Metzora - Stay Positive!

You're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari Goldwag, recorded with a sham's never-ending assistance in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel 5782 2022. This week's parsha is parshas Metzora and our parsha teaches us about the concept of the metzora, what's involved in a person who has this spiritual leprosy, how they gain atonement for that leprosy, the halacha, the process that they have to go through. But what does it come for? So we all know, the Torah tells us doesn't really tell us exactly why it comes, but the our sages tell us that it comes for we all know classically for speaking lashon hara, speaking negatively of others. But our sages also give us a list of different sins, almost all of which have to do with haughtiness. Cuz a person walks around with a haughty eye, with haughty eyes, therefore they receive a certain punishment, which is tzaraas, which as the midrash tells us is something which causes the the body to look ugly, to look repulsive. Now, I'm not going to get into so much the causes of tzaraas. I'm not going to get so much into it, but we do find classically, we all know, as we said that it has to do with lashon hara. And what I would like to share with you is a second piece in the midrash in this week's parsha, which says something which we all know, we're all familiar with. But I'd like to share with you not just what the midrash says, but also I want to look at the makor, the source, for this idea, which is in Tehillim, King David, in Psalms in chapter 34, teaches us an incredible thing. And I think we're used to hearing the words "Mi ish ha chofetz chaim?" Who is the one who desires life? "Netzor leshoncha me-ra." Protect your tongue from speaking evil. We're used to hearing those words. We know the Who wants life? Who wants life? Protect your tongue. Don't speak things that are negative about others. So, I'm going to I want to share with you is perhaps a classic midrash. Maybe familiar with it. But I want to share with you the psukim themselves because if we read the verse in context, so the verse if we look at it, if we look at it carefully, it seems out of place. I'd like to think about it. I'd like to ponder what is the message of this pasuk? What is the idea of veering away from speaking lashon hara? What does it teach us? Or what is the context within which this verse is spoken of that we can learn from and take home an incredible message. So I'd like to share with you first what the midrash says. "Davar acher, zeh yihyeh toras hametzora." The pasuk says this shall be the law. This shall be the the halacha, the the um process through which person needs to go in order to receive his atonement. I don't receive "Mi ish ha chofetz chaim?" This is what the verse says. Who is the one who desires life? Now, who is the one who desires life? "Maiseh rachil echad." There was a story with a particular peddler. A peddler would go from town to town and in this case this peddler wasn't just a regular peddler who was going from town to town town selling his wares, but it sounds like he was some kind of maggid, some kind of person who would go from town to town offering advice to the Jews, offering admonishment, mussar to the Jews. He went from town to town. "Machriz ba-ayaros." "Shey machriz ba-ayaros." He would go from one town to another. That were close to the city of Tzippori. Tzippori is a city in the north of Eretz Yisrael, land of Israel. "V'hu machriz v'omer, 'Man boi l'mizban sam chaim?'" He would say, "Who wants to get the elixir of life? Who would like to have a special tonic that if you drink this tonic, you will have life." "Ois ken alai." So he was going around saying, "Who would like life?" And everyone was they were piling on. They were coming there. Someone's coming with a a claim for a tonic that gives you long life. Everyone was interested. "Rebbi Yanai havah yosev u'poshet b'tur klinai." Rebbi Yanai was a great sage at the time. So he was sitting and studying the Torah in his hall, in the Torah hall. "Shmei d'machriz, 'Man boi l'mizban sam chaim?'" He heard from the window that someone was out on the street calling out, "Who wants life? Who wants the special tonic of life? Proven. Proven throughout the generations, a tonic that gives you long life." "Amar lei, 'Tzei sak l'chutzei d'vini.'" So Rebbi Yanai wasn't going to get up and leave the Beit Midrash, but he called out of the window, "Come up here." He He said to the peddler, "Come up here and sell me what you have, your wares." "Amar lei, 'So the peddler called up to the Beit Midrash. He said, 'Lav an soichlei v'lo d'chevasoch.' You don't need it. And nobody like you needs it. It's not necessary." "Atrachlei." He the Rebbi Yanai said, "No, no." He You know, he said, "No, please come up. Please come and sell it." "Salak l'gavai." So this peddler came up and he said to him, "Hotzei li sefer Tehillim." He took out his sefer Tehillim, Psalms. "Har'ei pasuk, 'Mi ish ha chofetz chaim?'" He said, "You want to know You want to know what is the elixir of life? Look at this pasuk." The verse tells us, "Who is the one who wants life? 