Parsha Perspectives for Today (Metzora, 5784/2024) - Leadership is Going Out to Where You are Needed

Good morning, Boca we're told we're going to be a good morning for all of us and we're here to wish all of us good news. Hostages should be home. Our soldiers should return to their families in a sweeping sweeping victory. Want to thank our parsha series sponsors for the year, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father L'ilui nishmat David ben Menachem Manish David Grossman. Today she is also sponsored by Eliyahu Buzaglo in commemoration of his father's yahrzeit, Yosef ben Massoud Buzaglo's neshama should have an aliyah. Thank you so much. We are last parsha sheet till after Pesach. It's not my fault because there is no parsha. So this is Shabbat Hagadol. We still read parshat Metzora and then next week is Pesach, Shabbat Chol Hamoed, and then uh it will be Pesach the Tuesday morning. Still Pesach, right? Pesach is over Tuesday night. So we'll resume the Tuesday a week following uh Pesach. We will resume. But this week we have the privilege of learning and reading and studying parshat Metzora, page 620 in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash. If you enjoy parshat Tazria, you're going to love parshat Metzora. It's basically an extension, a continuation of many of the same themes, notably the halacha of the metzora, the individual who used and abused the power of speech. Didn't use it to uplift and to construct and to support and to inspire and to comfort, used it to destroy and to denigrate and to marginalize. And they used their power of speech for gossip, for s- land uh slander and to judge others. And the individual, of course, it results in tzaraat. So let's examine some more now as the parsha continues in Metzora along the same line, along the same theme. We're going to start out with three insights of Rav Druck in his Ravos Ish. The first, it says in the pasuk Zot tihiyeh torat hametzora beyom tahorato. This is the Torah of the metzora on the day that he is purified. And what's the Torah of the metzora? Vehuvah el hakohen. The Torah, the law of the metzora is that he's brought to the kohen. Perush hadvarim ha'eleh metzora zeh she dibber lashon hara al chavero. This individual spoke ill about another. Kedei ragmar be'erchin she'ozeh bo'in hanega'im that these blemishes, this spiritual leprosy, is the result of negative speech. How does that happen? Why does someone speak negatively about somebody else? Says Rav Druck, the answer is omer la'atzmo, such an individual says to themself, Ma kvara asisi? What did I do that was so bad? I didn't punch someone. I didn't shoot someone. I didn't steal from someone. I didn't injure or harm somebody. It's words. Ma kvara dibarti? Pesach hakol kama milim? I said a few words. Okay, guilty as charged. Caught me at a bad moment, a weak moment, a negative moment. And I said something negative. It was just words. Did I really hurt anybody? K'i yesh lo dibbur kaze umashma'ut gedolah ashar kol milim ra'ui l'lakot kol kach? I said some words. Inappropriate words. I misused my words. But because of that you got this whole thing? Have to go chutz l'machaneh, live sequestered, secluded, have to go through a whole purification process? Ach kach mashivah haTorah ve'omeret, So that's what the Torah is responding to. And the Torah says, Im k'veitzah al rosh kama mashma'ut yesh l'milim az vehuvah el hakohen. It's a brilliant insight of Rav Druck. What's the law? What's the halacha? The individual has to be brought to the kohen. Why? Why are you brought to the kohen? Is it objectively or not objectively tzaraat? I don't know what the equivalent of WebMD is for spiritual maladies. But a person suspects they broke out in tzaraat, go on WebMD for spiritual maladies and check it out. Google images for tzaraat. Huh? Yeah, I think I got tzaraat. Or no, I don't think this is tzaraat. Why do you have to be brought to the kohen? And the kohen, Rav Druck Rav Druck doesn't say this explicitly, but the kohen actually has enormous power. Because the individual was not defined, doesn't have the status or identity of a metzora, doesn't have to go through the process of rehabilitation until unless the kohen pronounces them tamei. Power is all in the kohen's hands. So much so the Rambam codifies what Chazal tell us that if an individual is in the shivat yemei hamishteh, they're in the sheva brachot, they got married. Can you imagine? Fashtehr di simcha. Imagine what happens to sheva brachot. The night after one of my daughter's weddings, it was during the corona wedding, we all wore masks and separated and was small and outdoor, all the things. But the first sheva brachot the next night, my son-in-law comes to me and he says, "Abba, I don't know how to tell you this and I don't know what to do. I can't smell and I can't taste anything." So I said, "You got to get you got to get checked. We got to let everybody know." Baruch Hashem, he was just a tired, exhausted chassan who had a cold and not corona. It was negative for corona. Baruch Hashem. Baruch Hashem. But can you imagine it would fashtehr the whole simcha? The chassan has tzaraat? So the Rambam says, "No, no. The kohen doesn't look, doesn't declare, doesn't examine." Would that helps? I I know there were people who felt if you didn't get tested for corona, you didn't have it. But that's not the way it works. If you have a disease that is contagious, it's not a function of whether the doctor or the test declares it. So by not going to the kohen, you could avoid it? And therefore a person could celebrate their sheva brachot or conversely mark a shiva or whatever the case may be. Says Rav Druck, listen to this insight. You know why vehuvah el hakohen? Because this individual thought, "It's just words. What power do words have? It's like gossip, I slandered, I spoke negatively. It was just some words." The answer is, look at the words of the kohen. The power of words, when the kohen declares you tamei, your life is upside down. If he didn't declare you tamei, then your life continues as normal. You see the power of words. Words have the ability to create reality. Gam ani noga'a acher mimama'as hanega'im, kol zeh ein lo tamei ach shehakohen motzi milim b'fiv ve'omer tamei. U kiyutz'e bizeh betaharah, dibburo shel hakohen, hu zeh um'tamei, veh hu zeh um'taher. It is the speech of the kohen that creates reality. L'fi chachamim she'yesh kan shuv hanefel umetzora talui b'tarah zeh she'nas lo itzah kohen. And that's why the answer is this individual vehuvah let's go to the kohen. Want to go to a kohen? WebMD? Google images? Let me check it out. No, the answer is it's not a function of objectively do you have it? Vehuvah el hakohen, the