Parshat Tazria and Pesach/Passover 5784 (2024) by Rabbi Baruch Taub

hey good evening everybody I assume you can hear me okay so uh tonight by the way is our last she till after all the Yim and Yas we're going to um be resuming uh in the middle of May um with all theim and we're actually going away for PES so going to create a bit of a problem but in any case I thought we would do something from the para two pieces from the para and two pieces on the ha two thoughts on the ha if we can get to everything okay so let's start with number one the this is on the paraa this is um from my Hebrew safer Kar and it's based on a um on on something from R Civic and let's start let's start and really both of these ideas seem to um dovetail this the I entitled this one what is the true essence of a Jew and the second piece which is from um the lur niss R niss Albert who was a Russ Shiva in yiva University for many years a very special person who left this world much too young I've mentioned him before he he is also talking about the essence of man the essence of the greatness of man so let's let's see this piece here what is the what's the true essence of of a Jew here we have a p from from our we're talking about leprosy right the are the most challenging to give a on right to find something that will um will HIIT home a little bit the technicalities of the par are over helming in any case we have at the beginning when a person has leprosy now we've mentioned this many times leprosy for lack of a better translation of Tas we call it leprosy but it's it's a misnomer it is not a physical disease of leprosy um it is a spiritual a spiritual uh disease that is brought upon because of certain missteps most notably dramatically lanara many other things many other um character flaws such as stinginess we don't have the today uh because we're so overwhelmed with doing the wrong thing so we don't have the sco of having the uh experience of Sarat also by the way leprosy is a very highly contagious disease Sarat is not contagious that if a get the week of their wedding they're allowed to become uncontaminated not to get not to get quarantined to be put away example so it's not has nothing to do with contagion okay in any case when a person has discovered the signs of leprosy on his certain there certain kinds of there's a sa vit say one of them is is as white as wool the other is as white as snow and there are two subcategories of each he has this uh this lesion on his skin he comes he's brought to or to any of the other K now that's the P we're want to deal with and he's going to come to give Caron he has to he's going to have to offer corbon sacrifices right but this is a strange introduction to offering sacrifices first of all he put points out just like the creation of man was and the last day the sixth day of creation was after the creation of the animal species right in creation so the impure the laws of impurity we we talked about last week we talked about those animals those birds which are impure which we cannot eat they're not Kosher right so we did that first we talked about the the uh Torah the impurity of animals to here we're talking about the the impurities of a man of human of humankind after we discuss the impurities of the animal kingdom just the way we were created at this actually quotes this there is definitely some kind of a relationship between the corbon of of the mits that he has to bring corbon and the other corbon animal corbon right is is what he's saying something is very strange when when the Torah speaks about bringing a corbon it says Adam bring a Corbin M from yourself but here it doesn't say bring a Corbin it says that the the mits is brought is is brought he is brought like a Corbin so says he says so the person he is the corbon right what's that all about what what why this distinction dramatic distinction between the leper the msor and all other people that have to bring a Corb all of the laws that we have here leop kosher again making it kosher like you bring an animal it has to be you have to make sure it has all the kosher qualities for a for um a COR right the third paragraph says this whole idea of the as I pointed out is totally different when we bring other and by the by the leopard beginning of Corbin a man who brings from himself a Corbin here we just sayam man is coming he's being brought actually being dragged in kind of being dragged in but it doesn't say he's coming he's bringing the Corbin by other Corbin is he is bringing from within from himself a Corbin he wants to come right but by the by the MS doesn't say that Adam is comes mik brings a it says he's being brought in Adam is being brought why does the Torah change the why doesn't he come from within why doesn't he bring the cor from within so here's the point the answer to this question in Hil garish the laws of get of giving a divorce famous R explains mitvah bzen can force a person to give a get if he's recal he doesn't want to give a get bzen can use Force to force him to come and end the marriage well the point is this a if get that's given by force is not a get if a husband gives a get to his wife against his will it's a called a get M it's not a proper get there's no divorce it has to be of his own free will and she has to want it also right so here who the the real desire of a person deep down as far removed as the person is from what he's supposed to do he want he doesn't wants to be part of he really wants to do the but what what stands in his way is the his desire his his temptation to do the wrong thing which pushes him to go against the will of his creator so B uses Force even even corporal orial Force to make him come Uncle I give in I'm going I want to give the get right we accept that I want to give the get now of my own free will is a a genuine true statement he's making it's coming from within him right as much as we accepted his his his contrariness to giving again at the beginning we accept his acceptance now because when he finally says okay I'll do it I'll do it he really wants to do it because a Jew wants to do the right thing ultimately right even such a Jew right so now let's go back to this idea of the mitsu it is for this reason because by the we don't say he's bringing the Corin he doesn't want to come afflicts a person as a result from a we said I