'Mi ish ha chofetz chaim?'" "Machshiv basrei." Said the peddler, "What does the verse say afterwards? 'Netzor leshoncha me-ra.'" Protect your tongue from evil. "Sur me-ra va-aseh tov." Turn away from evil and do good. So the peddler was saying it in this way to attract an audience so that he could give them the Torah's prescription for how do you get a long life? Who wants life? Not just in this world, but of course in the next world as well. Who wants life? This is the way. This is the path. Don't speak gossip. Don't speak negatively of others. Focus on the positive. Don't look at the negative. It's easy. We're emotional beings. We're human beings. Something happens to us, we want to tell our wife, our spouse, what went on that day. It's easy to talk about the negative things that have gone on. The Torah is instructing us, you want to have life? Keep a positive outlook. Keep a positive focus. That's what he told him. That's what the pasuk is saying. "Amar Rebbi Yanai." So Rebbi Yanai heard this message from this peddler. And he and he said as follows, "Af sh'leima acher v'omer." Rebbi Yanai said, "You know, there's another pasuk that King Solomon says, the son of King David." Pasuk says in Mishlei, "Shomer piv u'l'shono." "Shomer mitzaros nafsho." A pasuk in Proverbs chapter 21 verse 23. A person who who guards his mouth and his tongue protects himself from difficulties, from from challenges. Obviously, if you're protected from challenges, person can have a long life. Person is oppressed. If a person has negative experiences in his life, person focuses on those negative experiences, so it's creating problems for himself. Person who veers away from negativity, veers away from negative speech, veers away from gossip, veers away from speaking negatively of God because really when we speak negatively of our situations, when we focus on the negative, we're really speaking lashon hara about Hashem. Hashem is the one who gave us our life situations. So person who protects his tongue, he's really protecting himself. Protecting himself from danger. Now, I would add, it doesn't say this in the midrash, but I would add that the things that we focus on, the things that we think about, we draw more of that to ourselves. That's just a reality. It's a spiritual principle. Bitachon, when I have faith in God that things are going to be good, so it brings more goodness into my life. When I'm negative, chas v'shalom, it could be the opposite. Now, Rebbi Yanai says a very interesting statement. We all know this pasuk. We all know that "Mi ish ha chofetz chaim?" The answer is who is the one who wants life? Watch your Watch your tongue. Watch out for negativity. We all know this question and we know what its answer. Rebbi Yanai says, "Kol yoma hayisi karei pasuk hazeh." He said, "I always was reading this verse. V'lo hayisi yodei'a heichan hu poshut." I didn't know which way the verse went. Meaning, sometimes a verse can be an introduction to the verses that follow. Sometimes it can be a summation of the verses that preceded it. And as we'll see when we look inside of Tehillim together, it's not so clear which way the psukim are going. "Atcha b'rochel Rachel zeh hu idea." "Mi ish ha chofetz chaim?" Until this peddler came and he with his wisdom, with his theatrics in a certain sense, said, "Who wants life? Who wants life? Who wants the elixir of life?" And I realized that that's the p'shat in the pasuk. That's what the pasuk is saying. Who wants life? "Mi ish ha chofetz chaim?" Who is the one who wants the elixir of life? David ha Melech, King David, was in a certain sense theatrically speaking and saying, "Who wants life? I have the elixir of life right here for you." "I never understood the pasuk that way," says Rebbi Yanai. "Now I understand it." "L'fichach." "Moshe mazhir es Yisrael v'omer lahem, 'Zeh yihyeh toras hametzora.'" "Toras motzei shem ra." That's why Moshe Rabbeinu warns us. If you focus on the negative, if you speak negatively of others, the word metzora, why does it come? Why is tzara'as come? It comes because of motzi shem ra. The word metzora is somebody who speaks negatively, speaking of someone who spoke negatively and therefore he he got a problem. He got a He has to be separated out. He has to have a physical affliction because of his spiritual affliction of negativity. And the result is Moshe Rabbeinu has to warn us. Don't fall into the trap. Don't fall into the trap of speaking negatively of others. Don't fall into the trap of speaking negatively at all. That's the piece in the midrash. What I'd like to do is I'd like to go back to the amazing words of King David, David Hamelech, in Tehillim chapter 34. David Hamelech, you read his words. You know, sometimes you can read the words of someone who lived 2 1/2 thousand years ago, more than