kohen has to declare it because you're going to see the power of words. So what's the torat hametzora? Zot tihiyeh torat hametzora vehuvah el hakohen. The answer, the antidote, the message, the rehabilitation of the metzora is vehuvah el hakohen. Go to the kohen and see the power of words. Shared with you before, this was Rav Soloveitchik's insight why the holiest night of the year, Kol Nidre night, we call it Kol Nidre night, but Yom Kippur night, there's so many things that we could say, so many parts of liturgy that would move us. And what do we sing? What do we say? Kol Nidre. We list off these really boring laws of oaths and promises and pledges. And we do hatarat nedarim collectively. And that's the entrance into the holiest day of the year? Like sit on the floor and sing a cheinu. Let's have a kumzits. Kol Nidre? Like people don't look at the English. If you would if you would actually the chazzan would sing, "All oaths." You know, sing Kol Nidre with that haunting melody in the English. You'd be what in the world is going on right now? That's how you start Yom Kippur? Rav Soloveitchik said, "Yeah. You're about to stand before Hashem for 25 hours. You're going to say, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I could have, I should have, I shouldn't have, I should have." Words matter. Words mean something. Words count. You want to know how you see that words matter? Nedarim. A neder. What's a neder? A promise, pledge, an oath. You know, right now, that chair is permissible. But if I say that chair is forbidden to me, like something that's forbidden, I can transform the status of the chair and turn it into a piece of chazer shmatz. It could be as forbidden to me as pork. Could be as forbidden to me as a cheeseburger. All through my words. Words have power. Words have meaning. Words can alter reality. We have to remember the power of words, not only in halacha, but interpersonally. Our words matter. Somebody calls you and says, "I'm thinking about doing business with him." Careful with your words. What do you think? You're on the shidduch resume. Tell me about him. You could make or destroy a shidduch. You could make or destroy a parnassah, a livelihood. Words matter. They mean something. So the individual who didn't realize the power of words and misused them to speak negatively of another, what's the torat hametzora? The antidote, the Torah of the metzora is vehuvah el hakohen. Be brought to the kohen. That is Rav Druck number one. Rav Druck number two. The Mishnah in Negaim tells us, Metzora she'nichnas labayit kol keilim she'yesh sham tamei'im afilu ad korotav. That a metzora who enters the house, all the utensils, everything in the house is contaminated. Takes on the status of tumah even until the beams of the house. Rav Shimon omer, ad arba amot keilim neyatem'im. Rav Yehudah omer, im shakah she'hadlikah ner. So there's a machloket in Mishnah Negaim, 13th perek of Negaim. Is it just when the metzora enters the house, they contaminate everything? Or is it only the four amot around them? Or do they have to remain in the house long enough to light a candle? Metzora metamei makom moshavo. The metzora contaminates the place they dwell. B'kashar nichnas labayit b'reshut, hakeilim she'bayit nitma'im. So when they enter a house with permission, when they're entitled to be there, they contaminate. They transfer their tumah, their impurity, on everything in the house. But how long? So Rav Yehudah says, "It's It's called the place of their dwelling unless they're in the house long enough to light a candle. Seems kind of arbitrary. Why don't you say until they're they're long enough to make a potato kugel? They're long in the house long enough to I don't know, check the stock market. How Why do we arbitrarily choose the definition of a being their dwelling? How do you define in the house for the length of a dwelling? Long enough to light a candle. Seems kind of arbitrary. If nobody kicked you out of the house and said, "Get out. You tell me. You don't ruin everything." Within the time it takes to light the candle, they're out. So if love him why why does that this length of time? This individual part of the rehabilitation is they have to live and dwell where? Outside of the camp. Badad. Alone. On Tisha B'Av we read Eicha. And we bemoan, we mourn, we grieve how we were all alone. And it feels like it again. It didn't for a moment, and hopefully it can remain. One of the most incredible miracles of Motzei Shabbos was not just knocking down 300 missiles. Maybe you saw this write-up by a physicist who said we don't begin to understand what it means. 99% being being knocked down, the miracle that it is. Drones, ballistic missiles, all kinds of concoction of missiles, all mixed and layered over each other, and yet knocking them all down. It's a miracle. You know what else is a miracle? That Saudi Arabia and Jordan and UAE These countries all helped. It's a miracle. So for a little bit we don't feel alone. For for 5 minutes. Hopefully it can last and it continue, but the Jewish people know what it means to be alone. It's painful to be alone. It compounds whatever you're going through to go through it alone. That's why we have a mitzvah of big achlum to show up, to show up, to be present, to offer companionship, because that can help provide strength and support when a person is going through something that's difficult. So this metzora, what do we do? We say, "Go be alone. You're in time out." Badad yesheiv. Alone. Chutz l'machaneh moshavo, outside the camp. Why? Rashi says, cuz when they gossiped and slandered another, you know what they did? They made that person feel alone. When you speak negatively about somebody, if you're the victim, if you're the subject of lashon hara, you feel alone. You want Does everyone believe that? How could they just stand by and accept that and listen to that? Is this what everyone's saying about me? You see somebody posts online, or you heard a conversation at a Shabbos table, or somebody says something that gets back to you, they said, you feel very very alone. So the individual gossip made people feel alone. Part of their rehabilitation is they have to go outside and be alone. And be alone. The whole notion of lighting a candle is to illuminate, to dispel the darkness, to create connection. Why do we light the candles on Friday night? The whole hadlakas neiros Shabbos is shalom bayis. That's why a person with limited resources, they can buy either Shabbos candles or Chanukah candles. Chanukah candles commemorate a miracle. Miracle, pirsum haness. Yet which do you spend the money on? Where do you allocate it? The Shabbos candle or the Chanukah candles? I'm the only rabbi speaking about