dramatically there are other things or some other failure in his do in his character traits like stinginess is one of the examples to an to an extreme he's giving two examples these were two who were stricken with Le leprosy they were stricken with SAS right but they became they turned away from from Hashem right so um they weren't interested in being heal right the mits he's he's not he's not his mindset yet is not right he's he has to be brought in you can't say he's coming M he's not doing this from his heart this is not a right like all other cor right even a sin offering by the ways is mik because a person has come to terms with the fact that he has sinned and he wants to rectify his relationship with again so it's mik but not so the MIT he's not he's not in touch with his inner self the MIT he hasn't he hasn't dealt with it yet right soam n he's coming to this from from external forces they're external forces he's got this terrible thing he wants to get rid of it doesn't want to necessarily deal with why it's there but he wants to come and originally that's why he's coming eventually it will get better for him he will change as we'll see in the next piece but as soon as a person does not feel the sense of sin his desire to rectify that sin as part of his inner Persona once he does once he realizes it like the the story of the fellow the Raam the example Raam gives in get get once you you force him and force him finally at that after a certain point he realize okay I'm doing the wrong thing I'll do the right thing so you bring him you put him through this whole this whole ritual right the moment internalizes that sinning is not really part of his inner Persona that's the first step to become pure and to and to leave the world of sin right so but it can't say mikim at the beginning because he doesn't come mik at the beginning just like the recalcitrant Mish doesn't want to give the get it's only afterwards during the process at that point okay now let's see a similar but different approach on the left hand column from riss Albert in the same actually a person who has is stricken with one of the various types of lesions that we call Sarat right he's brought to AR he's brought to the he quotes here from the the brings from our cabalistic tradition from the Z now here's an interesting thing there are many names for Adam in lodish right can you think of any Adam is Right G right there are are many different words that are used for the word a man but the zor says Adam M on the pecking order of those words that are used in tanak for a manam is the highest appellation that we give to a man not g not is but Adam Adam that's a real man right so here's my problem you the Jewish people are called the nations of the world are not called Adam they're not on that level because of Torah so here's my Pro my question asks Remis comes from right rabbis have taught us the Torah speaks whoever tells it's it's equal to transgressing the entire Torah this is a very we understand a very difficult concept it's a very hard mitzvah for us to work on and the that's why the spent spent much of his life working on the Mitzvah of of L and trying to make the world understand how Central it is to the development of the human being um Torah you know the rabbis the rabbis go a great deal about the the negative factors of L and the other AAS that bring about the so here's his question why are we calling the Adam Adam Adam say G say is whatever you want to call human being call him Adam the most you know lofty name for for a man he hasas so it requires understanding it's interesting he points out again that in our oral tradition in the the the gamor goes into great length does all go into great length going through all the reasons of why SAS howas how it works right why the the theology behind it the right there's three kinds ofas of a house clothing and and the human being right in our written Torah there's nothing nothing about why why why it happens The Source the source of it the only thing is a hint is noon he spoke evil MIT that's it that's all we have in the Tor right s also satat is also stinginess right the old Essence here is to get get to the bottom of the problem get to the root of the problem right but the Torah doesn't talk about right let's let's deal with the the cause and so order to to move away from these things right Uka rather rather than some kind of a spiritual medical treatment of uh of quarantine of putting him in away from the camp and so on and and various levels of quarantine but but what about the problem itself right what right it's like you know a person has pain so he takes an aspirin right that that's really not solving the problem what's the source of the pain they'll take an aspirin Okay so he won't have some pain for a few hours but he's not dealing with the problem the Tor really should talk about the the the why it's so bad right there two questions he's asking right why is it called a dum and why doesn't the Torah talk about you know the the causes how do you get out of it this week's para next week's para right this act this piece actually is from okay the amazing thing is there's a there's a negative commandment not to speak right it's in right this is one of the 63 Tes not speak it's not even mentioned here this whole both pares of T where everything is talking about and talking about SAS but the basic my is not even mentioned right and just the statement of the Mish gives us an idea of what's going on here hey let me pay attention right so listen to what he says here something something very Majestic what I want to suggest the greatness of a human being the greatness of a person the greatness of a person is not determined on the fact that doesn't have n he doesn't have any illnesses he's a great person doesn't have SAS he's a great person right he has SAS he's not such a great person oh or he studies mus he learns mus he doesn't learn mus right that's not how we Define the great greatness in a in a person how do you define greatness in a human being somebody who picks himself up rolls up his sleeve and does something to solve his problem to confront his problem that he's man enough Adam he's man enough to confront his inconsistencies his problems his sin right his SAS sometimes a person can learn a lot guy can learn Torah all day long right which is great