almost 3,000 years ago, right? Almost 3,000 years ago, King David. What a great human being. Had all the power. Greatest king of the Jewish people. David Hamelech built the foundations of the Temple. Wrote for us the beautiful Psalms, 150 poems about his trials and tribulations and his yearning for Hashem. You read these words and you can't help but be inspired. So, I'd like to read them together with you and I'd like to point out something very interesting about this pasuk. Starts off the chapter Ledavid. A Psalm of David. He wrote this Psalm B'shanoso es ta'amo lifnei Avimelech. King David was was once trapped in the palace of Avimelech who was a who was a king of a different nation, it was a warring nation with the Jewish people. And he In order to get out of it, in order They thought it, you know, in those times they didn't have pictures of famous people. It wasn't known if this was King David. They thought it was. But what King did What David Hamelech did was he changed He acted like he was crazy. He started talking gibberish. B-b-b-b-b-b-b. And he said, "This can't be King David." Vayigareshuhu vayelach. And they said, "This can't be King David." And they kicked him out and he was able to escape. So, David Hamelech King David, after this incredibly diff- difficult situation he found himself in, he could have been killed by the enemy king. But Hashem put it in his mind. He put it in his mind to act like he was nuts. He was able to escape. After this incredible experience King David writes a Psalm and we can read this Psalm. We can read his thoughts. What did he feel like after that amazing triumph, after his escape from almost inevitable death? He says like this and he says it alphabetically with the aleph-bet. Each pasuk each verse here starts with a different letter of the alphabet. Aleph. Avarcha es Hashem b'chol eis. I will bless Hashem at all times. Tamid tilaso b'fi. My My praise His praise, I'm sorry, is constantly on my lips. David Hamelech is ecstatic. I want to praise God. God, you're so awesome. You saved my life. Bashem, with a bet. Bashem tis'haleil nafshi. In Hashem, my soul will will be praising. What do I What do What is King David What does he want to talk about? What is his thing? What is his What is What is it that gets him lit up? Bashem tis'haleil nafshi. My soul wants to talk about God. Yishme'u anavim veyismachu. The humble ones, those who are like like me, those who are spiritual, those who care about God in this world. Let them hear about it. Let them rejoice. Listen to this miracle that occurred for me. Pasuk The pasuk of gimmel. Gadlu laHashem iti. Say how great God is with me. Join with me, says King David. Anybody who wants to can join King David. Can you imagine? You can sing along with King David, literally. V'neromemah shmo yachdav. We will raise up His name together. Dalet. Darash'ti es Hashem va'ana'ni. I sought out Hashem and He answered me. I prayed Hashem. He's standing there. He's thinking maybe I don't know if he actually said anything. Maybe while he was saying the gibberish, he was It was actually a prayer to Hashem. I sought out Hashem and He answered me. Umikol megurotai hitzilani. He saved me from all those who wanted to cause difficulty to him. Pasuk of the letter hey. Hibi'tu eilav venaharu. Ufneihem lo yichparu. Look to Him and you will be lit up. The light will shine upon you. Your face will not be darkened. So, all he's talking about here is number one, thank you Hashem for saving me. Number two, join with me in glad song. Join with me in this song. Seek out Hashem. You too will be saved. Zeh ani kara. Pasuk of letter zayin. And let's remember, we've got a few letters until we get to pasuk of mi ho'ish, which is with a mem. But listen to the beautiful words of David Hamelech. We say this every Shabbos, but we might not even notice what we're saying. Zeh ani kara. This poor man. He saw himself as a poor man. He was King David. He was the king of the Jewish people. He had everything. He was massively wealthy. Zeh ani kara. I'm so poor. I'm calling out to Hashem. At any moment could be a moment where things aren't going my way. It could be a moment that things are going well. I'm poor, but I see myself as poor because I know that everything is from Hashem. This poor man calls out. When I make myself poor, v'Hashem shomei'a. God hears it. Umikol tzarosav hitzi'ani. Hashem will save him. Meaning he's talking about himself. Hashem will save him from every difficulty, from every challenge. Okay, so we're talking about difficulties, challenges. Hashem Hashem is saving him. Hashem can save you. Let's praise Hashem together. Choneh malach Hashem saviv lire'av vayechal'tzem. Letter ches. There's an encampment of of angels that surround me. They protect me. They save me. Ta'amu ure'u ki tov Hashem. Says King David to all of us, to his audience. This amazing miracle can happen to you, too. Just taste it. Ta'amu ure'u ki tov Hashem. All you need to do is taste it and