Chanukah on Erev Pesach. Shabbos candles. Why? Because Shabbos is shalom bayis. Lighting the candles is shalom bayis. Coch omer l'metzora. When you light a candle in a home and you have shalom bayis, this is no longer your dwelling place. You who sow You who sow disruption, you who sow dispute and divide and division, you don't belong in a house with a candle that's lit. So that's why says Rav Druck, where do we come up with this arbitrary measure? How long is it to be in a house that you consider dwelling that that you would contaminate and transfer impurity? The time it takes to light a candle, because he didn't light candles, he extinguished candles. He created machlokes through his speech. Third, Rav Druck, and then we'll move on, all in the opening pasuk of our parsha. It's a short parsha. The Medrash Rabbah says, "Zos tihiyeh toras hametzora, Yesh l'cha midrash, zos tihiyeh toras hametzora u'l'rasha amar Elokim." What's the connection between This is the law of the metzora, and to the wicked Hashem said, "Why are you talking about my chukim?" So says Rav Druck the following. The individual who gets diagnosed, the kohen diagnoses him with tzara'as, his skin, the surface has revealed the pnim, what's inside. And what's inside is pretty rotten. If you could sit and be so judgmental and hypercritical and slander and gossip and hurt and harm and marginalize others, it's pretty rotten inside. You're pretty rotten inside. Negaim are the result of seven violations: lashon hara, shfichas damim, gossip, murder, false promises, promiscuity, arrogance, theft, looking with a a critical eye. Because the rasha is wicked, Hashem is not really interested in his Torah. What does it mean his Torah? You know, the rasha always has like the world according to me. Here's the way I see it. Here's my principle. Here's my perspective. You know what Hashem says? I don't really care. I'm paraphrasing Hashem there. Hashem says I I don't I don't I don't really care about your perspective and your policies and your principles and your approach to life. So therefore it says, "Zos tihiyeh toras hametzora b'yom taharaso." Eimasai taharaso shel hametzora miskabeles l'Kodesh Baruch Hu? Rak b'yom taharaso. When is the metzora and his principle and his Torah accepted to Hashem? Only on a day that he becomes pure. Quotes a pasuk in Tehillim. The Medrash is connecting that pasuk here. Hashem says, "What do I care about your perspective? What do I care about your principled stance? What do I care about your view of life? You're a rasha, you're rotten in your core. Your judgment, your negativity, your gossip, I care about your view of life? I don't really care. When will I care again? Zos tihiyeh toras hametzora, when? Only b'yom taharaso. Yesh l'cha midrash, Rav Druck continues and he says, You know, a rasha also has the ability to manipulate and distort and pervert the Torah of Hashem, to see the world through their eyes, through the prism of their view, and then to make the Torah conform, to distort the Torah, so it's called the toras toras hametzora. This toras hametzora. Why does someone gossip and slander? Cuz here's the world according to me. You know those people? We all know those people. They have something to say about everyone. This one is stingy and this one is selfish and this one is this and this one is that. I warned you. You know what the problem is about hanging around such people? They're also talking about you. So when you listen and you're an accomplice to them, when you're at their Shabbos table, and you're willing to sit there and be a spectator while they're sharing their opinion about the whole world and everyone in it, next Shabbos they're having someone else over, and they're talking about you. So be careful. Be careful who your friends with, and be careful who you're a passive spectator to, because while it's easy and it's fun and you're earning social commodity by listening, next Shabbos they're talking about you. That's the toras hametzora. Toras hametzora. Torah is unlike every other discipline in the world, because Torah penetrates. Torah molds, Torah fashions person, it turns somebody into a ben Torah. That's why chachma b'goim ta'amin, believe that there's wisdom. Chemistry, biology, physics, there's all kinds of wisdoms in the nations of the world. But wisdom can be academic, conceptual, separate and apart from personality and performance. Torah is supposed to mold us and shape us into a ben Torah, a bas Torah. Torah is supposed to actually change us, transform us. That's why the Mishnah Avos says, mem ches, There are 48 ways that Torah is acquired. Why? There are 48 personality traits, 48 ways we work on ourselves. You can't acquire Torah, it can't penetrate, it doesn't mold and fashion, it doesn't transform you unless it comes with also better a better personality. Before we were united and together, we couldn't have Torah, it was the prerequisite. So a person who's self-centered, who's selfish, who's narcissistic, person who sees the world and has an opinion and a judgment of everyone and everything in it, they're not actually observing Hashem's Torah. Whose Torah are they observing? Toras hametzora. It's the toras hametzora. They've interchanged, they've changed their Torah for Torah. And that such a person needs to be such a person needs to be outside the camp. They need to realize what's happened and they need to come back to embrace the Torah of not to have the Torah of the Torah three of drugs we opened with. We turn to the Torah of those. The Torah of the Torah. passed away this year. And he says two ideas. The word He quotes the Torah of who is the Torah of him? The Torah of the Torah of the Torah. He says the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. Where does the word come from? The Torah is The Torah is a conjunction of two words of the Torah. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. Our words create reality. We didn't appreciate this as much until this generation that we can now. You know why? I'm not going to try it right now because your phones are going to all respond and light up and things are going to happen. You ever you ever on talking at the table be careful because the technology in the other room are going to turn on the blender. You got to be careful. Today we have speech recognition. You can do you could sit on your couch, sit back in your recliner and tell your phone what to do, turn on the oven, get the mixer going. You can talk into your phone and your Tesla will come pick you up because it's raining outside. I stood next to somebody who did that. Tesla with the automatic driving. You can if it's raining under the canopy, you don't want to get wet. You tell the car to come pick you up. We're living like George Jetson time. We're living in future. We're living in crazy times. So every day in our we say the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. You spoke and you created a world. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the You know who else creates and destroys worlds? We do. We do. We can create and destroy worlds with our power of speech. So we always gave that as like a nice rabbi idea, right? We can create and destroy with our words. Be nice. Sticks and stones, whatever. Words can hurt me. Words create. But we see it in reality today. Words create. Words can launch wars. Apparently the word don't doesn't mean anything. But other words can do things. Other words can do things and mean things. So this individual who abused their power of speech, they were the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. They brought evil into the world. They brought it. They fashioned. They created evil in the world. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah is called the first. The Jewish people are called the first. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah people are considered to be great and precious before him. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah including those who we would call a Russia. Because after all we're children. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the who loves a child unconditionally and says him I have to and I do love this child who is complicated to love who brings shame and challenge and difficulty, cost me enormous amount and makes me worry and I love him or her unconditionally. You're my father, you need to love me even when I misbehave, even if I bring you shame. That is the most heartfelt prayer that there is. So even this Russia could loves because we're his children. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. Because of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. When you speak about one of God's children negatively you're making him sad. You're making him sad about you. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah was getting tremendous he had his own egg, he had pleasure and joy and from all of his children even the Russia, even the child, even the fifth child. You know at the next week we'll talk about the four sons. There's a fifth son. The fifth son is the one who doesn't even make it to the Torah. Maybe they come for they don't want to come to the Torah. But the parent still says but you're all home. Put on a no earrings, piercings, tattoos, whoever you brought home with you, but you're here. And I have I'm focused on the pleasure and the joy and the Torah. And then you go and you gossip and you marginalize and then you go you critical and you speak Torah. And now for you turn this Torah into the Torah. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of So if you abuse the power of speech by speaking negatively, how do you repair the power of speech by speaking Torah positively. The vocabulary and the language of Torah. And that says the that says the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah that's what our opening is telling us. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. So what's the answer? The Torah of the Torah of the Torah The Torah needs to learn the speech the vocabulary of Torah. Where do they learn? How do you learn how to talk like a Torah? You know the speech that's beneath us, below us. We grew up with that. It's a very Jewish idea. It's the Torah of the Torah. The Torah of the Torah. It's beneath you to speak like that. I but the you know it used to be they'd say the see what do they call it? FCC. Who the regulates the public channels? FCC. Their standards already are nothing. Today in the middle of the day you could have curses on regular TV. Ah but it didn't it didn't make it to the list so it's not really obscene or profane. Yes it is. A Torah doesn't use that word. A Torah doesn't speak like that. A Torah doesn't speak like that. The profanity we have our own list. You know it's it's beneath us. There's a Torah there's a Torah to our There's a Torah to our how we speak, how we carry ourselves, how we dress, who we are. This Torah who is Torah who gave birth and brought wickedness and evil into the world by speaking negatively about a peer or fellow Jew or sibling. So now they need to learn the proper vocabulary. How do you learn the proper vocabulary? It's the vocabulary of the Torah of the Torah it's the Torah. And how do they go learn it? Where do they learn it from? Rosetta Stone? Where do you go learn the vocabulary of Torah, how to speak Torah? The Torah of the Torah of the Torah. You go to the Torah because the Torah is the teacher of every generation. They're the light of every generation. Go to the Torah. That's the Torah of the Torah. The Torah of the Torah has another interpretation. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah. Why does it introduce with this whole expression this phrase the Torah of the Torah of the Torah? Why not just start with the law which is the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah on the day of his becoming pure bring him to the Torah. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the So says the Torah of the Torah of the Torah The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah states we continue you take two birds and a cedar tree and the last and he says the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Why do you take two birds? What do birds do? Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp. And what did this person do? Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp. What do birds do? They tweet. What did this person do? They used Twitter too much. They tweeted things they shouldn't have tweeted. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Why else do they come? Arrogance. And there the comes to humble. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah And these materials are lowly and we have to humble the person. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah So these aren't random. You don't use the two birds and the cedar and the of the worm. You're not using all these just some random recipe, concoction, some formula, some prescription. Each of these ingredients should make the be mindful and pause and say I'm I'm just a lowly worm food. That's what I'm going to be in the end of days. Who am I to sit in judgment of others? And the birds they I can't chirp so much. I got to be much more thoughtful and regulate how I speak, what I speak. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah So that's what it's telling us. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah Don't just superficially go through this as if it's some punishment. But doesn't give arbitrary punishments. Whenever prescribes a response, a reaction, a reality, it's always connected to me. There's something to learn. There's an ability to be transformed by and that's why it's the Torah of the Torah of the Torah of the Torah learn what is the deeper message and deeper idea in two birds and the and the and the and the and so on and so forth. The Torah of the Torah of the Torah base. Moving along. Gimel. The coin goes forth from the outside of the camp to go look and behold and he sees taka it is it is tsaraas. And as we just said, once the coin diagnoses it and says taka it's tsaraas, he has to say taka. He doesn't have to say taka. He just has to say tamei. For the person being purified, two live clean birds, cedar wood, crimson thread, and hyssop. Specifically those ingredients. Says Rabbi Soloveitchik. Where does the coin go to see this individual? Where does he go? Listen carefully. Listen carefully. The coin goes outside the camp. Listen what Rabbi Soloveitchik says. When we explore this parsha we find a peculiar phenomenon. The coin here assumes the role of diagnostician and nurse. Only the coin has the right to pronounce the sick person clean or unclean. It's a task the coin would not normally be expected to perform given the lengths that he has to go to avoid impurity. How peculiar. The coin is a special warning. Coin can't go to the cemetery or the hospital that has a morgue. Coin can't be in the same home with a dead body. Coin can't come in contact with a sherds. The coin is a special warning. Beyond guard. Be careful. Even a pregnant woman she has a sonogram and finds out she's having a baby boy perhaps can't go to the hospital. It's a whole discussion in halacha. Does she have to have a home delivery? She knows it's a boy cuz that boy already is a coin and maybe the fetus coin is already warned and cautioned not to become impure even in utero. Maybe even already in the womb. It's a whole discussion. Do you rely on the sonogram to determine if it's a boy? Does she have to undergo a sonogram? Maybe ignorance is not bliss. She has to know where she can go if she's carrying Can a pregnant woman It's a whole question. Should a can a pregnant woman go to a cemetery or a funeral? Rabbi Shachter holds that the Baba Meisa she can go. Others are more cautious. Maybe GB mysticism, superstition. But if Does she have to check whether she's carrying a boy before she goes to a cemetery or a funeral? Whole discussion. So the coin is warned. Stay away. Be careful. Be vigilant. No tuma. Until the metzora. Then we say, go. Go me chutz l'machaneh. Go to the leprosy camp. Go into the place of tuma. Go check out this this leper. It's a task you'd never think to assign that would ever be assigned to a coin. Why is this job assigned to the coin? Furthermore, there are many forms of impurity. The Torah. Anyone with the required knowledge can help with the purification. Yet, tsaraas is assigned only to the coin. Send the dermatologist. Send the Levi or Yisrael. Send somebody who's not cautioned to be careful about impurity. Continues Rabbi Soloveitchik. Let us analyze the situation of the metzora and the treatment of leprosy in biblical times. The phobia related to leprosy in olden times is similar to the phobia of modern malignancy. The greatest fear was the fear of discovery. One took sick and the outward symptoms caused others to suspect he had leprosy. Immediately the sick man lost his human dignity. He became isolated from the community. People were afraid to associate with him or even greet him. He was often killed or at the very least driven out of town. From time to time he offered a meager supply of food thrown to him like food thrown to a dog. He was treated harshly for the sin of having contracted the disease. Might as well be talking about corona. You remember in the early days of corona. I I remember my son-in-law got corona during Chanukah. He stood outside looking through the window while we looked while we looked at the Chanukah candles. He slept in the guest room detached from the house. We put food outside his door. He could come and take it. But God forbid, you know, with gloves and distance and mask and don't open your door till we leave. You remember the way we were? And how that made people feel? Pesach's coming up. We'll never forget Pesach 2020. People had seder all alone. Now we should be taking stock. There should be a review. We should be evaluating what we did right, what we did wrong. We did the best with what we knew at the time and we deferred from the experts and that's our job to listen to. But they are the experts and we with them should be looking back and learning from it. But there were people who were all alone. That pain of being alone. There's no question that it hastens people's death. The the loneliness of it. The loneliness of it. Of being alone. So that was leprosy. People who got leprosy there are people alive old enough to remember leper colonies. What happened when a person got leprosy and how they were made to feel? What is the Jewish approach? Says Rabbi Soloveitchik. The first thing the Torah demands, bring the coin. The leper was thus instantly removed from the mob psychosis. The coin diagnosed and pronounced the tuma as tsaraas. But the leper was not subsequently cut off of society. He was in communication with the coin as one of the heads of the community. In fact, the metzora could request being seen by the coin gadol himself. A man who was not permitted to attend the funeral of his closest relatives. And yet if the coin gadol was summoned he had to go to the leper. The Torah legislated to prevent the loss of human dignity. The coin went to the leper outside the camp to demonstrate that he was his friend. The metzora was isolated from everyone except the leader who must do everything possible to heal him and bring him back to society. The coin assures the man, you are needed. You will get well. You will return. We love you. We haven't forgotten you. The coin acts for the needs of the people. The message of parshas metzora is that even someone who holds the exalted office of kehuna must not abandon his fellow Jew. He must have his compassion for everyone, even someone as dangerously ill as the leper. Not only the coin but the prophet as well was charged with the role of being such a friend. The prophet had to deliver the word of Hashem but was also charged with the mission of helping individual man, of being a nursing father to the people of Israel. Moshe himself said to the people, come to me to seek Hashem. Compassion is the essential attribute of the spiritual leader of klal Yisrael. What