thing but he does nothing about his mid his mitv are you know runof-the-mill he's what rabbis call hisma supersedes his actions which is really the defeating the whole purpose of Torah right the whole purpose of Torah is what we are and what we do what we become Rabbi say someone who's someone who putes before his actions the mites that he does his is not GNA last right what's who's an important person he allows himself to come to all right he takes your all right I'm gonna come I want to hear what he has to say okay he really forces himself to come right he's not coming you know so willingly at the beginning the and the spiritual doctor of the Jewish people the Coen begins a healing process he's the RO right he he discovers what the problem is he he's willing to come he's willing to come and the later on says he comes to the Coen first he's pushed into it all right he comes reluctantly right but at least he has he comes but eventually he's he's coming to the co he wants out he wants to solve this problem there this is this is all you need to know in the he comes to the co that's Anam he wants to confront his inconsistencies that's the definition of a real man a real man stands up and says I I did this wrong thing and I want to do something about he says it here if at first it's hard for him to come it's almost like he's being forced to come like the really says at the beginning is brought by other people but in the end says right says the the the disease will will be cleared it will turn white he comes in himself he comes to the by that point he understands good and well what the problem is the Torah doesn't have to go into any detail the the terrible travesty that L brings about so this is a beautiful idea why the word Adam the most elegant lofty name for man in tanak is used for this fellow the the MS because it's not about whether you have Tas or not you have a or mitz that's not how it's defined are you ready to better yourself that's that's what's that's an ad that's that's a let's say let's translate Adam as men even right no he says he brings a couple of other ideas based on this someone who speaks he hasn't realize the evil he's doing below below he's destroying a person completely right and above he's also doing something terrible right how the power of speech that it can it can destroy right can damage so how do how do we drive this point home to him that it's all about speech right how do we drive this home to him what does do he afflicts him with he officially how do they how do you become he can have all the over his body all the Simon but he's not quarantined he does not have to leave the is until the says T the has to articulate the fact that he is T in other words you're oh God what got you into this was speech I want you to realize that that's what got you into this because all of this that you have you're not officially until the co speaks and says your if the Coen says you're you're you're clear he's he's T he's impure teach a person knowledge the power the power of speech it can make you pure it can make you impure the rabbi say life and death is in the hands of the mou the tongue this is the Torah of the day becomes pure is brought to the so through this process the mits realizes the power of speech and this is what he has to confront won't repeat the the offense right um he just adds he adds something from the end of the that actually we we say this but in the gor BR there's a discussion amongst the rabbis of various various texts that with which we should conclude Theon so it's interesting in the there are many statements that the rabbi said at the end of their before the established the text ofon there were various conclusions that that different rabbis use which is you're going to recognize God please protect my tongue from evil my lips from speaking G and those who curse me my soul I should be quiet I should be like us to them I shouldn't pay attention open my mouth the Torah etc etc concludes May the words of my mouth be acceptable be in the thoughts of my in my heart should be acceptable you are my rock and my redeemer the other rabbis that are didn't say this that the words of my mouth should be acceptable we have to point this out I saw in a certain of that we say at the end ofing that he said this Rabbi said who be shall you everything he said until then protect my mouth from speaking G right is all the P of this one statement let the words of my mouth be acceptable to you when will My Words Be acceptable if I keep my mouth away from saying evil ET Etc okay very nice idea two nice ideas really which come together which on this idea of the essence of the Jew the essence of man okay I don't know if we're going to get through both of these pieces let's go to the one on the left this from the basar the basar was um actually both of these rabis were Geniuses they were they were the basar it's number four he was he he lived he was born in 178 3 died in 1841 he lived about 50 years in fact the uh the is on number three called the Reit the ler also lived around 50 50 years from 1801 to 19 1854 they actually lived around the same amount of time right and they were um so tragic um tragic but what what a what they accomplished in their in their 50 years is beyond so here is number four okay is the Torah to tell over the story of The Exodus from on the 15th of n night you should tell your son at on that day in other words the essence of the Mitzvah is to communicate between yourself and someone else to discuss to articulate to someone right what God the Miracles that God did for us and for us right we wouldn't be if not for that moment in time if he had person has a son according to his ability we know there four Sons right each one is on a different level according to his intellect that he should understand understand the you know the not just the not just the quantity it's about quality it's about content right it's not about saying the words it's about understanding what what went on in the midst of teaching the child that he has to ask questions question the whole of has to be done there's a very good reason for that we actually do certain things the gor tells us to do M strange things so this child will be what's going on sit down at the table you say Kish then you break the M then you take the T the the you take the MERS off the table