Tazria–Metzora: Tzaraas, Lashon Hara, and Seeing the Kedushah of Every Jew

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. In the parsha of Tazria Metzora, we learn about the metzora. What is the metzora an onesh for? Chazal tell us that, b'ikar, there's a few things, but b'ikar it's lashon hara, and that's the way the Rishonim take on that tzaraas is lashon hara. What is the limud that should be taken from the tzaraas? So if you look at the Rambam, the Rambam already brings us that some of the halachos are directly a lesson for the metzora, as well as for the people around the metzora. And the Rambam writes, for example, the fact that he has to be b'chutz lamachaneh, that the metzora is told that he's tamei and he has to go out of the machaneh around people. He shouldn't be around the people because, he is told, he doesn't belong around people. Because when he's around people, what does he do? He speaks lashon hara, and he makes groups of litzanus, so to speak, things which are not supposed to be spoken. So we tell him, stay away from people. Hazeh b'renk the Rambam. In Hilchos Tumas Tzaraas, perek tezayin, halacha yud, says the Rambam, מִמָּה בְּרִישׁוֹי עַד שֶׁיִּסָּפְקוּ, מִשְׁתַּנֶּה עוֹרוֹ וְיִצְטָרֵעַ, וִיהִי מֻבְדָּל וּמְפוֹרָשׁ לְבַדּוֹ עַד שֶׁלֹּא יִתְעַסֵּק. Muvdal umeforash means two things: muvdal, he, and meforash means klapi chutz, for the people. In the public's eye, he should be separated, levado alone, shelo yisasek b'sichas resha'im, shehi al leshonos v'lashon hara. So the Rambam teaches us that the halacha, specifically that that we tell the metzora to leave the machaneh, is to teach, is to make a lesson: you spoke lashon hara, gatherings of chaburah resha'im, stay away, stay alone, stay away from the people. And it is with this yesod that we could learn all the halachos of metzora, that all the halachos in the Torah, that the Torah tells the metzora that he has to keep, chayer could be understood in this light, that it's lessons in lashon hara, both for him and for the people around him, for the people who are his surrounding to learn not to speak lashon hara. And I'd like to enumerate some of these halachos. Of course, it will be almost impossible to go through every halacha in this light, in this vein, but some of them I'd like to point out. I'd like to begin with the simple beginning of the halacha, v'hu lakohen. It's interesting that we take the metzora and we bring him to the kohen. And the kohen is the one that has to inspect him. The kohen has to be the one to give him the examination. Then the kohen is the one to pasken on him if he's tamei or tahor. And why is it v'huva el hakohen? You know, if he's a nega, let him go to a doctor. Let the doctor be the one to give him the inspection. And even if you feel that it has to be the kohen the one to say if he's tamei or tahor, all right, but the inspection should be done through a doctor. Be'emes, Chazal already point out that it was somewhat of a demeaning thing to Aharon that he had to look, to inspect people in their bodies in different places, to check for tzaraas, to the point that Moshe Rabbeinu already felt bad for Aharon HaKohen, that Moshe Rabbeinu said, Why should Aharon HaKohen have to do this demeaning thing? So we see that even though it's a demeaning thing, it was given to Aharon HaKohen. Why? So I think there's a few things that can be learned and understood here. The simple pshat we could say is that he needs to come in contact with the kohen. The kohen...

is a person who's spiritually elevated. The Kohen is a person who's probably not a baal lashon hara, as a heilige Yid. He needs to see heilige Yidden. He needs to see holy, holy people, to learn from them, to be inspired from them. A person who speaks lashon hara is a selfish, is a— and as we're going to learn later, is the opposite of kedusha. We're going to speak that lashon hara, and the person who speaks lashon hara is the antithesis of kedusha. He's the exact anti-kedusha. He's mamish the opposite of the kedusha. And so we tell him to come to the Kohen, because the Kohen will be mashpia, mashpia from the Kohen's behavior, from the Kohen's kedusha. He'll be able to be inspired and thus learn a lesson not to speak lashon hara. This we could say on a simple level, but it's, I think, deeper as well. The question was, is it demeaning for Aaron HaKohen? So the Medrash says that Moshe felt so, and the Ribono Shel Olam tells Moshe Rabbeinu, Don't feel bad for Aaron HaKohen. Why? He gets the chav daled matnos kehunah. So Klal Yisrael pays him. He's on salary from Klal Yisrael, so he has to pay. He has to pay back his dues to society, so to speak. If the Bnei Yisrael support him, so to speak, the least he could do is take care of the negaim, take care of these issues that they have. In the past, I've asked, what? Therefore he should come to your house and maybe be your plumber as well. Maybe he should come to your house and be your—he should be an electrician for free. He should garden your garden for free because you pay him matnas kehunah. How did the point of him receiving matnas kehunah make it automatically, directly his responsibility to take care of the negaim of Klal Yisrael, to the point that even if it's demeaning for him, he must do it? What was the Rabbeinu Shleilam's answer to Moshe Rabbeinu's question? It's demeaning for Aharon HaKohen and the teretz is, Rabbeinu Shleilam, so what? He gets matnas kehunah. Because he gets matnas kehunah, he has to do a demeaning thing. And the answer, l'choira, rabosai, we could say. There's an interesting Maharsha, we've spoken about many times before. The Maharsha says, why bichlal does the Kohen get matnas kehunah? What is the reason for it? And the answer is because his job is levarech es am Yisrael b'ahavah, to guarantee that he gives a bracha with love, with full feeling and full—because all his heart. You must have that the bracha should have, for him, in his bracha, some advantage. So when he gives Klal Yisrael a bracha, they get parnassah, bracha and shefa and hatzlachah. Mimeila, in return, they give him matnas kehunah. So ultimately— The bracha has self-interest, and then we can guarantee that this should be done b'ahava. I'm thinking maybe that's the pshat here too. You know, in order to pasken tzaraas, you need to have ahava for the people that you're paskening about. In order to be a kohen, in the role of kohen, where paskens against, so to speak, you tell him that he's tamei, it must be with ahava. And the ahava comes from the fact that Klal Yisrael supports the kohen. We've spoken about this in the past, that the ahava of the kohen is guaranteed and facilitated through the fact that the Yisrael cares for the kohen to support him. The ahava must come through in tumas tzaraas, in the psak of the kohen, and I'll explain to you what I mean. I told you this in the past, the Rambam brings lahalacha an interesting Mishnah, interesting din. In case the kohen—we can't find a regular kohen—we could go for a katan, we take a child. In case the child isn't...