an insight of Rabbi Soloveitchik. What a message it would send. Everybody was isolating. Everyone was withdrawing. Everyone was with recoiling from this leper. And who went? Dafka the coin who was so vigilant and so careful who he was exposed to. He went. Even the coin gadol who didn't go to the funeral of his own direct family if summoned, went to go see the metzora. Why? Because you know what leadership's about? Not making someone feel alone. Basher hu sham. Going where they are to offer that love and that non-judgmental, uncom- unconditional companionship. It It makes me think when you read that insight of the Rav, it makes you think of the disco rabbi, Rabbi Grossman. So sein gezunt un stark. Rabbi Grossman who never compromised an iota chasidish Yid of who he is and how he dresses and how he conducts himself but got the name disco rabbi cuz he'd go in Manhattan with Rabbi Riskin. She should also be well. And would go into the discos on Friday night on Shabbos and befriend the Israelis who were there. And chalila I'm not calling that a leper colony. But it means to go to uncomfortable places. To go to places that ordinarily we would be vigilant not to be exposed to. To go basher hu sham and to connect and to be able to show love and to offer companionship and to be where the people are. The Tolna Rebbe the healing Tolna Rebbe also has a similar idea on our parsha. He talks about going out. Vayaitzei ha kohen mi chutz l'machaneh. The coin goes out. V'hinei nirpa nega tsaraas. The psikat zu treisa. In a different context in parshas Balak, comments the word v'hinei. V'hinei. V'hinei. V'hinei nirpa nega. Look at back at pasuk gimel. V'hinei nirpa nega. When the coin goes out where the metzora is, v'hinei and behold, he's able to hear the heal the nega. The word v'hinei. What does v'hinei ordinarily mean? Ein v'hinei ela simcha. Joy. What's the joy? You're going to a leper colony. You're going to the disco. You go where the people are in order to connect. V'hinei. There's joy. There's a gishmak. There's a gishmak? So v'gam hinei hu yotzei likras achiv v'sameach b'libo. You see this elsewhere in sefer Shmos. Aaron going out to greet you, he will see you and rejoice in his heart. Hinei hu yotzei v'ra'acha v'sameach b'libo. You see that v'hinei comes with simcha. The situation of tsaraas is when the coin's love for every Jew is manifest. This love does not come to there the fore during normal times. When everything goes smoothly and the coin is together with his fellow kohanim basking in the glory of the Beit Hamikdash. You know when you see it? When the coin leaves the Beit Hamikdash. When he goes mi chutz l'machaneh to work with the metzora. That's when the powerful love the coin has for every Jew. That's when it can be seen and measured. That's when it's manifest. The Torah alludes to this manifestation of the coin's love. Nega The final letters of the words v'huva ela kohen, aleph lamed nun says the Tolna Rebbe, are the first letters in David Hamelach's description of his love for Yonasan. Nifleta avascha li me'avas nashim. Your love was more powerful to me than the love of women. The Mishnah Avos tells us the bond between David and Yonasan is the quintessential ava she'einah t'luyah b'davar. You want to know a love between two friends that is not dependent on anything. There's no dependence. There's no conditions. There's no because you do for me. There's just love and loyalty. Is the love of David and Yonasan. This is the level of love the coin must feel for the metzora when he goes out to camp to work with him. Likewise, the word min nega tsaraas min ha tsaru'a al- alludes to me'avas nashim in David Hamelach's expression of his love for Yonasan. This is the love and love the coin has. And the Tolna Rebbe concludes. He says, today we don't have metzora'im. We don't have this diagnosis spiritual lepers. But we have a a of lost souls. We have a lot of people who are trying to find their way. And you know how we bring them back? When we go find them. When leaders, Dafka, the Kohanim of our generation, shower genuine love to these individuals, to not send them away or leave them isolated and alone, but to go where they are, to go into the meetings and recovery, rehab, to go into the disco, and to go wherever they are, just as a Metzora sent away. The Gemara Megillah says, "B'Mida she'hu modeh, ba modeh dem lo." Kodesh Baruch Hu treats a person the way they treat others. So, if we show our love even for those Jews who are far and distant, and work to bring them closer, Hashem is going to bring us closer. He's going to show his love for us, says the Tolna Rebbe. And all this, a very similar idea both between the Tolna Rebbe and Rav Soloveitchik, same idea of "V'Yatzah Kohen el M'chutz l'Machaneh." You see the responsibility in the definition of leadership, where they're willing to go. You know, I I was one of the early Rabbis to use social media, not to post dessert, or about my kid's fever, or about my vacation, or about my birthday, but to share Torah articles, to connect inspirational messages. And I got a lot of criticism at first. The world's caught up. All segments of the Torah world. Agudah has a Twitter handle. Satmar has a Twitter handle. I know that because after we went to see the Satmar Rebbe 2 weeks ago, they posted the pictures and talked about how great the Achdus Satmar headquarters. The world has moved along. But what was the rationale? What was the reasoning? Not to chalila compare those who engage the technology as being M'chutz l'Machaneh, but ba'asher sham, to engage and to connect and to try to uplift and inspire, and to bring light where people are, and to find them, and to find them there. V'hinei Nirpa. We said the word "V'hinei Nirpa." We said the word "V'hinei" always connotes joy, Simcha. What's the Simcha? So, the Rav Moshe Shick goes back to the Emoras Tahoros. He says, "Emes she'ker refuah l'negah t'li b'machshava b'tshuva. K'she ya'aseh tshuva k'ro'i v'yischareit al avonosav b'leiv nishbar, v'hu ohev yoshev l'vein mizah, l'm'rirus d'kasa ruach, a'dei zeh adrabah yiskavein al avocholi. Eich yitachein she'tihyeh tshuva siman l'refuas negah?" You know, when a person feels that they're isolated and alone, they're living M'chutz l'Machaneh, they've been put in time out by the community, then they beat themselves up, they knock themselves down, they feel enormous shame and sadness. "V'ulai emes ki k'she ya'aseh adam tshuva amitis k'ro'i, but really the opposite can occur. Occur. When a person says, 'I made mistakes, I went wrong, I brought about this own reality, but I'm going to learn from it. I'm going to grow from it. I'm going to bounce back from it.' There's not win or lose, there's win or