Parshas Ki Teitzei (24:8-9) juxtaposes הִשָּׁ֧מֶר בְּנֶֽגַע־הַצָּרַ֛עַת לִשְׁמֹ֥ר מְאֹ֖ד וְלַעֲשׂ֑וֹת with the warning/mitzvah of זָכ֕וֹר אֵ֧ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֛ה ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ לְמִרְיָ֑ם. B'shlama if the warning of הִשָּׁ֧מֶר בְּנֶֽגַע־הַצָּרַ֛עַת comes to tell us to avoid the root cause of tzaraas, which is speaking lashon ha'ra, the connection to what happened to Miriam is obvious. However, as the Netziv already notes, ואינו לפי פשט ענין הכתוב. Furthermore, the gemara darshens that הִשָּׁ֧מֶר בְּנֶֽגַע־הַצָּרַ֛עַת comes to prohibit cutting off a baheres. What does that have to do with what happened to Miriam?
Meshech Chochma explains that had there been no issur, instead of holding back everyone from travelling because Miriam became a metzora, they could have simply cut off the baheres. The juxtaposition of the pesukim shows us the severity of the lav, that even at the cost of everyone waiting, Miriam's tzaraas had to be dealt with properly.
Ohr haChaim (R' Yaakov Shapira's develops this idea in a sicha on the parsha) explains that the issur of cutting off a baheres also teaches us something about lashon ha'ra, and that is the link to the episode with Miriam.
השמר בנגע וגו׳ זכור וגו׳ – לדבריהם ז״ל (שבת קל״ב:) שאמרו שבא להזהיר לבל יקוץ בהרתו, נתכוין בהסמכת זכור את אשר עשה ה׳ למרים להודיע שורש שממנו יהיה הנגע ואותו יצו ה׳ לקוץ ורפא
Cutting off a baheres is wrong because it just removes the surface symptom without addressing the root cause of the disease.
Not speaking lashon ha'ra is not just about controlling your mouth (thought that is certainly part of it). A person who speaks lashon ha'ra is a person who views the world with negativity, a person who has trouble seeing the best in others. Were such a person to tape their mouth shut, it would be a temporary band-aid that fixes the surface symptom, but not the root cause.
No comments:
Post a Comment