Or found to be found, we could take a shaita, someone who is mentally dissipated, disabled, challenged, mentally challenged. So he could be a katan, a shaita, the kohen who paskens saras. The question is, but he knows nothing. He don't know anything. Says the Rambam, we take a talmud chacham, someone who does know, and we bring him with the shaita and the katan, and we tell the chacham chacham, pasken, and the talmud chacham paskens. The talmud chacham paskens. And he tells the shaita or the katan, say tamei atah, say tahor atah. So what's the whole point? What's the ceremony here? It's a ceremonial thing here. He's anyway not paskening. He's a shaita, a katan. What's the point of having— So of course the answer is a gezeiras hakasuv, the taharas hakohen. But like we see from the Rambam, all the halachos could be understood in the light, all the halachos of the metzora could be understood in the light of lesson for both the metzora and the people around them in Hilchos Lashon Hara, and I think there's a great lesson here. And that is, in order to stick your finger out and point at another Yid and tell him tamei atah, it is only a job which is rightful to be given to someone who is either Aharon HaKohen or his descendant. Who really loves Klal Yisroel? It is the Kohen in the morning that says, Asher kidshanu b'kedushaso shel Aharon v'tzivanu levarech es amo Yisroel b'ahavah. It is he and only he that could stand in front of another Yid and tell him, Tamei atah. You are tamei. Nobody else has the right to directly, so to speak, confront another Yid and tell him, Tamei atah. It was given to the Aharon b'ahavah. And if you notice, the parshah Metzora begins, you come to the kohen, el Aharon hakohen, o el echad mibanav hakohanim. And the meforshim ask, what's the chiddush? Come to the kohen, whoever the kohen is. And Rashi says, hakohen b'yamecha. What would be the chiddush in that, the kohen b'yamecha? And I think there's a profound lesson here. The Torah is telling me not so much kohen, but it's telling me why the kohen, because the answer is it's either to Aharon or echad mibanav who follow in Asher kidshanu b'kedushaso shel Aharon. It's not so much the kohen mitzad kehunah, mitzad avodah, but it's the kohen mitzad Aharon or echad mibanav. In the Beis HaMikdash, there's kehunah, din kehunah, and then there's kehunah, who the kohen is, the feelings that he has, those feelings, those hergeshim, that ahavah that he has for Klal Yisroel, that Aharon had, that he gave over, Asher kidshanu b'kedushaso shel Aharon, that it was given over. In the DNA of a shulchan, so to speak, it is elechad mibanav haKohanim that Tzaraas was given to, to pasken and to deal with. And this is what the Chazal mean by Aharon, he gets matnos kehunah. What do you mean, so he gets matnos kehunah? And the answer is, there's a relationship of achrayus, of caring. The Kohen cares. The Kohen cares for the Yid, almost as he looks at the Yid as his source of income. He looks at the Yid and he says, This Yid, he takes care of my gashmiyus. It is my responsibility to take care of his ruchniyus. They're attached. You know, the Gemara actually, and we'll talk about this a little later in the shiur, speaks of a Kohen as a twofold job: shlucha d'Rachmana and shlucha d'Yisrael. Pshat, not shlucha d'atzmoi. There is no Kohen. The Kohen is selfless. The Kohen stands for two things: the Ribbono Shel Olam and Klal Yisrael. And the Ribbono Shel Olam wants that such a person, who has only two things in his agenda, the Ribbono Shel Olam and Klal Yisrael, they should be the ones who deal with tumas, tzaraas, in order to elevate, in order to...

To facilitate the tahaira of the metzora. You know, there's a Meshech Chachma, rabosai, which I found this year, which I think is very much relevant to what we're speaking. Meshech Chachma says, if you look at the pasuk, it says, V'ra'ahu hakohen. The kohen sees him and the nega, if it was bigger or smaller, and the pasuk continues. Fragt the Meshech Chachma, it should have said, V'ra hakohen es hanega, which it says a few times, but at the beginning it starts, V'ra'ahu hakohen. He, the kohen should see him, him. Fragt the Meshech Chachma, it's not him, it's the nega. Says the Meshech Chachma, no. The kohen has to look at the person that he's talking about, and he has to take in consideration the person and his situation. So, the Meshech Chachma, I'll prove it to you, because the halacha is a choson who is a metzora, we don't look. He comes to the kohen, kohen says, You got seven days off. Come back to me after the sheva brachos. You see? Why? And the answer is, V'ra'ahu hakohen. The kohen has to look and see the situation of the person he's talking about. Says the Meshech Chachma, don't look only at the she'eilah, but look at the sho'el. You see? This is a nusach I heard from my rebbe, Rabbi Roth, shlita, Kalusburger Dayan from Borough Park. He says a rav has to look not only at the she'eilah, but at the sho'el also. The kohen was capable of the ra'ah to see the person. He was able to detect in the person where the person's holding and what he needs, and to take into consideration the matzav of the person. And we're going to show you this a little bit even deeper. It's interesting, the halacha is that we have different types of negaim, different types of negaim. There's negaim on the head, there's negaim here, there's different. One of the negaim we have is haroish, nega haroish. If you look in perek yud-gimmel, pasuk mem-daled, the pasuk says, B'rosho niga. His nega is in his head. B'rosho, yud-gimmel, mem-daled. Says the pasuk, Ish tzarua hu, tamei hu. Tamei yitamen hakohen, b'rosho niga. Yeah, I mean, that's what it is. It says clearly where it is. It says, B'karachto o b'gabachto. Why would the pasuk id and stress and make emphasis, b'rosho niga? Zogt the Rishonim, the Torah is telling us, you know where this person's nega is? It's in his head. Where the nega pops up on the body is a lesson to the kohen to learn, to understand where this man is sick. The lashon hara he speaks. As a result of a machlah that he has, and sometimes that machlah is in his head. It could be a gaivah, it could be a sinas Yisrael, it could be many different things rooted in the head, but it could come from many things. Here, I'll give you an example. Let's say a guy speaks lashon hara because he thinks that he's better looking than the other guy. He's stronger than the other guy. He makes better money than the other guy. You know where his tzaros will end up? I don't know, either in his abs, or maybe in his hand. He thinks he's a better runner than the other guy, and he bereds the other guy in his feet. Say to the rishonim that the nega is a lesson of where the problem actually is. So in order for the person to grow and to be misaken, he needed the kohen, like a hashgachah, like a balmusar, like a mashgiach, to teach him and guide him. That guidance needed to be through Aharon HaKohen with love. On one hand, someone who cares; on the other hand, someone who could guide him and tell him, You know where your nega is? Nega b'rosho. You know where else we find this? I'll show you another lashon. If you look in perek yud-gimmel, pasuk nun-hei. The pasuk uses again in us such an interesting lashon.

