Parsha Perspectives for Today (Metzora, 5782) - Taking Inventory and Feeling Rich

good morning bokutov and welcome back to torah perspectives for today this is our last parsha class until after pesach not because i'm taking a break but you're taking a break we're taking a break next week is pesach so there is no parsha that we read next shabbos or the shabbos after is still pesach so two weeks our yant of reading and then we'll resume the parsha following pesach and we will resume learning it together very much looking forward to that i want to thank our series sponsors for the year becky and ali katz and family member david grossman in memory of becky's father lila nishmas very grateful to their generosity and their sponsorship this week we have the privilege of reading and studying parshas mitsura page 620 in the art scroll stone very much continuing the theme of last week's parsha hold on i left my notes in the other room you can still hear me so what should i tell you a great dinner last night okay still here first time i'm tired tired i'm tired you have to forgive me i knew something was missing something was up okay we begin the beginning paraguay dalla possible at the beginning of partial smithsonia usually we read tazri and so together this year because of the leap year we read them separately which gives us the opportunity to study them separately as well this is the law of the mitsura on the day of their purification vehuva el hakko and they are brought to the cohen the coin goes outside the camp it's very instructed the ton of reba has a beautiful piece where he talks about the responsibility of leadership you picture this coin those who learn the deaf particularly in high giga spent a lot of time reminding ourselves of the coin's awesome responsibility an enormous knowledge he had to possess not just the coin the average person in order to preserve the sanctity of their food in order to protect themselves from tuma from impurity it was an awesome responsibility and there was a lot they had to know so this going this cohen is incredibly careful not to expose himself to contamination not to become impure maybe isolates himself in the ivory tower of the basement of serving hashem the avodah and yet this mitsura the individual gossip to slandered who therefore needs to be quarantined outside the camp who goes to him it relies exclusively on the coin leadership is going out to the people leadership is coming off your high horse and your perch leadership is coming out of your ivory tower leadership is a willingness to become contaminated to purify others leadership is being there sympathy and empathy and being no say bologna the calling goes out i want to begin i don't remember whether i did this last year or not if i did it's good if i didn't it's well worth it to look at it together but the medrash on this pasak zostia torasora this is the torah of the baton surah has his own torah not a separate shalom torah competing with our own we don't mean to suggest the mizora has a separate independent or parallel torah we mean these are the laws this is the prescription this is the formula for the mitzora and the mention of these words tells us there are five totals that are written when it comes to the mizora those torahs zosty a tourism those torahs torah is used five times in the context of the matsuro the one who abuses the power of speech no less than five times do we use the word torah in association the reason we introduced with the word torah is because five times moshe albania is here told us this is allah what does one thing have to do with the other rav you should have a complete so i don't think we got through it last year i don't remember again if we did it's good but the word torah is used five times in order to communicate to us and in order to emphasize for us that of the mesorah the individual who gossips who slanders who misuses that power of speech was insensitive and cruel and hurtful and harmful such an individual has violated the entire hamilton torah we spoke about last week why pasha's tazuriya comes after shmini be careful not only with what goes in your mouth be careful what comes out of your mouth the torah is concerned with both and arguably spends more time on what comes out of your mouth than what goes into it it's very strict it's very stringent so much so it's as if you violated all of hamish but wonders the five books of the torah just say it's as if you violated the torah you know it comes in one volume too many of you are holding and following along right now it comes conveniently in one volume we call it hummus it's made up of five books but we also refer to it in its total in totality as the torah so why not just say the mitsura by the way they use their speech violated torah kolo tarakula the entire torah why specifically break it down and need to repeat the word torah five times and says a very beautiful insight he says because the torah is not just telling us if the message were that if you gossip or slander it says if you violated the whole torah then you'd be right simply say kolotarakula but that's not the message the message is you violated the five books of torah what's the difference says ravdruk consider for a moment each of the five books of torah and how each of those five books includes a story and a message and a lesson about the power of speech it's a beautiful essay we don't have time to read it all inside but i'll just