you take the Seder plate off the table then you bring it back why is that so the son will ask why is that why are we doing that so what does the father say to him oh that's a great question that's why we do it so you can ask the question right that does that make sense to you no it means that we do it so that he to to open up his inquisitive nature so he'll ask like what's going on here what what is this all about right not specifically the thing that you did but we're trying to to open him up right frontal education is not the way to make a human being to make a Jew it has to be a dialogue it has to be encouraging his own individuality his own ability and his own desire to want an answer to a question right not do as I say right that's a wonderful question right so what he says so the child's going to be shock ask you answer and it's it's listen to what he does with a the in the Torah says and it shall be when your son will ask you you tell it right Dasha I have a problem with this P what do you the word and it shall be right it shall it shall be right extra say when your son asks you a question answer him what's and it shall be right right so he has two answers to this question first he says that it's only through when it happens because that's what has to happen otherwise it's not happening and it won't happen and you won't be successful when it happens that your son asks you a question without that it ain't gonna happen and it's GNA really powerfully enter his heart and his mind if it comes from his question we all know that person asks a question so it he's interested and he's and you respond to that interest that's when a person really understand something wants to know I think I told you in years pasted I must have told you about Isaac Robbie right Isaac Robbie some of you know the name he was a Nobel Prize winner in science he he discovered he created um magnetic resonance Theory right IE MRI he is the creator of what is essentially an MRI right he was the son of Polish immigrants on the in the Bronx uh I think the Bronx not the Lor I'm not that's not that's not really Central to this story but you know all these kids went to public school and and he came or they would come home and the parents you know wanted them to have an education and you know did you behave in class today you know how was it you know said when I came home he spoke when he received the Nobel Prize was telling why you received because of his mother because of his mother he discovered the the MRI right because when I came from school every night every afternoon my mother did something no other mother asked her child she said to me izy or Yak or whatever she called him did you ask a good question today true story powerful story and this really this really says it all that's why it's that's why that word is not redundant it's not extra right brilliant idea in the there's another answer to this question you know that we have two ways of saying Once Upon a Time in tanak one I've mentioned this I think in years past also but it's worth repeating because this is what he's really saying and is if it's not a good story we say once upon a time and it was was in the time of right right and it will be on that day story is a Sim story is a sad story this is the the Von says this in his p on yesah um why is that by the way well maybe I'll answer it at the end let me just finish what he says but so when you will when your son asks right that for is tremendous when he sees a family interacting properly and the son is asking the question the boy and the father answers him that dialogue is taking place this is this is a Mitzvah of great Sim the engagement at the Seder night is a is a Mitzvah of right he see and he's thrilled that the boy is asking the question he's got or the girls asking the question that the child is engaged and is interested as what we want from our children to to encourage their curiosity and and Sh the answer to a question of someone who you know there's no greater Sim than uh than getting the answer to the question that you were in doubt about for so long it becomes part of him much more than if he would just be told it frontally and understand this okay I'm not going to go further into these pieces we're running out of time I just want to tell you why the explanation is why is a lotion of and is a of sadness some of you might remember and I believe I did say this over some time ago but it's based on a rule in di called the the letter V the letter V is called the the VAV of reversal why is the letter V called The V the letter of reversal very simple sounds complicated but you all understand it when you add the letter V let's say to the word ha is it was it's past right when you say it becomes future when you turn your past into the future right it's a source of tremendous tremendous s right um so when when let's say let me give you another example the other way around um uh or v v is is past right V right V uh I'm mixing up my my examples here um getting confused myself okay when there's nothing more tragic that when your future when V becomes yei God says V or let there be light in the future there was light okay so right it was in the time right which is sadness when your becomes when your when the future becomes past that you when you you unrealized dreams in the future that's a time that's great sadness for a person but when his past when his becomes when what I my dreams in the past my ha that I make them fulfilled they become V is is future there's no greater sy so that if I explained it properly I'm not sure if I did or not but that's why ha is a Lo of sim and is a lotion of sadness and that's the second answer that the gives why the Mitzvah to tell our children is it should be imbued and OU with a sense of of sim it should be done with Sim okay and I hope this takes place at everyone's seder um I'll be seeing some of you Wednesday night but this is the last here until miday so thank you all it's a pleasure I think I see everybody here now and it's good to have you here and I want to wish you in advance um those of you who will be in on sh I'll see you at Thea and thank you all for your patience and have a enjoyable preparation for PESA I realize that's a bit of a challenge that for the ladies but maybe if the men help it won't be such a challenge okay have a good evening