V'rak kein achiv chavas hanega, v'hinei lo hafach hanega, einav, hanega lo pasa, pichesesu bikarachtei, oi begabachtei. The lashon, v'hinei lo hafach hanega es einoi. It's interesting wording. What? Yeah, raveita, I don't sleep. She'ein nireh. What does it mean that the hanega lo hafach es einoi? So einoi just means its complexion. So why does it say shesit mareh? Why does it say einoi? So there's an Alshich that says we're not talking about the nega anymore. We're talking about the person. Lo hafach einoi, his way of looking still didn't change. The tzaraas was supposed to give him a whole new way of looking at things, the way he's supposed to look at other Yidden. The tzaraas was supposed to be a growing process of a person looking from within, What's wrong with me? Why did I get this nega? V'hinei hanega lo hafach es einoi. The guy got locked in for seven days. It should have made a difference on the way he views the world, the way he views other people, the way he views Klal Yisrael, the way he views himself, klapei tzibur. But hafach es einoi. In many of the pesukim we find that the wording of the pesukim connotes this point. They try to bring out the point that the nega is the result, but the actual disease is deeper. It's either deep in his way of thinking or the way he looks at things, and the nega has to change that completely. And this is through the process of the halachos of tzaraas. And as we speak, at first he goes to the kohen. He starts to see how a tzaddik behaves himself, how a kohen behaves himself. So that's the first lesson. He comes in contact. He's usually in the back of the shul speaking with all the leitzim, like the Rambam says clearly. He's sitting b'moshav leitzim. All of a sudden, he's brought to a kohen, and he sees how the kohen speaks so sweetly, with such humility. The kohen that has kedusha, you see the way he talks and the way he behaves and the way he treats people. This was supposed to be a training, a lesson for the metzora. Lesson number one: ahuvah al hakohen. I'd like to show you a little bit more throughout the parsha, the halachos, the lessons to be taken, aside by the metzora and the people around him. And I begin, and again, I'm not going to go in order, but randomly different halachos. I'm not going to say I'm going to start from the beginning of the parsha to go through the whole thing, but different points that I jotted down, ideas that we could learn from the metzora and the metzora, and that is the se'ar lavan. Complicated. Why? Normally, lavan, the Rishonim tell us, is always a sign of taharah. Yet by the tzaraas, it's a sign of tumah. The more it turns white. The more problem it is. Here's why. Famous shaila: Lavan is always a sign of taharah. There's many terutzim. There's many terutzim. It's interesting, the goyim learns that the nega had to turn the hair white. It's not pshat there's white hair in the nega, that the nega created a situation that the blacks turned white. So some want to say the pshat is that it's an old nega. You know, sometimes a person, he spoke one time, two times, but if he spoke many times, so the nega would have a white beard already. You know, it became an old nega. This is already an old problem. So that's a siman of tumah. Some say that. I would say maybe it's a shaila of maturity. You know, when it's young, he was immature, he spoke lashon hara, so maybe it's not so deep. It's more about his immaturity. But if he's Lavan, he's a mature person already, and he speaks lashon hara, that's already a sign that he's a baal lashon hara. Or maybe we could say a third pshat, and I think this is a beautiful pshat. You know, we're the main lashon hara and the main—

Chisaron is that the guy walks around thinking that he is good and the other guy is no good. That you have lashon walking around thinking that you're white, and that's part of the disease of the metzora. The Torah wants to teach you that the person who walks around thinking that he's clean, he's white, he's clean, while he talks up against the other person, that's the sign of the metzora, where the Torah says you're a tamei like a metzora. You know where the tumah is? When a person believes by him it's white and by the other guy it's red, so to speak. The Torah wants to show you that that's the tumah that you are engaging in, the lashon who speaks lashon hara against the other person. And I'm going to show you where I got this from. Here's an interesting dehe. The white, the white is because that's where the baal lashon hara thinks that he's clean. I'll tell you where I got this yesod from. The Chovos HaLevavos brings a medrash, which nobody knows where it comes from. Chovos HaLevavos says that when a person speaks lashon hara against another person, that person gets all the baal lashon hara's mitzvahs, while you get all that person's aveiros. The baal lashon hara gets the other person's aveiros. Over the years, I've asked many talmidei chachamim, all of them included. I mentioned it to Rabbi Olbaum here. Why should it be that way? What is the understanding behind if I speak lashon hara, I get his mitzvahs; he should get my aveiros? So I was once at a bris where my rebbi, Rav David Feinstein, was in attendance, and I went over to him and I spoke to him in learning, and at the end I asked him this question. He tells me, what do you mean? He wants to make that guy a baal aveirah. So we tell you, you know what? Take his aveiros. So I said, good, Rebbe, fine. That's why you get his aveiros. Why does he get your mitzvahs? He tells me, it's only fair. A trade is a trade. He gives me; you got to give him something in return, right? So, you get his, he gives you back your aveiros. First, and that becomes the quid pro... what do you call that? Quid pro quo. Okay. I never understood what my Rebbe meant with this. Till today, I still don't understand. But I would like to explain a little bit, and maybe this is what my Rebbe meant, and if not, either way, I think it's a meiridike pshat. You spoke about the other person, that he's a baal aveirah. You put him down. You minimized him, right? You know what the Rabbeinu Shlelem is saying? Hmm, who's the baal aveirah? You'll be the baal aveirah. What are you talking about him for? He's a complete tzaddik. You're the baal aveirah. You know something? Talk about yourself. What'd you say? Oh, that guy did this. No, no, you did that. Guess what? You're that. The Torah wants that the person should start learning that when I put down, or I minimize, or I'm mevatel somebody else, you're actually what? Don't put him down because you're putting yourself down. And there's an interesting Gemara. The Gemara says, kol hapoisel... Bemumo hu posel. A person, when he posels, he's actually poseling himself because he has those chisronos. Now, pashut pshat in the Gemara means that if I think that that person is a ganef, usually I'll be a ganef. Otherwise, why would I think that? If I think that guy does this and this wrong, if it's not something that I do, I wouldn't think he... You know, people who are tzaddikim, and this we're going to talk about a little bit later. Remember, we're going to come back to this point. People who are righteous, who are pure, do not see chisronos in other people. It's only because you have that chisaron that you're able to look at the other person and say that he has it. Otherwise, you don't think in those terms at all. You know, most mafia think that every other guy is a mafia. Every guy's out to rob. Why? Because that's what they do. Kol haposel, bemumo hu posel. The purer the person, the more he only sees good in the other person. So if a person belittles the other, so the Torah says, guess what? We'll take all his aveiros.