summarize for you gracious where do we see it anybody you're also hungover from the school dinner just joking i didn't have any drink hungover by joy and happiness and success gracious the snake slandered and the snake seduced khawa who in turn convinced adam tells us the whole story there is the egregious violation of the snake was using that gift an unusual gift most sneak snakes don't speak some people who speak are snakes but most snakes don't speak and this snake used that power of speech in order to seduce khaba you see the power of the violation of bashan aro what else do you see it in british very prominently we're going to mark it in a week and a half time the brothers shalom they couldn't even speak to one another they couldn't give each other a shalom allah they couldn't communicate whatsoever it broke down their entire relationship the entire communication they couldn't even talk to one another jose shared his dreams arguably unnecessarily the brothers then spoke among themselves and gossiped and conspired against joseph we have this entire storyline pesach is only because of that what do you mean karpas we begin to say to you we dip the karpas we dip the karpas in the salt water but the commentary on the rambam says what's the etymology of the word carpass what do you use as carpas parsley potato if you're from elizabeth new jersey bananas what do you use for carpass but you dip the carapace in the salt water what is the word where does the term carpast come from rabbina manoa says karpas is kisonas passim what happened how did the whole story begin we stood at the stadium table this is such a core core message that's why i repeat it every year it's a core core message we sit regularly and royally at the seder table we're down in white we're decked out in our kettle the table set majestically and beautifully and we lean like aristocrats and the seder table satyr night it's majesty lel shimuram it's a night of divine protection it's an incredible night we're going to celebrate our freedom and our liberty we're going to celebrate our elevated status i'm segula our mission driven lives but you know what first before we can celebrate freedom we have to talk about what got us to egypt to begin with before we can mark our exodus and liberation from israel we spend a moment we elude and we hint to how we got there to begin with and how did we get there because when the brothers sold yosef into slavery what'd they do with that coat with that colored coat that's on this past and what'd they do with it they dipped it in blood to bring it back to their father to say a brother yosef an animal he's been attacked something happened so we dipped the karpas pasim in the water we do multiple dippings that night but before we could dip for freedom we have to first dip to remind ourselves senate you cannot celebrate your freedom and only mark the good part of the story without first remembering what brought us down there to begin with the murder the hatred the enmity we have to remember we have to invoke and we have to learn from it what happened so says rodriguez is the lashing hara rehears gossip slander abuse of the power of speech and safe hebraicious absolutely and we have to learn from at the seder table we learn from it even yet before we mark and celebrate our freedom safer where is it in safer schmooze miriam even before miriam he says even before the spies that's later say for schmooze moshe who kills the misery who we saw strike the ivory and what happens rashi says they were dust on and they were slandering him they were gasping they were going to post it online they were going to post it on social media they were so excited they'd be able to expose mushroom they'd be able to turn the court of public opinion against them paro heard about it and he wanted to kill moshe and paro hear about it page six daily news new york post one of those probably muktsa newspapers but they heard about it they read about it they knew about it that's how paro knew why slander slander you also haven't said for most of us where do we see it we don't stop seeing it here it has over and over again you're not allowed to gossip safer by midbar partial someone said before the marathon the spies you're not only forbidden from gossiping about people you can't slam their precious gifts from god from above how can you talk negatively about eretz israel not only its inhabitants but even the land and there we have the story of miriam manavia and her brother miriam alodosa they're talking and people think it's okay within the family a lot of gossip about your sisters and brothers-in-law and in-laws and parents that's all part of the natural family dysfunction it's not okay and miriam is sent out of the camp and they all wait for her because she had proven she could wait for us and that's and say for me where is it in dvaram a man marries a woman and then he publicly challenges her that she in fact was not the status she claimed to be when they got married she wasn't absulu she wasn't a virgin and he was lying he wanted to lower his financial obligation to her he was lying and he owes a penalty to her father the halacha of motse shamrock literally shamrah we also have in secrets of our macarena but and russia says what's maca say so what does it mean to strike your friend in private it means musapri lashin hara if you speak about your friend that's what it means to harm them to hit them to injure them