full-fledged metzora is because it represents denial. Whitewashing. Denial of sin or justification of sin or minimization of sin, all of those are are forms of denial. That's excuse number one. Excuse number two may actually be in the opposite direction. And that is a person is so hypersensitive to their aveiros that it crushes them and they're surrounded by a sense of despondency hopelessness inability to change and their attitude is "I'm so far gone that I might as well continue in this path because there's no way I'll ever get better." This is actually the opposite of denial. Denial is the person telling himself, "I did nothing wrong." This is the opposite. This is hyper excessive obsessive guilt and self-loathing that paralyzes you and makes you unable to change because you feel there's no way I can improve. That is the second siman tumah that tzaraas grows bigger. Growing bigger. What is the attitude? "I've already sinned. I might as well keep on going because there's no exit ramp. There's no way out." Okay? So once again, what is it telling the cohen? "This guy has not done his teshuvah because he is seized with despondency and depression and hopelessness." See what's going on? Meaning these are markers. These are external markers what uh measuring gauging the person's teshuvah. The two white black hairs turning white he's denying his wrongdoing to himself. The nega growing bigger is the other way. He is so hyper-consumed with remorse that he's unable to change so he simply says, "I'm just going to keep on going. What's the use?" Right? That's an attitude that can be very common. A person might say, you know "Why should I even try not to do a certain aveira if I know I'm going to fail over and over and over and over and over again? Who am I fooling? What am I pretending?" That comes from a hopelessness. That comes from a despair. And that represents pisayon. Pisayon is the nega expanse. Now there's a third response to hate. And that is a person simply doesn't want to think about it. Now often it's precisely because he's the type of personality that if he thinks about it he'll get despondent. So, instead he simply doesn't think about it. Meaning it's not in my mental space. Symbolically that's represented by the healthy flesh. Meaning you're surrounded by the rot of tzaraas but there's some healthy flesh in the middle that indicates you don't allow yourself to be affected by these negative thoughts. But not in the positive sense that you're going to change. It means that in the sense that I don't think about it. So, bekitzoor the nega itself indicates a sin which needs correction. The three simanei tumah are measures >> [snorts] >> of how well the teshuvah is proceeding or not proceeding. The two black hairs turning white indicates the man is in a state of denial, justification, rationalization denying the wrongdoing, minimizing the wrongdoing, justifying the wrongdoing. The expansion of the nega indicates hyper-guilt in which the person feels change is impossible, change is hopeless. And therefore I might as well keep on going. And the third is emotional distancing and inertia. So, if either of these if any of these three signs are present the cohen's message is "Go back into quarantine. You have not completed your teshuvah and you're going to be at tzaraas until the whole nega goes away." If on the other hand after 2 weeks the nega is still there but you don't have one of the three simanim of tumah so that means he's in the process of teshuvah although he hasn't completed it yet. He can now become an outpatient. He can complete He can go home. He can complete it at home. Meaning he's on the right track. He doesn't need the quarantine anymore. So, you see the the meaning here. It's a very meaningful point. The technicalities are quite powerful because they do indicate even though we're talking about lashon hara but they apply to everything in life. The different types of strategies we have to evade responsibility in life. Whitewashing. Hyper-guilt. Paralyzing guilt. Or emotional inertia in which I just don't think about it. And although I will say there is room for that third category. The third category is actually sometimes legitimate because there are times in life in which we're not yet ready to face something. And it is legitimate to put things on the back burner. But you don't leave it on the back burner. Uh in other words, there's a time and a place but eventually you got to confront it. Right? Think about the Alcoholics Prayer. Alcoholics Anonymous the 12 steps. Right? You kind of make an inventory of the people that you've hurt and you try to make amends. Now, that doesn't mean you do it in one day. It takes time. You got to build yourself up. You have to build up your strength, your spiritual muscles for sure. So, we're not talking about you got to do it right away. But there has to be a point in life in which this is confronted honestly openly. And then you can go home. You don't need the quarantine. You don't need the korbanos. You can go home because Hashem sees that you're truly going through the teshuvah process even though it's not complete yet. Because you still have the tzaraat. But if you don't have the simanei tumah, you're doing okay. You're doing all right. Now, it's interesting that uh in a non-leap year like this