Give it to you. He's not that; you're that. It's you. It's not him. Now go talk. Look in the mirror and talk. You won't talk to the mirror. Talk to yourself. That's the pshat, Rabosai. When we have a lesson of se'ar lavan, se'ar lavan means, or that the nega is lavan, part of the problem is where you think you're clean, and it is because of your thinking that you're clean that you walk around parading other people, and that's tumah. With this, Rabosai, I would like to explain an interesting yesod. How does negaim follow into tumah? Something that I've questioned all my life. I mean, l'chaira, if nega means tzaraas, which means lashon hara, so why tumah? Where did the tumah? Isser. There's an issur of lashon hara. There's a tumah of lashon hara. So if a person speaks lashon hara, he's metameh his mouth. The word tumah in the same chapter as lashon hara needs to be explained. Where is the tumah? It should be discussed in the light of issur. Yeah, a person b'chalal Shabbos, he's tamei. It's a maridikah. I thought about it for many years. What's the pshat? Besides, we also have to understand why is it that the onesh is through negaim? Why this onesh? You want a person speaks lashon hara, you know what? Take away all his money. A person would feel just as bad. Why does it have to be through a nega? And I think the teretz might be: negaim begin by you seeing the nega by the other person, you see. You find fault, you find chisaron. A nega is a chisaron, so it mirrors that you get that nega. The moment you find a nega by somebody, the Torah says we're going to give you that nega because it's actually by you. And how does it have to do with tumah? So I'll tell you pshat like this. You know, it's interesting that he calls out, I'm tamei. Where does the tumah come from? There's an interesting Kedushas Levi. The Kedushas Levi says, in the parashah of Kedoshim tihyu, we have tefillin. The Torah teaches us about why. How did Kedoshim tihyu—why is that the context, the chapter where tefillin is being taught? Kedoshim tihyu... peter rechem, and then it says tefillin. Says the Kedushas Levi something so interesting, so profound, mechadek. Bechor is the ultimate kedushah of adam. A person is a bechor, he's kadosh, mamash belonging to the Beis HaMikdash. Tefillin is kedushah. What is the kedushas tefillin? Zogt the Kedushas Levi, Ribono Shel Olam says, Mi k'amcha Yisrael, while Klal Yisrael says, Hashem echad. To be able to live Hashem and Klal Yisrael, to be able to live that I am strictly— The Rabbeinu Shleilam's, so to speak, this is what I am oived, this is what I live for, as well as I live for mi k'amcha Yisrael, and that I speak good things about Klal Yisrael. This is also the ultimate kedusha, and that even a Yisrael can reach kedushas bechor through such means. Wait a second. You're listening to a Torah. Kadesh li kol bechor. Kol bechor can mean even the regular Yisrael. How do you become a bechor Yisrael? And the answer is through the idea of tefillin, Rabbeinu Shleilam and Klal Yisrael, mi k'amcha Yisrael. He says people who speak good things for, in Sanegoria for Klal Yisrael, are kadosh b'kedushas bechor. Meirdike, meirdike. If you realize the depth of what he's saying, it's a meirdike zach. A person who is able to speak Klal Yisrael's ma'alos, together with the Rabbeinu Shleilam's ma'alos. See, most people are able to say tremendous shevachim about the—

But could they walk around seeing and talking only ma'alos of Klal Yisroel? That's very few, because a slavey was able to do it, right? That's ultimate kedusha. And that's kedushas bechor. And I'd like to shtel tzu that that's pshat asher kidshanu bikdushaso shel Aharon. What is kedushas Aharon? It's yivonu levarech es am Yisroel b'ahavah, that they're able to reach that madreigah, that they love Klal Yisroel so much, that's kedusha. That itself is kedusha. You speak lashon hara, there's tumah. And like I explained to you, that the tumah is actually not even the yetzer hara. There's something in you, there's something deep inside, a tumah that leads you to be able to speak lashon hara against something so kadosh as Klal Yisroel. You hear, rabosai? Me'ah dike reid. You hear? The fact, the fact that you speak good things about Klal Yisroel, says the kedushas Levi, is kadoshli. It's in the same parsha of kedushas bechor. A person who's not a bechor, how does he reach? And the answer is through the idea and the concept of what tefillin stand for. And that is, רוממות הקדוש ברוך הוא, that I see Hashem's greatness and I exalt His greatness, as well as, מי כעמך ישראל, I exalt the greatness of Klal Yisroel. This is the idea of kedusha, and that's why he has to come to the kohen. Now you chap why he comes to the kohen. I started off the shiur by asking you, why is it the job of the kohen, the tumah and kedusha and taharah and metzora, and the teretz is because kedushas kehunah. is the exact opposite of tumas tzaraas. The tumah of the metzora is the antithesis, the exact opposite of the kedushah of the Kohen. The Kohen is shlucha d'Rachmana v'shlucha didan. He carries the tefillin. Tell me, where do we learn the halachos of kedushas tefillin from? We learn from the tzitz. Because Aharon HaKohen carried with him the tefillin, the idea of tefillin b'rosho, 24/7. Aharon HaKohen, the tzitz, the shem, the tzitz is where we learn all the halachos of tefillin, of hesech hadaas. It's all learned from the tzitz. The Kohen's head, if I may say, was a tefillin, because all the Kohen walked around thinking was, I have to be oved HaKadosh Baruch Hu, shlucha d'... HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and shlucha d'Yisrael. That's tefillin. That's kedushas tefillin. That's kadosh LaShem. You know what kadosh LaShem means? The head of a Kohen is busy 24 hours a day. The Ribbono Shel Olam's avodah and Klal Yisrael's kaparah, Klal Yisrael's taharah. That's kadosh LaShem, something that only the Kohen Gadol. And when the metzora talks and he becomes tamei, so the Kohen is there to help him, to elevate him, to metaher him. And that's why it's the job of the Kohen. The Ramban asks an interesting question. If you look at the pesukim, it says by the metzora, vechiper, vechiper, twice. Says the Ramban, why does he need two kaparos? Maybe it's kedai to read the Ramban inside, if you give me a minute. The Ramban says as follows. Says the Ramban that twice it says in the pasuk that the Kohen comes and takes the korbanos, vechiper alav hakohen. Fragt the Ramban, why does he need two kaparos? So the Ramban says, one, because he did an aveirah before he became a metzora, by speaking lashon hara. And the second thing he did wrong was when he's already a metzora, he probably spoke against the Eibishter in complaint on his situation, and therefore he needs a second kaparah. Says the Ramban. Says the Ramban. Rabosai, I would say—

