Thoughts on parashat Tazria.
The quality of our life, in all its dimensions – material, social, psychological and spiritual, is dependent on our morality, our culture and how we relate to each other on a daily basis. We can make our life heaven and we can make it hell – it is in our hands. As the famous verses of the Book of Deuteronomy state:
See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. For I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His laws, and His rules, that you may thrive and increase, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are about to enter and possess. But if your heart turns away and you give no heed, and are lured into the worship and service of other gods, I declare to you this day that you shall certainly perish; you shall not long endure on the soil that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. (D’varim 30:15-18)
The Torah portion for this week covers subjects far removed from issues of good and bad ethical behavior or from the matters I mentioned. Almost in its entirety, it contains laws about how we should deal with various kinds of “human uncleanness”: mainly impurities associated with what we now call skin diseases. To describe these phenomena, the Torah uses two basic terms: tzarat (usually translated as leprosy) and negah (stroke, plague, disease, mark, plague spot). But surely these phenomena don’t have anything to do morality, good vs. evil, justice? According to our biblical authors and rabbis – Yes, they most certainly do.
Our Sages, as well as various biblical commentators, believed that tzarat and other skin diseases come as a punishment for various forms of bad language: lashon hara (true but negative speech about other human beings aimed to hurt them) and motzi shem ra (i.e. lies, slander, words that result in demonization of a person). They support this through the story of Miriam in which she (and Aharon) spoke badly against Moses (Numbers 12) and as a result was punished by God… with leprosy. Our Sages don’t provide us with an explanation why tzarat and nega’im are suitable punishment for lashon hara. They only justify the severity of this punishment: one who speaks lashon hara or motzi shem ra cannot justify his actions in the way done by other sinners, who are overcome by their lusts. Speaking bad language is not a weakness; it is a deliberate, willful action aimed at hurting another human being with words and it is morally wrong (except in some cases of lashon hara when it is justified, like informing people that someone is an evildoer in order to protect them.) According to our Rabbis, lashon hara kills three people: the person who tells it, the one who listens, and the person about whom it is told. The one who sins using lashon hara is like a serpent, which bites without receiving any physical benefit by doing so. In the eyes of the Rabbis, the sinner is similar to serpent in at least two other ways: like a snake he puts enmity between people and brings death on all of humanity (Genesis 3), but also, as a result of the disease ensuing from the sin the skin of the sinner starts to resemble the skin of the snake: scales appear on it.
The explanation why skin affliction is a suitable punishment for lashon hara (and motzi shem ra) comes from the mouth of the 16th century Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, known as Maharal of Prague: a person who speaks lashon hara undermines the peace of society and of the people living in that society. This type of behavior is:
[…] an alien thing, not worthy having anything in common with human society; as a result whoever departs [from the acceptable behavior] deserves – and it is only fitting that it is so – to be afflicted with nega’im, which separates him totally from everyone, so that he is entirely alone.
Lashon hara crumbles society and moves people apart one from another, thus the punishment of one who has arisen against society is to be exiled from that society and forced to remain apart from it.
Today we know that skin afflictions are not caused by bad language or any kind of immoral behavior, except for the occasional STD (hehe). Skin diseases are biological in nature and their mechanisms are known. But the idea of isolating people who sin through lashon hara or motzi shem ra (i.e. lies, slander, demonization) seems to be quite rational and (morally) justified, especially if someone really abuses bad speech. As you might expect, this type of punishment happens naturally: people don’t really like people who notoriously speak badly about others and it is hard to know if those who are constantly negative about others really like you – if they are talking about them behind their back they are probably talking about you behind your back.
If bad speech, as the Rabbis claim, is exclusively a deliberate human action without a physical component of weakness, it should be much easier to quit. This would be then called ‘moral intellectualism’ – a view professed by Socrates – where our moral/immoral behavior is exclusively dependent on our awareness of what is good and bad, right and wrong. It should be relatively easy to stop talking negatively about others: mere understanding of one’s own actions and their consequences should be revelatory here and could begin the process of teshuvah. Think about how your own words and actions affect others and act accordingly. Likewise, while our tolerance for bad language should not be excessive, due to its socially destructive outcomes, we should be ready and willing to forgive those who have given up these practices. The proper balance between our tolerance for bad behavior and our ability to forgive is an important factor that makes our actions more righteous and our social life more just and simply better.
Shabbat shalom!
Menachem Mirski
This d’var Torah was commissioned by Beit Polska
– Union of Progressive Jewish Communities in Poland.