you'll see how good God is. Ashrei hagever yivtach bo. It's so awesome. A person is so lucky if he trusts in Hashem. All you need to do is trust in Hashem. Yire'u es Hashem kedoshov. Ki ein machsor lire'av. Those who fear Hashem, the holy ones. The holy ones who fear Hashem. You're not going to be lacking anything. Kefirim rashu ure'evu. Lions who run after their prey, they always have what they want. They will They'll have nothing. They will be hungry. V'dorshei Hashem lo yechsar kol tov. But in comparison to them, even though they're mighty and they have power, those who seek Hashem, they will always have their needs. We will never be missing anything good. Pasuk of lamed. Lechu vanim shim'u li. Yir'as Hashem alamedchem. Listen, my sons. Go Go on the path. Go on the path of life. I'm going to teach you the what it means to fear Hashem. So, now we get to some pesukim that seem to be like not exactly what he was talking about. Until now, he's talking about praise Hashem, thank Hashem, trust in Hashem. It's going to be good for you. All of a sudden, he says, "Listen, I'm going to teach you something." So, now it's not really clear as you read the pesukim. Is he about to teach us something or perhaps he's already taught us this This is the lesson you got to learn for your life. That's what's a little unclear and and perhaps this was Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. He was He was unsure which way the verses go. So, he says, "I want to teach you something." Mi ha'ish chofetz chaim. Who wants life? Oheiv yamim liros tov. Who loves days, wants to see good. So, he already told us how you see good. You want good? Ta'amu ure'u ki tov Hashem. Taste. Ashrei hagever yivtach bo. Trust in Hashem. All you need to do is trust in Hashem. Then you're going to be Everything's going to be good. So, he explained it to us already. If you want life, this is how you get it. If you want good, this is how you get it, right? But he says something else which seems to be off topic. Nitzor leshoncha meira. Be careful. Don't speak negatively. Don't speak negatively. Usfascha midaber mirma. Don't allow your lips to speak deceit. Mirma really means I'm tricking somebody. Don't say something which is a trick. Don't say something which is even more than a deceit, a begida, a rebellion. Don't rebel. Sur meira va'aseh tov. Turn away from evil and do good. Bakesh shalom v'radfehu. Seek after peace and run after it. You're going to get it. If you're turning away from bad and you're turning towards good, seeking after peace, seeking after goodness, that's how you're going to get it. Now, we could keep going cuz it's really beautiful. There's only a few more verses, but I want to stop here and focus on what is David Hamelech saying here? He's talking about triumphant triumphant salvation. Hashem saved his life. Hashem put this idea. He was able And of course, he didn't take Amazing. David Hamelech never takes credit for himself. Leshem shamayim kol miklum. King David never takes credit for himself. He doesn't claim success. All he does is say, "This is You, God. This is You, Hashem. This is You, Hashem. You gave me the success. I trusted in You. I trusted in You. I trusted in You." Nitzor leshoncha meira. What does this have to do with it? Don't speak Lashon Hara. It's like I don't It's It's like he's not That's not the topic. The topic is praise God, trust in God. I was saved. What's going on? Where is going? Why is he all of a sudden gone off topic? And if you read the next verse, what does it say right after that? With the letter I am. The eyes The eyes of Hashem are turned towards his righteous ones. God listens to their to their calling. God looks at those who do evil. He wants to destroy them. He wants to destroy them from the world. Those who call out to God, God listens. He saves them from all of the challenges. He's back to the topic of God saving us because we're turning towards him. We're calling to calling him. God is close to those who are broken hearted. God saves those who are broken of spirit. And so he continues on speaking back on the original topic. Why does he go off topic? Why does he seem to go off topic speaking about Lashon Hara? What does that have to do with anything? And I think You know, I just also put out a bitalken podcast number 54. And the Rabbeinu Yona speaks about bitalken. Which is what we've been This is the topic right here. He speaks about bitalken in the context of Lashon Hara in the context of not speaking negatively about others. Trusting and recognizing that everything that happens to me is from God. Right? He's an only He's poor cuz he recognizes that he doesn't have any money except from from God. He's in a situation which seems to be negative, which seems to be no way There's no way out. I can't Abimelech thinks that I'm King David, who I am. And he's about to kill me. There's no way out. I'm done. I'm finished. I have nothing. means If you talk negatively about somebody else, if I