Maybe, lulei divrei haRamban, that he actually needs two kaparos: one for speaking lashon hara. The other, at the time that he was speaking lashon hara, he should have been speaking good things again for Klal Yisrael. He should have been praising the other person. The Orchos Tzadikim writes that when a person speaks lashon hara, he's actually doing two things wrong. Why? He says if a person is not a talker, so let him not talk. Let's say a guy says, I love to schmooze, I love to talk. So say good things. You're right. You like to talk. You can't control yourself. So say good things. Train yourself to say good things. So the fact, like there's a very famous goyen, the goyen says that on every aveirah you do, asid litein lifnei mi atah asid din v'cheshbon. What is din and cheshbon? What are the two things? Says the goyen, din is on what you did wrong, and cheshbon is we make a cheshbon what you could have done right at that time. It's also, in the time that you could have been doing the—while you were doing this aveirah, you could have been learning, you could have been davening, you could have done something constructive. That's din for what you did. Cheshbon, what you could have done at that time that you did the thing wrong. There's a din v'cheshbon, rabosai, on lashon hara too. There's a din, what you did wrong. You spoke lashon hara. There's a cheshbon because you spoke lashon tov, which was Misanigurei shel Yisrael, which could have elevated you. How many korbanos does the metzora bring? Two tziporim. We know the tzipor is about what? Speaking. Metzaptzef, like the birds. Why two? Echad lachatos v'echad laolah. Echad l'chatos v'echad l'olah. Why? Pshat's like this, rabosai. One is for the aveirah, one tzipor. The other tzipor, you should have spoken good things, עולה. Should have elevated yourself. Don't you understand? There's two parts to your lack of speech, your chisaron in your speech. The first thing is, one is a degrading chet, a chatos. The other one should have been an עולה. Tzipor עולה, the speech could have been an elevated speech. You could have said nice things about the other person and got a mitzvah. You could have spoken divrei Torah. You could have davened instead. Two tziporim, me'aldachtzach, that's the two kaparos that he needs. With this, rabosai, I would like to explain a few more nekudos in the halachos of metzora. Do we have tzaraas today? No, we don't have. The Baal Shem says we're not ra'ui to have tzaraas today. Metzora is something special that the Eibishter mamash shows hashgacha pratis, that as soon as you speak lashon hara, that's a special intervention, mamash the Eibishter's hand clear. We're not fit and ra'ui to see such hashgacha gluyah in today's time. The Chinuch says that tumas tzaraas is talui on kohanim haro'uyim liros negaim. Kohanim that are fit and capable of seeing negaim. So the Chazon Ish paskens writes l'halacha in Hilchos Negaim, perek yud-gimmel, os yud-zayin, that it's negea b'zman hazeh. According to the Chazon Ish, we could theoretically have tumas nega because the kohanim could learn Maseches Negaim. The Chinuch says it's all based on Kohanim who could pasken. Why can't they pasken like anything else? The same way they learn Hilchos Shechitah, they'll learn Hilchos Tumas Tzaraas. I'm thinking, efshar, efshar, the Chinuch is saying something completely different. You need Kohanim who are equipped to see a nega and understand the nega. We don't mean that they're able to see the nega and pasken what it says in the Mishnayos. We mean that they need to be equipped to understand. And that means to see the person, and to see the matzav, and to see that is what the Kohen is there for. The Kohen with his kedushah, the Kohen with his insight, the Kohen with his ahavah, was able to sum total the package and figure out what this person needs in order for him to be nisaleh. I'll show you an example. He gets locked up for seven days in case it's a safek, right? My question to you is, what is the seven days for? It's an interesting halacha. And the answer is, the person probably is somewhere in the middle, right? Which means if he does teshuvah,

Maybe he'll get better. If he doesn't do teshuva, it'll get worse. So he's somewhere a beinoni-like, like the beinonim hatluyim v'omedim between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This mitzta'er, l'cheira, is a beinoni. Or maybe there's a lesson both for the mitzta'er and for the people around him, and that is: give it time to decide. Don't jump. Don't come to such quick conclusions. When a person has to pasken about someone else's nega, patience. Give it seven days. Come back and analyze it a second time. You know, one of the halachos of a nega is, v'hinei mar'eh hanega ein is amok, or eino amok min habasar. There's different types of negaim, deeper, not deeper than the basar. What is that all about? You know what the answer is, like I explained to you, the kohen has to detect how deep is the nega, because when the person spoke against the other person, he could have spoken about a chisaron which is really external, and if he looked deeper into the person, he would see that that person's not so bad, and the things you said about him are not so true. Then you know what kind of a nega you would get? Nega which is eino amok, or eino amok. It was supposed—the amok is also part of the lessons of where the metzora is sick. How deep is his tzaraas? Is it external, or is it deeper than the skin? How deep does it go? And also how much you, metzora, spoke against the other person. Maybe the other person has a nega, but maybe it's only external; it's eino amok min habasar. This was the training that the Kohen had to be able to focus in like a big mashgiach, like a big baal mussar, to analyze through the nega the spiritual standing of the person that stands in front of him, v'ra'ahu hakohen, had to sum it up. You see, it's interesting. Here, there's deep, not deep, deep in the skin. There's lessons to be learned about deep and not deep. Is this guy's skin deep nega or it's deeper? Is the other person that you spoke about, maybe it's just an external wound that he has, an external chisaron that he has. And all this goes into the report, so to speak, into the final, what do we call that from the doctor, the final diagnosis. That's the word I'm looking for. The final diagnosis of the doctor, the Kohen, takes all this into account. I want to show you something interesting. The Kohen—I'm sorry, the metzora has to announce he's tamei. Tamei, tamei yikra. Why does he announce he's tamei? So you would say because people should stay away from him. That's not what Chazal say. Chazal, Rashi brings it down, k'dei l'hodia tzaaro l'rabim, k'dei sheyevakshu alav, that they should daven for him. Ask the Chofetz Chaim, so that's not a mitzvah. I mean, anyway, he needs people to daven for him. It's like a person who's sick. He should tell people that they should daven for him. Why is it like a mitzvah, tamei, he's got to announce it? Answers the heilige Chofetz Chaim, meyredik. The metzora, eibishter's not interested in his tefilos. He can't daven for himself. So he has to ask, lohodia tzaari l'rabim, that they should daven for him. I would like to add, with the words of the Chofetz Chaim, the Rashi is very meduyak, lohodia tzaaroi l'rabim. You should just say lohodia that he has a tzaaras. Why tzaaroi, his pain? You know what it's referring to? Having a tzaaras, a choleh, and not being able to daven is tzaaroi l'rabim. The greatest tzaar is when a person has nowhere to turn to. People who are sick know that one of the greatest outlets, so to speak, that they have is that they can daven to the Eibishter. They have who to turn to. Ki avi v'imi azuv, Hashem ya'asfeni. You have who to turn to. Shivti b'beis Hashem kol yemei chayai. I know You're close. This metzora gets sick, discommunicated, and he can't even turn to the Eibishter to daven. I believe that's what it means, tzaaroi. He's megaleh tzaaroi, the tzaar of not being able, and he tells them to daven.