year, right? In the Jewish calendar, uh the Jewish calendar operates on a 19-year cycle and then it repeats. And in the 19 years, uh 12 years are non-leap years and 7 years are leap years. So, it's a very intricate uh amazing calendar, actually. Uh so, this is not a leap year. So, when it's not a leap year, we obviously have a four fewer shabboses in the year. Cuz we don't have an extra month. That's why a lot of parshas are going to be doubled up. Because when it's a leap year, you split them. When it's a not leap year, you got to double them up. Uh but in a non-leap year, uh Tazria-Metzora, the the parshas of tzaraat, are always read um either right after Pesach or two, you know, the two shabboses after Pesach. This In other words, there'll be two shabboses after Pesach. And it's interesting that there is a connection between the three simanim of tumah, the three signs of tumah, and different meanings of chametz, right? We just had the period where chametz is no good. Now, we know chametz represents the yetzer hara. But it's interesting that there are three different ways that chametz represents the yetzer hara. The most common understanding is chametz, which is puffed up, represents arrogance and pride and ga'avah, conceit, as opposed to matzah that is flat. And matzah represents humility, although with the modern Pesach rolls that they make, if you eat sh'ruyah, it's hard to tell the difference because they they they can make a Pesach roll that's just as puffy as a chametz roll, but at least traditionally, right? Matzah is flat. Chametz is puffed up. And chametz represents arrogance and ga'avah. There's a second association to chametz and that is chametz represents spoilage. Maral points out bread spoils. It gets moldy. Matzah does not spoil. Matzah does not It becomes stale a little bit, but you can eat matzah that's a thousand years old. Sometimes I think I'm eating matzah that's a thousand years old. Right? So, um matzah is, I'm sorry, chametz is a ga'avah, arrogance. Matzah is humility. Chametz is spoilage and rot. And matzah does not spoil. And the third idea is that chametz >> [snorts] >> represents inertia. Why? Because if water falls on flour, even without yeast and without starter, >> [snorts] >> if you do nothing for 18 minutes, the fermentation makes it chametz. You don't need to do anything to make something chametz, right? There's a common misconception. You do not need yeast. You do not need a starter. Water hitting flour, it will become chametz. So, chametz represents inertia and inaction. As opposed to matzah, that you got to do something for matzah. Meaning, matzah doesn't happen automatically. When the flour hits the water or the water hits the flour, it is going to be chametz unless you put it in an oven where the heat kills the fermentation enzymes. So, these are three different aspects of why matzah, I'm sorry, why chametz represents the yetzer hara. Arrogance, rot, inertia. So, let's correlate the three associations of chametz with the three negative simanim of that makes a person a metzora. That that so so to speak upgrades and or downgrades him from provisional metzora to complete metzora. Arrogance. Arrogance correlates with whitewashing because when a person is a conceited arrogant person, they will never want to admit that they're in the wrong. They will always seek justification for whatever they do. Their self-image does not allow them to contemplate that they've made a mistake or an error. So, therefore, the simanei tumah of the black hair turning white, which is whitewashing, denial, correlates to the chametz as a sign of arrogance and ga'avah. Now, the second association uh of chametz, which is rot or spoilage, that corresponds to the expansion of the nega and that is the notion of hopelessness. A person feels so consumed by guilt that they feel they can never change, so they keep on going and going and going. I've sinned and I'll sin again. So, there's a correlation between the expansion of the nega and the rot and the mold. By the way, this is encapsulated in a very powerful midrash. The midrash tells us >> [snorts] >> that when Hashem said to Adam, "Did you eat from the fruit that I command I mean, Hashem knew, but he wanted to He wanted Adam to own up to it. Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" So, the midrash has Adam HaRishon saying to God, "I ate and I'll do it again." Talk about chutzpah. I ate and I'll But But the answer is here, this is not chutzpah. Yes, it depends all depends on how you say it. The written word doesn't convey the vocal tone. Now, I wasn't there. I'm not that old, so I can't say I know what the vocal tone was. But it seems to me that the midrash is conveying a different meaning. He's not arrogantly telling God, "I did it and I'll do it again." That would be stupid. He is crying. He is says, "I sinned and I know it's not going to be the last time." It's the helplessness of feeling you have no way of getting yourself out of your predicament. That's the expansion of the nega and that's the rot of the chametz. Now, the third association of the chametz is inertia. And that corresponds to the emotional distance of the healthy flesh because inertia basically says, "I don't want to get involved. I don't want to think about it. I don't want it to penetrate my consciousness." That