Metzorah 5786 - Evil Cannot Coalesce Into a Society

Parshas Tazria Metzora deals with um a lot of phenomenon that are hook for us, things that we don't understand, and tumah and taharah and so on. And tzaraas certainly, even though it has some sort of physical effect, it's widely assumed to be something which is mainly a spiritual phenomenon. So, um one of the things we find we we can learn from the things that are done um the the process, we can learn things about understanding some of the aspects of it. So, we have the pasuk in Metzora. It says v'shilach tzeporah hayah al paney hasadeh. That part of the process of cleansing the um cleansing this um Metzora is bringing two birds. One bird is shechted, one bird is uh dipped in the blood, and is sent off. V'shilach tzeporah hayah al paney hasadeh. He sends it off to the field. That's the That's the process. So, Rabbeinu Bachya explains um some of it is a little bit um sort of on the Kabbalah side, but the point that he makes is a point that we can well understand. And there are two points that he makes over here. One point he says he speaks about the um the the aveirah that the person did, the nature of it, which is lashon hara. But he points to a particular aspect, and he says um he creates he breaks bonds that are meant to exist, and he says that is reminiscent of the other of the nachash who tried to break the bond between Hakadosh Baruch Hu and people. So, since the Torah says Metzora Metzora's comes about as lashon hara, as a as a punishment lashon hara, this is something um similar to it. So, he says something um So, it it it the fascinating part about it is the comparing the bein adam l'makom to bein adam l'chaveiro. Um he says just like the nachash tried to separate between um the Hakadosh Baruch Hu and the briah and Hakadosh Baruch Hu by saying v'yisem kelohim, you don't really need Hashem. So, so sort of point of his argument was to to sort of break that bond. This also is going to is that effect of inyan. So, there's something here that's very very fascinating, and that is bein adam l'chaveiro and bein adam l'makom are not there just to describe what areas laws mitzvos are, but they're there to create a certain bond. And my Rebbi Moshe Shapiro used to say, if mitzvos if these terms bein adam l'chaveiro and bein adam l'makom are simply there to neatly organize the mitzvos, we could have come up with bein adam l'chamoro. Since there are five mitzvos that can apply to a chamor, so wouldn't it be appropriate to say bein adam l'chamoro? And we have all sorts of different things to be bein adam l'eh. And the the answer is no. Bein adam l'chaveiro and bein adam l'makom do not mean mitzvos that happen to take place on that in that world. Rather, it means that these are mitzvos whose essence is to create a bond. Bein adam l'makom, the essence is to create a bond with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Bein adam l'chaveiro, the essence is to create a bond with other people. Rashi says this many places a person is supposed to be mashlim himself between bein adam and bein adam l'makom, bein adam l'atzmo, bein adam l'ach, bein adam l'chaveiro. So, it's meant to create a bond, and the bond with other people is as significant as the bond between a person and Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And therefore, the the there's an equivalence between the nachash who tried to break the bond between Hakadosh Baruch Hu and humanity, and the um the the Metzora who through lashon hara tries to destroy the bonds between people. That's one point from Rabbeinu Bachya that comes out, that the um the this destroying of bonds between people is um stands in the same place as destroying a bond between Hakadosh Baruch Hu and people. The second point is the sending sending the bird away. This really in a sense is reminiscent of the Metzora himself who sits outside the yishuv. And Rabbeinu Bachya explains that the kochos of ra are michutz l'yishuv. And for instance, the se'ir l'azazel is sent out hamidbarah, out to to the to the desert. These birds are sent off sent away, and so on. The point of that is, and this is a general this understanding, that the the definition of ra is not an it's it's not something that has uh existence um uh an understanding of its own, and it's one against the other. We don't understand that that that ra itself has um a metzius or whatever. It's more the antithesis of tov. Um the the the um the the Hakadosh Baruch Hu is one, and he is is is synonymous with both tov and existence. So, anything which is davka Hakadosh Baruch Hu, anything which is tied to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, is tov and exists. The ra is something that does not uh exist. It's it's an illusion, and all it is is anti-something. Meaning that kesher sheker, a a so-called unity amongst resha'im cannot exist. It basically is just uh um uh a um it's it's opportunistic. It's it's it's something which if I if you and I get together, we can rob the bank. But there is no bond that is formed around that. This was demonstrated by Dor Haflaga, where since their main focus was anti-Hakadosh Baruch Hu, however we understand the Chazal describe it in different ways, but at the end of the day they were trying to rebel. They did not have an essence. Ra does not have an essence. So, ra is not in a makom yishuv. It does not build, it does not create, it doesn't become one entity. Tov becomes an entity. So, so so every shevet had its place, its nachalah, its yerushah, its its its makom, and so on. Different ways, but each one was a was a um a society that existed as a society because of tov. The minute something becomes ra, it exists only as a negative tov. The person is angry, bitter, upset, um frustrated. So, he may do things, but those things don't really have value on their own. And therefore, the people that get together to act together, they're doing it because it's it's something which um it's it might be uh useful at this point. It might help me achieve whatever negative I want, but there's no real bond with the other when everything is negative. So, the Torah demonstrates that the kochos of ra are outside. Um this is true, like we said, by the se'ir l'azazel who sent out. This is true that the Metzora is sent out. This is true that the bird is dipped and sent out. The bringing sacrifices on the bamos not in the in the um Mishkan and this is also called bringing korbanos to the se'irim that are located the These are all kochos that are out of the yishuv. That's why they they tend to be places of bad of evil, and so on, are in places where there is no society. So, to recap, we're trying to understand the the some of the of the of what the process of Metzora is expressing. We're looking at the um sending off the bird l'achutzah, which is the process of taharah. We explained So, with Rabbeinu Bachya's two points. First of all, that the act of speaking lashon hara and so on is something that destroys a society. That's and it's analogous to the nachash who tried to destroy the bond between Hakadosh Baruch Hu and people, they're destroying the bond between people and people. Secondly, rah exists outside of and the issue of rah can never form a a a group. Each one is there, each one is in it for his own. It's only tov that has real existence and and a real society. And therefore, all different aspects of rah always point to rah as being outside. Not a specific place, just not near the issue of not the makom of issue.