That's mekah, modia tzaarei l'rabim. Other mefarshim say, you know why he has to do this? Because nobody's allowed to walk around saying that, You heard that guy? He became a metzora. Look at that. Because that itself is lashon hara. So the only person who can walk around telling everybody is him. Mishum a guy's sick, so he could come and say, You heard? Chayankel is sick, so he could daven for him. But here you can say, You heard? Chayankel is a metzora. Well, what are you going to do? You can't talk about it. So he has to be modia l'rabim, b'riska teretz. You know, rabosai, what I would say pshat, I've told you in the past a beautiful story, that when I was, I'd say, living in Brooklyn years ago, maybe 12, 13 years ago, I lived in Brooklyn, Chol Hamoed, my children, my children needed a minyan Sukkos, not 9, 10 o'clock, you know, one of these shacharis during mincha time, you know, that's the type of minyan we needed. They were kids at the time, and I can't really blame them, you know, it was Chol Hamoed. So I told them I'm going to take them to Boro Park. That's the only place which I think you could still get a minyan at 12, 1 o'clock, you know. Huh? Not Shabbos, Chol Hamoed. Whatever, you got my— you got what I— Little did I know that there was going to be an historic event in my life that took place. I told you ever? An historic event that took place that changed my whole life. Not changed my life— well, it's a story, but I want to give you a little bit history behind the story. This goes back 12 years ago. 20 years ago, 19 years ago, my son Yitzchak was born. Yitzchak was born in NYU Hospital on First Avenue in Manhattan. It was a whole nighter, Erev Rosh Hashanah, okay? The night before Rosh Hashanah, a whole night. You know, the first babies are mamish all-nighters, you know, until the baby comes out. And on top of that, my shvigger was there. So that made the labor a lot more... Okay, you got my—I don't have to finish the statement, right? She's a wonderful lady, I'm just joking. Whatever, you know, it was in the morning, the baby finally comes out, and my shvigger, baruch Hashem, is cranky because of a whole night. She needs a coffee. She— I said, I'll get you the coffee. Believe me, it's more for me than it is for you that you should drink the coffee. Just kidding. If she ever listens to this, I'm just joking. It's just for theatrical entertainment, okay? And if she doesn't listen to it, so I mean most of what I'm saying, okay. Kitzur, I went downstairs. They have, by the way, a kosher cafeteria on the ground floor. 6:30 in the morning, I come in there, it's pretty full for a cafeteria. A lady comes over to me. You could tell she was more modern, Orthodox, you know, with such a gleam on her face. You heard what happened in Boro Park? I said, What happened in Boro Park? I thought maybe Rebber was niftar, but why would she be smiling so much? I couldn't. I said, I'll tell you the truth, I didn't hear nothing. I was the whole night with the— I don't know what's going on in the outside world. I just know my baby upstairs. That's what I heard. They found by two of the Chassidim of Bobov that with drugs, they caught them, and they arrested them. The pain I felt when she said that to me with such glee. She was trying to put down, you see, look at the ultra-Orthodox Jews, look how they behave. To me, it was like they spoke against my own brother. I had such pain from it. I couldn't understand, how could—what are you so happy about? And in nature, I usually don't respond. I'm not a kanoi. People know me. I've never, ever responded, you know. But here I felt the need that it must be. I have to respond. I must respond. I must. I must say something, the kavod of Klal Yisroel, kavod of Klal Yisroel. I can't keep quiet. So I said to her, Tell me, if you ever fell in the street with a heart attack, tell me, who would come to your rescue? Nobody. Why? Everybody'd be afraid, right, of getting sued. People are careful. The only people that would come rushing to your aid is Hatzalah, these Bobov Chassidim that you're talking about. Don't talk against them. You might need them one day.