learn. So, this Metzora says, 'I'm going to learn.' And Ivdu es Hashem b'Simcha. I have a lot of Avodah to do to bounce back, but I'm going to do it b'Simcha. Because when a person tries to bounce back with sadness, they only knock themselves further down. The only way to climb up, the only way to bounce back, is b'Simcha. And that's why the word "V'hinei" is used here. V'ra'ah Kohen. K'she yirah tzadik Kohen l'shon Simcha. And what will bring him the Simcha? When he looks up. V'yatzah Kohen el M'chutz l'Machaneh. Who's there? Who's there? I go to prison to visit people. You know what it means? Because they look up and they say, "That's how someone's spending their time." That means something. It matters. It lifts spirits. It gives hope. Person is beating themselves up has reason to, who needs to work to bounce back. But if they're all alone, they'll only fall into a deeper depression. When V'yatzah Kohen el M'chutz l'Machaneh, and in every respect, we're all Kohanim in different ways. To family, to friends, we're all those leaders. When we go out, when we go to people are V'hinei Nirpa Negah Tzara'as. Heals the Negah Tzara'as. V'hinei, the fact that we showed up. When you show up, and you check in, and you visit, and you care, and you connect, the simple V'hinei, the simple connecting is enough. That lifts the person's spirits. I already made the Bracha before we began. Not that you would have thought I didn't, but I felt the need to say that for some strange reason, anyway. Okay. Uh ba ba ba ba V'huva. Why does it say V'huva, not V'lo ba? Why V'huva, not ba? Is also a question, but moving along. Perek Yud Daled, Pasuk Daled. We read the Kohen M'tzora Kohen. The Kohen commands. This individual now has been diagnosed as having Tzara'as. The way back is two live clean birds, cedar wood, crimson thread, and hyssop. Back to Rav Druck, l'havdil bein kodesh l'chol. says the following. Rashi tells us, the Pitpusei D'varim, the birds chirped, he chirped Eitz Erez, she'negain b'maggas ruach, arrogance. You got to bring the cedar and the the worm and the hyssop, because a person has to lower themselves from their Ga'avah. Einam uvah mishum tzarich shnei d'varim l'havdil bein metzora l'zav. Why wasn't Tola'as or Ezov enough? Why do you need two ingredients? You need the Ezov, the cedar wood, and you need the Tola'as. You need the crimson thread. Why did he Why did he need Why did he need both of these things in order to be able to bounce back? Both of them are about humility and modesty, rather than being arrogant. So, why did he need both? Kol ha'meichamin yesh b'chol ha'olam l'kashlacha l'hashpil et atzmo. Zeh Tola'as v'zeh gam Ezov. L'sheim ha'kodesh tzarich l'havdil bein shnayim. And furthermore, he says, Hinei d'varim tzarich l'havdil bein shnayim pasuk rishon u'pasuk rishon v'acharei. And the order that we go in. First is Eitz Erez, which is the tallest. Then the Ezov, the hyssop, which is lower. And then the Tola'as, the worm, which is the lowest. So, we should have gone in the order of lowering himself from the highest, the cedar, to the hyssop, to the worm. Nima a'seider uv'kesav Eitz Erez, shnei Tola'as, v'Ezov. We seem to go out of order. So, Rav Druck quotes his Rebbe, Moreinu v'Rabbeinu Moreinu v'Rabbeinu Rav Chaim Kanievsky, zatzal, answer to a difficult Rambam. Won't get into specifics of the Rambam and how he answered the Rambam, because I want to get on to other ideas. But with Rav Chaim's answer to a complicated Rambam, Rav Druck answers our question. Gam kashya she'ein rishona. Nima tzarich l'havdil bein shnei Tola'as v'gam Ezov? V'zeh k'mei'achar refuah she'ya'ash b'atzmo t'chilah ad l'kotzer ruach. She'nishtahav tzarich v'rak acharei kein yachol l'hachzir et atzmo l'midah beinonis. Because when you want to get better, first you have to go to the extreme. First you have to go all the way down to being worm food, and then you can bounce back and say, "But I'm a little better than worm food. I'm an Ezov, hyssop." K'she meto b'Torah meto a'seider refuas shel metzora. In other words, sometimes, if you've acted in extreme, you got to go to the opposite extreme to bounce back to the middle. And that's why it went out of order, because we're not going in order from the height to the middle to the lowest, we go all the way to the lowest, and we bounce back to the middle, because in rehabilitating ourselves, sometimes, you have to go to the opposite extreme in order to be able to come back to the middle. Want to tell you an amazing Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva, shlita, an incredible idea from Moreinu v'Rabbeinu Rav Shaul Alter. He says the following. As part of the Metzora's purification, we're on Pasuk Gimmel Aleph. Shh. Turn the page. Baruch Hashem. We are on Chevreh Proud. We turn the page. V'heimei Kohen b'Parshas Ish Metzora o sam lifnei Hashem Pesach Ohel Mo'eid. The final stage of purification is that this Metzora comes to the Beis Hamikdash, comes to the Mishkan, and the Kohen stands him The one who purifies shall place the person being purified along with them before Hashem at the entrance of the Tent of the Meeting. Pesach Ohel Mo'eid. The Kohen who purifies places the person being purified at the entrance of the Ohel Mo'eid. What is the word "lifnei Hashem" like the is this place? The gate of Sha'ar Nikanor. Look at Rashi Yud Aleph. Lifnei Hashem b'Sha'ar Nikanor. What's the Gemara Sotah Daf Zayin? V'lo ba'Azarah atzmah. Af she'hu M'chutz l'Kippurim. Now, the Kohen can't actually bring him into the Azarah. Why not? He's not clean. So, where does he bring him? To the entrance. Which entrance? The entrance that's called Sha'ar Nikanor. Called Sha'ar Nikanor. The Gemara Pesachim Daf Pei Hei discusses why Nikanor Why Sha'ar Nikanor was not sanctified. The Metzora couldn't enter the Azarah, but he could stand in that gate. Why was he allowed to stand in that gate? Because the gate was not pure. Why was the gate not purified? The Gemara says it was for this very reason. In order that a Metzora would stand there and put his thumb into the Azarah, and the oil and the blood would be sprinkled on his thumb into the Azarah. So, he needed to be able to stand there. So, wonders Tosafos, Zog Tosafos Yevamos Daf Zayin Amud Beis, why couldn't Sha'ar Nikanor be sanctified, and the Metzora would stand outside Sha'ar Nikanor and stick his thumb in? Why did you have to leave the gate itself not pure, so he could stand in the gate and stick his thumb in, make the gate also pure, and he'd stand outside the gate and stick his thumb in? So, you know what Rabbeinu Tam answers? Listen to this. So, Sha'ar Nikanor was left unsanctified in order to protect the Metzora from the sun and the rain. Because it would be