represents inertia. So, the point basically is that the three aspects of chametz, as they connect to the yetzer hara, correlate pretty well to the three simanei tumah that make a person a metzora, which is essentially God's report card. God's report card that the person's teshuvah has not really begun yet and therefore they have to be in quarantine until the nega goes goes away. Okay? So, uh this is a lesson, I think, that even the most uh hyper-technical parts of the Torah contain very, very important lessons in how we build our character, how we build our strength, how we grow in our mitzvahs, and and uh and and and the like. Uh today, of course, was um Yom HaShoah. Now, Yom HaShoah, everything in Israel uh becomes a controversy. I I You know, Yom HaShoah, okay, that maybe not so much today, although people still argue over it. But back in the uh early years of the state, the early 1950s, uh this was a very, very controversial commemoration. Uh one reason is a technical halachic reason. The month of Nisan, you're not supposed to have sad commemorations. We're still in So, it's a funny thing. Yom HaAtzmaut gets knocked. It can't win. Yom HaAtzmaut gets knocked because during the Sefirat HaOmer, you're not supposed to have happy celebrations. That's uh Yom HaAtzmaut. And uh Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaShoah gets knocked because in the month of Nisan, you're not supposed to have unhappy commemorations. So, either way, you know, if you reverse Yom HaAtzmaut and Yom HaShoah, uh this would be acceptable. But there was another deeper reason why Yom HaShoah was a very controversial holiday. Uh Yom HaShoah is linked to a very specific date and this is the fall of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1945. And this day was chosen not as an accident and that is in the early years of the state, the founding fathers, founding mother, Golda Meir, I don't know if there was more than uh not a single woman, but the Golda Meir, uh they had a lot of problems with the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust. This was the paradigm of going like sheep to the slaughter. They couldn't understand the passivity, not fighting, just accepting your fate. The whole idea of the state of Israel, we're going to have a new Jew, not a not a golus Jew, not a golus Jew, a Jew that fights, a Jew that's strong, a Jew that is heroic, a Jew that's tough and doesn't get pushed around. And all that is good. I'm not I'm not saying that that's not good. But as a result, there actually was, on some level, a lack of respect for those who went to the slaughter, so to speak, passively. So, to memorialize the Holocaust, they chose almost the only instance of armed Jewish resistance against Nazi persecution. That, of course, was the Warsaw Ghetto. And obviously, the people who died in the Warsaw Ghetto were very, very heroic. And they deserved to be remembered and admired. But, you have to understand, in the atmosphere of the time, and remember, in the early 1950s, there were many, many, many, many Holocaust survivors who were still alive. Not like today. And many felt this was a deliberate slap in the face in which those who didn't fight because it was impossible, they didn't have They had no resources. Were somehow inferior. And were not worthy of being remembered. And that's why Yom HaShoah, linked to the Warsaw Ghetto, was very, very specifically a very controversial decision. You can look it up. You can look this up. It was a very controversial decision at the time. It hurt the feelings of people who felt that their spiritual resistance was not being respected. And they were even being denigrated in that way. So, in Israel, everything has these political overtones. But, as far as we're concerned, we obviously admire and remember with love and with reverence everyone. Those who died by fighting. And those who died in the dignity of going to their deaths when they knew there was no choice. And they still went. Many, not all, went with kiddush Hashem. Many went with kiddush Hashem. So, we don't need I'm bringing it up because historically it's interesting, but we don't need to get involved in drawing dichotomies between who was a hero and who was not a hero. They were all heroes. But, the thing to remember is, as the Chofetz Chaim used to say, that how you live your life is even more important than how you die. And we we sometimes think about the Holocaust, we think only about the deaths. Which, indeed, we need to remember. But, we also have to remember the lives. The lives that they had before the war, during the war. And the lives the survivors built after the war. The courage that it took. Because ultimately, we're not We're not here to just remember death. We're here to remember life. And when the Torah says, u'vacharta ba'chayim, you have to choose life. It basically is communicating a message that no matter how dark the moment is, the Jew chooses life. The Jew affirms life. And, strangely enough, although baruch Hashem, we are very, very far from the Holocaust, we're not facing a Hitler right now, but we are facing somewhat analogous situations in the world. And we have to remember to choose life. Choose the good path. Choose the good way. And in that way, may all of us be zocheh to the geulah shleimah. Amen. >> [music] [music] [singing]