talk negatively about somebody else, if we talk negatively about a situation, means that we don't remember. We've forgotten that it's all Hashem. We've forgotten that it's all God. is telling us not just a like a detour. It's not a detour from the topic at hand. He's not just saying, "Oh, I want to tell you all some good advice. Don't speak negatively. Don't talk Lashon Hara. Don't speak gossip. It's not It's the same topic. It's the same topic, trust in Hashem. If you trust in Hashem, you can't look at what someone else has done to you and and get all hung up on it. You can't look at your situation, which is negative. Hey, I have a right to to complain. We only complain cuz we forget that Hashem loves us and that everything that he does for us is great. Even the things that really are not good. Even the things that seem really not good. It's It's watch out from speaking negatively and from rebelling against God because when I when I reject my situation, my situation which is not so good, when I reject it, I'm saying, "God, I know better than you." If someone does something negatively to me, negative to me, and I and I go off and I get upset and I start talking about that person, I've forgotten. I've lost my bitalken. I've lost my belief that Hashem is the one who does everything in my life. is saying, "Watch out. Turn away Turn away from evil. Do good." And I'm adding, "Turn away from evil and remember that the one who does good is the one who is doing this She's giving you a situation. Don't look at the negativity. Don't look at it. Seek after peace. Now, what's peace? What do you mean to seek after peace? Peace is you have two people who are in a fight. Bring them back together. I have I have a fight with somebody else. But how do I get How can I forgive that person? Look what he did to me. Well, look at what does he say? says, "I don't look at what you did to me. I looked at Hashem was in charge of the situation. Don't look at you. Don't look at your negative thoughts about me. I know that everything that happens to me is because I want that situation to happen. There's so many negative things that might might be there for the for the righteous. Saves him from all these situations. The person person might might be poor. They might I am calling out of poverty. I don't have anything. Hashem God hears me. If I recognize that every single thing that's in my life is from Hashem, then I realize that indeed I can trust him. And I'm going to see in the end that it's going to be good. Now, when he learned these verses, perhaps we could say Perhaps we could say that when he learned these verses, he wasn't sure what was going on. Wasn't sure of life. Is that just talking about it? Is this all of a sudden a a detour? Another topic? He thought maybe going on in the previous verses saying, "Who wants life? You want life? Trust in Hashem." But there's something more. Who wants life? Turn away from being negative. Turn away from speaking from speaking negatively about others. But really speaking negatively, as we said, whenever we speak negatively, we're also speaking negatively about God because he gives us our entire life and our entire life situation. is teaching us. teaches us, "Don't fall into that trap. Don't fall into that that spiritual mess. Hashem protects you. Hashem will keep you. Hashem will send his his angels to protect you. All you need to do is continue to trust in Hashem. Subdue. Subdue that instinct which is to complain. Subdue that instinct to complain. And remember that every single thing that happens in your life is from Hashem. You want life? You want the elixir of life? It's the optimism. It's the optimism. It's the recognition that it's Hashem who sends us our entire life, our entire situation. As he As he finishes off, God redeems the soul of his servants. What does it mean he redeems the soul of his servants? It means that there was something that needed redeeming. It wasn't so obvious that God was there. It looked like I was trapped. It looked like I was lost. It looked like I was going to die. It looked like I was going to to not have the money I needed. But Hashem redeemed me. There won't be any negativity. There won't be any guilt if you just trust in Hashem. And trusting Hashem sometimes means I don't see how the salvation is going to come, but I know it's going to come. I want to bless you and I ask you to bless me. Hashem should help us to hear these amazing words of Hear the amazing words of the measure, the importance of optimism, the importance of positivity. Hashem should help us to turn away to turn away from from the negative outlook in life. Hashem should help us to do good, to focus on the good, to recognize the good, and ultimately to always see that it's all good. Everything Hashem is doing for us is really for our best. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabbos. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.arigoldwieg.com or search on iTunes Ari Goldwag.