Shabbos Parashas Metzora - 5774
Shabbos Parashas Metzora - 5774
Rabbi Hal Miller
The Kohen shall command, and for the person being purified there shall be
taken two live clean birds, cedar wood, crimson thread, and hyssop.
[Vayikra 14:4]
The Torah tells us that applying this battery of four things will cure us of
the results in inappropriate speech. What is the tie between the disease and
the cure?
First we might define the disease. Lashon Hara, 'evil speech', is discussed
in voluminous detail. But that might not be sufficient to understand what
our pasuk is really talking about. Rambam breaks down "talk" into four
categories: lashon hara, praise, the past, and wisdom/philosophy. He says
that "lashon hara, rechilus (tale-bearing) and foul language are totally
evil. To praise people has good and bad points. To discuss events that have
occurred is neither good nor bad. To discuss wisdom and philosophy is good."
Rambam's commentary quotes a wise man as saying, "As to the first three, I
don't talk about these things at all. As to the fourth, I would talk about
it, but I would be considered strange in a society which doesn't understand
such matters, so I remain silent."
From this it might sound like we would be better off never speaking at all.
But we know from elsewhere that what sets humans off from the other animal
species is the ability to speak. There must be value in it somewhere. King
David gives us a clue in Tehillim [34:14-15]: "Guard your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceitfully. Turn from evil and do good, seek
peace and pursue it." Our Sages then make it even more clear in Berachos 17a,
which we repeat three times a day at the end of the Shemoneh Esrei: "To those
who curse me, let my soul be silent and let my soul be like dust to everyone.
Open my heart to Your Torah, then my soul will pursue Your commandments."
Thus we not only are allowed to speak, but we have a formula to use to ask
G-d's support in ensuring we do so correctly. If we fail to act correctly, we
are subject to punishment. Why, then, do we, in addition, need a second
formula for recovery from our failure to follow the first formula?
Numerous commentators discuss the two birds. They note that the species of
bird involved is one that "twitters", and that this represents our talk that
is out of order. Given the use of 'technology' nowadays, one has to wonder
whether this twittering is more of a problem now than it used to be. In any
case, even if the birds qualify as a midda-k'neged-midda, a like-kind
punishment, how do the other three items apply?
Ibn Ezra points out that the cedar and hyssop are plants from opposite ends
of the scale of measurement, very large and very small. This seems to imply
that the entire plant kingdom is somehow involved in repairing the damage to
the universe done by our inappropriate speech.
Rashi explains that "the birds and the cedar are symbolic of what causes
tzaraas: birds twitter thus symbolizing lashon hara, the cedar symbolizes
pride. The scarlet wool and the hyssop symbolize the rectification of the sin:
the person is to make himself as humble as the worm found in the berries from
which the crimson dye is made, or as a hyssop."
Abarbanel says that "the disease of tzaraas has four negative symptoms: the
flesh is dead and has no feeling; it is moist and decayed; the person is pale
and his liver does not function; he has a bad body odor. The two birds
symbolize that he has been revived, the cedar wood symbolizes that he is now
fresh and no longer decaying, the scarlet thread indicates that his blood is
flowing and the hyssop that his body odor is now sweet."
This tells us, perhaps, the 'how', regarding what these four items do. But
we still do not know why it is necessary. Ordinarily, when we violate a
commandment, we must do teshuvah, and in many cases bring an offering. Why
here do we then also need to go through an additional ceremony?
Nachshoni writes, "Even in discussing matters of wisdom it is good for a
person to speak little, and this is all the more so when it comes to frivolity,
vulgar language or lashon hara. A person who uses his speech to harm others
cannot be considered a 'speaking creature'." Thus, not only do we need to
make amends to G-d for having transgressed His commandments, we need to do
something that re-enters us into the human race!
We see this before Rosh Hashanah, when we are reminded that G-d forgives us
for transgressions against Him (if we repent), but will not forgive us for
transgressions against other people unless we make amends to them first. Our
pasuk is another example of this same principle. Let us all consciously take
steps that put us back into the appropriate human status.