So I said, Don't talk to me. You never know if you'll need them one day. And I was very impressed where it came from. I forgot to tell you that in preparation, in answering, I turned and I said, Rebbe, you should put the words in my mouth. Give me the right... and it had to be from the Eibishter, because I can't come up with this on my own. This is, you know, this is right. In Hebrew we call it kalel ha-matarah, bullseye, right? Perfect answer. And I walked away. Wow, you know, you got it in you. Not bad, you know. Years later, I tell you, I take my children to... and Yitzchok is one of the people who need the minyan, right? I take Yitzchok to bother. I tell him, 45 minutes. You know, if you daven at 12 o'clock, 45 minutes is good enough for you, even on Chol Hamoed Sukkos, trust me. If you're so makpid about tefillah, you could walk up early. In 45 minutes to 50 minutes, I'm picking you up in front of the... The day has to start. You know, you can't start the day at one o'clock, right? Okay. Fifty minutes later, I stop by, you know, I went to do a few errands. They come out, my children, and Pinchas puts his esrog and he says, You know, Tati, I forgot my lulav in the beis medrash. I said, All right, another ten minutes. Just go get the lulav, and I'm waiting out here. All of a sudden I hear screaming, Zayfaltik! Yankel, zayfaltik! Be careful! Al tapiks! He has a gun. I'm thinking, gun? Where? I'm looking all over. I couldn't figure out what. There was a Spanish person was trying to abduct a Yiddish kind, a Yiddish child. The Baba Chassidim coming out of Bishmesh with their little bit esrog, they see this. What is their response? Another guy runs. They were running to save the kid, and they were screaming to each other, Be careful where you go. And you confront the guy, he has a gun. So instead of running from, they're running to, each one warning the other one, Be careful, that bix, he has a gun. I'm standing there in the car. I would have left, trust me, but I had my son inside, and I'm witnessing right in front of my face this thing. They pinned the guy down. The police came. I couldn't move till after the police, because they blocked off the whole street. There was— When I left, I saw, look at unbelievable. It's unbelievable what a Jew has in himself. Selflessness to go, to run, to save another kid, another guy, he has a gun. He's out of there, right? Running no matter what, with the little bit esrog out of the Baba of Bishmesh. I said, The Ribono Shel Olam paid me back for the years before when I protected the honor of the Baba Chassidim. And I said, You never know when you'll need that. Don't talk against. I saw firsthand the ma'alah, the ma'alah of what they could achieve, what a Jew is capable of doing. All my life, this changed me for life. I said, always, Hashem paid me back in this world to understand what it means to say good things about Klal Yisroel. I think, Rabosai, that's the pshat here too. The mitzvahs spoke beis. Rabbeinu wants, he should be modea tzaar לרבים. See the rabim, what they do for you. It's the same people that you're going to talk against, they're going to sit and daven for you. Hear, Rabbeinu, modea tzaar, kedei—who's going to come visit you? Your neighbors. It's the same neighbors you spoke lashon hara against, and they're going to daven for you. Now you know not to speak against them. You never know, you might need them one day. The ma'alah of Klal Yisroel is rabim. I want to tell you a little bit further, more, Rabbeinu. You know, Rosh Chodesh, when we bench Rosh Chodesh, we say, b'schus tefilas rabim, tefilas rav. It's a whole question, what nusach. Some say rabim, rabim. Some say together, rabim, rabim. So let me tell you what the controversy is about. Rav made up the nusach of Birchas HaChodesh. It's Rav. The mefarshim, the Otzar Tefillos, ask, so why do we have to announce that it's Rav? Every time we have a tefillah, we have to announce who made up the tefillah. B'schus tefillah was the person who made it up. It's a good question. I mean, why would I say b'schus tefilas Rav? What's this? Reb Nachunya ben HaKanah, do I say the bracha, Yehi ratzon...

The zechus of the Chunyah ben Akanah. Chunyah ben Akanah made the thing that when you walk into beis medrash, רצים לירוץ. So why I have to say the zechus of the Chunyah ben Akanah? So other mefarshim say it means tefilas rabim. What is tefilas rabim? You notice we say chaverim kol Yisrael. That's what we... And I want you to understand, when we say chaverim kol Yisrael, we don't just mean that you could just say it. I remember I was once in a shtiebel in Borough Park. I also woke up late one Shabbos. I went to the local shtiebel, and there were two people talking, and they spoke against everybody on the block. Everybody. I thought, I thought I was... I better get away from here before the ground opens up. A whole krias haTorah. Then when it came to Birchas HaChodesh, the same guy who talked against everybody got up, Chaverim kol Yisrael, and he started clapping with his hands, Chaverim kol Yisrael. And I thought to myself, the clapping ain't gonna make it real, you know what I mean? Either you believe it or you don't believe it. You can't sit and talk lashon hara and not think chaverim kol Yisrael and then say and scream chaverim kol Yisrael. Why do we say this, chaverim kol Yisrael? So the mefarshim say we're asking for very big things. I don't know if you realize. We ask for Yikabeitz nidcheinu me'arba kanfos ha'aretz. We're asking, the whole Chodesh should be shefa, bracha, parnassah, refuah. That's not a regular tefilah. That needs tefilas rabim. That's the zechus of a tefilah of a rabim. What creates tefilas rabim? It's not just ten people sitting together and davening. If you know, many siddurim have this, that before you start to daven... Yesh mi mekabel on yourself mitzvos v'hafta l'reiacha kamocha. Why? It should be tefilas rabim. In order for it to be a tefilas rabim, it has to be that the rabim mesht into one unit, into one entity. And then it becomes the zechus of the tefilas rabim. Their baal lashon hara is mafrid, like the Rambam says, that's why he's michutz lamachaneh. So you know what we tell him? Come and be meidia tzaaroi l'rabim. Why the word rabim? K'dei sheyevakesh. It means that the rabim should be mevakesh, that it should be a chibur, that they should come together again, and in this zechus he should heal himself. It's a tikun on the pirud that he caused. He causes that it should be a pirud. So it doesn't mean l'hodia l'rabim sheyevakesh; it's l'hodia l'rabim, it's that the rabim should daven for him, as a tefilas rabim, as a v'hafta l'reiacha kamocha, and this becomes the lesson for the metzora. With this, rabosai, I want to explain to you something very beautiful. You think I'm finished. I'm not finished. I have another hour to go. Take your time. Take my time. Good, Baruch Hashem. Thank you. I think, rabosai, we could say a meiridike pshat, okay? And the truth is, we are coming pretty close to the end. I've just explained to you that the lashon hara that goes on in the life of the metzora, and the tzaraas that he gets, and that the kohen's involvement... It's deeper than just issur. It's kedusha, it's taharah. You see clearly you want the kohen to be busy with his tumah. And I explained to you because the lashon hara is a direct result of something deep that's missing. It's a chisaron of kedusha. Therefore there's a tumah, and the tumah is a tzaraas. I think with this we can explain an unbelievable Gemara. The Gemara says in Bava Metzia, daf pei-vav amud aleph. The Gemara brings down in Maseches HaPayalim that what happens if you have a safek by the baheres if the white hairs were there before or not. Halacha is the white hairs have to be after, hafach. We don't know. What happens when you don't know? Okay. So the Gemara says that this is a machlokes heaven and earth, literally. That the Ribbono Shel Olam paskens that it's tahor. Mesivta d'rakia paskens that it's tahor. Here we pasken it's tamei. The Rambam paskens tamei because Torah lo bashamayim hi. So the Gemara says who's going to pasken for us? We'll ask Rav Shimon bar Nachmeini. Why? He's a baki in tumah and taharah. He's mamash a baki in tzaraas and metzora. He knows these halachos well. So they asked him.