uncomfortable for the Metzora if he had to stand outside in the sun and bake. Could get hot and humid in Har Habayis in Yerushalayim in the summer. It could rain. The winter a sideways rain would knock this mitzvah over. Says the show alter, that's truly amazing. Think about it. So Ross comes as a punishment for one of these seven severe sins. Lashon hara, murder, swearing falsely, hoarding and theft, stinginess. So you might have said, you know, this individual, let him bake in the sun. Let him get a sunburn. Let him get soaking wet from the rain. Let them gain atonement through their suffering. It should be a kapara. Let him get cut. Let It'll be a kapara for them. But the Torah teaches otherwise. We must concern ourselves with the comfort even of a sinner, even of the Russia, even the person who misbehaved, that we also care even about them. That's the sensitivity that we have to have. Never grow so callous that you become indifferent even to the person who's displayed their own indifference. Because that callousness is a poor reflection on us. So the Torah is worried that even that lowlife, even that is rough, even that baal lashon hara, even that Russia who violated one of these seven things also deserves a shade, also deserves not to not get wet. So much so Shaar Nicanor is not purified so he could stand there and stick his thumb in. We can understand why this took place specifically in Shaar Nicanor, not one of the other entrances to the Beit Hamikdash. Says the show alter, why? Because Hazal the Gemara Yoma tells us that Nicanor's great mesiras nefesh. Who was Nicanor that he has a Shaar named for him? Nicanor was a person and he displayed tremendous mesiras nefesh selflessness to bring doors to the Beit Hamikdash. Where did those doors come from? Egypt. Elevating them to great kedusha from their origins in the most impure land. He transformed them. This is very appropriate for Erev Pesach. He took these doors from the land of tumah, Egypt, and he transformed and elevated but by using them where at the entrance to the Beit Hamikdash. The most fitting place for the doors and purify them to kedusha is the place that shows concern for the well-being of every Yid regardless of their spiritual standing. Where the kedusha of the Beit Hamikdash is sacrificed to ensure the comfort even of sinners is where these doors obtained through mesiras nefesh should be elevated to kedusha. There's an important lesson in this too, says the show alter, that a person has to draw others close despite the cost of his own individual growth. We saw this about the Cohen, told me to have in the Rav. The Cohen goes out. Cohen goes out even to the place that the leper is. Similarly here, we go out to make it comfortable even for the metzora. We work to raise others even if it might bring us down. It's like the lesson of the parah adumah. The pure become impure while purifying the one who is impure. Sadikim said that just as the broom gathers dirt when it sweeps the room, so too one who helps others may find themselves somewhat soiled. Just like the broom gathers dirt when it's used to clean. You clean the room. What's left with the dirt with the broom? It's dirty. So too when you try to clean someone, something, you can absorb the dirt. Where there's mesiras nefesh for another Yid, there's the purification of klal Yisrael, of klal Yisrael. And that's uh and that is the the message of Shaar Nicanor and dafka why Shaar Nicanor and why even though Tosafos answers, we're worried about his comfort. It shouldn't rain. It shouldn't be too cold even for this lowlife metzora. Okay, one more idea. Perek Daled Pasuk Yud Ches. I know some of the shamashim going to rush and retire. A metayer. The keeper of the coin is not a sham. This sprinkling, this anointment, this rehabilitation process, it also includes that the oil that's on the coin's palm, he puts on the head of the person being purified. Why? Why on the head? You know who was bothered by this question? The Chofetz Chaim. Chofetz Chaim was bothered. La'asos gam rosh even on his head? We don't find this with any chazarah in the mikdash. Anytime there's an anointing in the Beit Hamikdash of which there are others, we don't find ever the anointing on the head. So why here is there anointing on the head? Says the Chofetz Chaim, "Given that a metzora over gamma kamatz lashon hara, the metzora accepted. Why did they come to speak negatively or hear negative talk about somebody? Vadai chashav berosh machshavah's rosh acharei ro. Because they were thinking negatively. It starts up here and then it comes down and out through the lips." Lekach niska gam rosh letahara. So therefore, not only do the lips need to be purified, but the head needs to be purified. Lehachgiach lashon hara lo machal be'ashlita al hapeh. Lashon hara is not just about the mouth. Where is the real battle with not gossiping about others? It's not with the lips and the power of speech because before a person speaks, hopefully, not always and for some not often, but hopefully before a person speaks, what do they do? They think. So where is the place of purification in the place of thinking? And that's why the Chofetz Chaim says, "Unusual, but this is the one place where Where do we anoint and where do we purify? The head." To remind us, think before you speak and have pure thoughts about people, positive thoughts about people. And ayin tov, a good and positive eye about others before you speak. That's why dafka That's why dafka the sprinkling happened where? It happened on the head not only on the lips. The Hizartem Bnei Yisrael was going to share one more insight, but we are going to end here a little bit early because there's a Shabbos Hagadol drasha that needs a little bit work still. Wishing everyone a chag kasher vesameach. Should be a good Yom Tov that's filled with simcha because the hostages are home. God forbid they're not. We are participating in a campaign as are others. You'll be able to get it at the shul or download yourself a poster that is of the hostages. Set a seat at the Seder table with no one on it. Put the poster on it and we should go through our Seder looking at that seat with the collage of hostages remembering that we daven that they come home, to bring them home with the hashtag hashtag let our people go. Here we are thousands of years after yetzias Mitzrayim and we're still saying let our people go. What Moshe and Aaron had to demand of Paroh, we demand every moment of every day to Hamas, let our people go. So please God, we won't have an empty chair. The chairs will all be full because the hostages will be home. God forbid they're not. Set aside a chair. Let our people go. Chag kasher vesameach. Thank you, brother.