And he answered, tahor, like the eibishter. V'yatza nishmaso, and he passed away. Passed away. Says the Gemara, ashrecha. What? What do you mean? Did he die? It's a Gemara. You know, bring me the Gemara. I know you believe, but let's read it inside. It's an unbelievable Gemara. Zogt the Gemara, ashrecha Reb Shimon. You hear? Reb Shimon, praised are you, sheyatza nishmascha b'taharah, that your neshama left with purity. It was Rabbeinu could be it's Rabbeinu. That's why I always like to double check. You know what? Since you're bringing me the Gemara, pei-vav, it's like six lines from the top, six, seven lines from the top. Zogt the Gemara. You ready? Rabba bar Nachmeini. That's what it is. Agav shamda, yeah, it was Rabba bar Nachmeini. Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Okay, here it is. Says the Gemara, v'kagaris ka miflagi b'mesivta d'rakia, and the whole mesivta d'rakia, they say tamei. What happens if it's a safek? HaKadosh Baruch Hu omer tahor, v'kulam mesivta d'rakia, and the whole mesivta d'rakia, they say tamei. V'amri, and we said, man noichach? Who's going to prove this? Rabba bar Nachmeini. Amar, Rabba bar Nachmeini, ani yachid b'negaim, ani yachid b'ahalos. Shadru shlicha basrei, so they sent a shliach after him, v'lo hava matzi, malach hamaves l'mikrav lei. The malach hamaves couldn't get him. They wanted him to come up to Shamayim. They couldn't get him. Midlavka pasik, pumi girsi, and stopped learning. Ada hachi, nashav zika, a wind blew, v'avish bei nikarni, savar gunda, he thought it was an army. Kitzer, he died because he stopped learning. Says the Gemara, ki kanach nafshei, when he went up to Shamayim, what did he say? Tahor, tahor. Yatza bas kol v'amra, Ashrecha, Rabba bar Nachmeini, shegufcha tahor, v'yatzah nishmascha b'tahor. Okay, but I don't understand. All he said was the word tahor, so what? How did it become that your guf is tahor and that your neshama is left of the world with taharah because he said the word tahor? And they said, pshat is gevaldig. To see a safek and to pasken tahor comes from taharah, the Ribono Shel Olam, who's the mekor hataharah. Lifnei Mi atem metaharim, uMi metaher eschem? HaKadosh Baruch Hu is mekor hataharah. So the Ribono Shel Olam sees taharah when there's a safek. Ashrecha, Rabba bar Nachmeini, shegufcha... you're also tahor, and the raya is because you see it through the lenses that the Eibishter sees it, that a safek is actually tahor. And this sums up everything I just spoke. Those that see beauty in Klal Yisrael, those that see everything, even when there's questions, safek, they see tahor. This is Rabbeisai, taharah, taharah, taharah. This is kedushah. This is Aaron HaKohen b'ahavah, reverse. When a person sees everything negative, thus is tumeh, tumeh, tumeh. This is where the tumah comes from. It depends on what's inside the person. And I just want to end with the following. So someone could ask, so what's the solution? What's the solution? And the answer is, Torah, because the Gemara says clearly, and I'll tell you an interesting— the pasuk says that if a person has tzaraas, he comes to the kohen. So if you look at the Targum Yonason, the Targum Yonason says, mahalech l'sifraya. He goes to the yeshiva. They all ask— you ever saw the Bava V'Rav speaks about it. It's a very nice shaila. In Kiddushin, see, in the Bava V'Rav, what does it mean, mahalech l'sifraya? What does it mean? So he brings the Gemara, that the Gemara says that a person is a metzora, ultimately the biggest and best thing he can do for himself is go back to yeshiva and learn, to go back to yeshiva and learn. Why? Because Talmud Torah is mechaper al lashon hara. Azoi zogt the Gemara in Horiyos. He says, what's the pshat? Mahalech, he has to go l'sifraya, which means it's not enough to be michutz lamachaneh. He needs to go and clean him. He has to have the ultimate cleansing, and that would be to go to— How is it so? It doesn't say. Nobody's mazbir. Why is Talmud Torah the solution?

Lashon hara. Either you could come and say, you spoke lashon hara with your mouth, with your words. So learn Torah with your words. Torah, words, words. Or maybe we could say a mevdiker. You know where lashon hara comes from? Lashon hara comes when inside you're empty. That's where lashon hara comes from. When a person is empty, something missing inside, you start talking lashon hara. A person is kadosh, like it says in the Gemara, he was busy learning. Gufcha kadosh. He was busy learning, Rav Avraham Nachman, like pasuk, pumei megirsei. Gufcha kadosh. When the person inside is kadosh, he's learning, there's not— I want you to know, and I'm going to end with this, some of the worst lashon haras that ever have been spoken in the history were between two chavrusas when they're batel. It's interesting. When two chavrusas stop learning and they take off time to shmues, some of the worst lashon hara comes out from those sessions. Most people, they're busy, they don't have time. You sit by the Gemara and you're learning, you're batel. Where does that come from? It comes from this yetzer. When a person is empty inside, at that moment, that's where the lashon hara, that's where the lashon hara, the tumah starts to come. And with this we can come and say, Zos Toras hametzora. Toras hametzora? Why? Interesting, that? Zei, Toras hametzora. I'll tell you more. So what does it say? At first it says, Zos toras ha..., and then it says, Zos toras hametzora. Says the Rashi. First he was teaching us the Torah, right, of the yoledes, and then Toras Adam, the Torah of the person. Let's see the Rashi. This, you see, clears up Rashi. Here it's zogt Rashi. Yeah, it's zogt Rashi, zogt Rashi here. Amar Reb Simlai, k'sheim sheyetziraso shel adam achar kol behemah, chayah v'of b'maaseh Bereishis, kach Toraso nisparshah achar toras behemah chayah v'of. I don't understand. Isha ki sazria v'yaldah zachar, and then right away it talks about tzaraas, no? If you want to talk about Toras Adam, what are you talking about here? Isha ki sazria v'yaldah zachar v'tamei. Yeah, then all of a sudden it talks about another tumah, tumah, tumah, midvayk tumah. That's called Toras Adam. You couldn't think of anything else to give me Toras Adam? You know what Toras Adam? Shabbos, Yom Tov. Talks about the behemah, chayah v'of, temei'os. That's called Toras behemah. And now we're starting to talk about Toras Adam. What's Toras Adam? When you're born, you're tamei. Then you speak the lashon, you're tamei, tamei, tamei, midvayk tamei. That's Toras Adam. You know what he's trying to say? I'll make it: Toras Adam. You know what adam is? You know what Torah means, Toras Adam? When there's no Toras Adam, the void is tumah. The void is tumah. Toras Adam is showing you that a person could reach levels of kedushah, yet he could reach levels of tumah when he's void of kedushah. And that's the chiddush of teiras adam. So this is what we have to take from the Mitzrayim: lessons. Tumah, to see nega by the other people and to speak lashon hara, and it all comes from one thing, that deep down there's something missing. There's a kedushah that's missing. There's an avodas Hashem that's missing. This is the lesson that we're supposed to take from the Mitzrayim. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.