in private you're not publicly doing it even behind their back you're injuring them by slandering them so jerk's point is when we say zos toros and the word torah is used five times and tell us that we learn from here that if you gossip or slanderous if you violate allah it would have been your right more efficient to simply write you'd violate khala tarakula but it would miss the point it's not just that it's so egregious it's not just that it's so harmful it's as if you violated all torah but it means in hamish every safer of khomesh has several lessons about the power of speech and if you haven't learned from them it's like you stepped on and violated each of the five books of torah not just you violated torah called tarakula but says rav druk through the examples we just gave it is as if you violated each of the torah you went through each one separately zosta estara matsura is an amazing major the measure says a story in tehran there was a certain rokhala merchant who was selling his wares in the cities close to tsipori and he announced koman daboy le mizman samachayam who wants to buy the elixir for life the medicine for life who would like to buy this who doesn't want to live a long life a fountain of youth here in florida who doesn't want to extend their life and their quality of life you're not allowed to speak don't gossip don't slander that's the person you live a long life by the way some of the commentaries ask who in their right mind would go up to that merchant are we so foolish to think that you could buy or add years to your life because you buy some elixir you're going to buy some little bottle you're going to buy some medicine now i laughed when i saw that question they asked because the truth is like qvc like the whole the whole world every kiosk in every mall every everybody which is just a reflection of how desperate everyone is to extend life to live life and to look for shortcuts in life we could live a long life if we earn it if we have the merits for it if we take care of ourselves physically spiritually emotionally but we'd much rather pig out and then buy a little a little vial of some elixir of some medicine which will extend their life it's a funny question they even ask but this is almond melter eva everyone thinks there are 613 commandments in the torah we know 365 248 broken up the positive and at the negative salashanar is like any other negative commandment lashinaro is like you can't eat non-kosher you can't violate shambhas and you can't wear shatnas and you can't uh i don't know all the other negative prohibitions in the torah so washington is just another one of them says no it's categorically different it is unusual borderline unique why he says like every other violation where what even if you violate that negative prohibition you could still learn torah you could still dive in and you can still offset or compensate you could still extend your life by earning merits for the governing condition on the test says that if you sit and don't violate navera we make it as if you did a mitzvah all of you are sitting here right now from 9 30 to 10 30 on tuesday morning and you know what while you're sitting here maybe you took coffee from the back maybe you're having a granola bar you know what you're not doing you're not eating bacon now would you say you're doing a mitzvah you do in the midst of tamatora i hope we're learning torah together maybe you did the midst of making bracha before you ate or drank that coffee or that bottle of water but is it a mitzvah that you're sitting here right now and you are declining you are refraining from eating bacon so the market condition says to a certain extent yes the issue of allah if you sit and you don't do an aveda you're tempted you maybe bacon doesn't speak to you if you've never had it if you have had it but we're all tempted by things tempted to look at the right the wrong thing and watch the wrong thing and say the wrong thing go to the wrong place and oversleep we're tempted by the wrong things and when we overcome that temptation and we sit passively and don't violate that aveira hashem considers it not just that we're neutral not just that we remain in power of but the fact that we've shown the will and the willpower if we can muster up the will and the willpower even to passively not violate something wrong it's as if we did something right that can't compare how could you compare sitting stationary passively not violating a prohibition with putting on film with giving with volunteering for with learning torah it's different it's different so the merchant who was proclaiming pronouncing who wants access to the elixir of life think about what shmears what does it mean to guard your mouth are you active or passive when you guard your mouth you are you're passive i have a really juicy juicy delicious lashinara for you i started to tell you it's unbelievable about someone you're going to fall a future you're not going to believe it it's incredible you can't tell anybody it's just for you that's you know the jewish notion of a secret is something you tell people one by one so a person that i have such juicy lush hara such good stuff oh such good stuff you see you know what never mind i'm biting my tongue i'm not going to tell you it's wrong it's hurtful it's harmful i wouldn't want it done to me i'm not going to tell you so i sit here silently and pass by there's a whole conversation in my head i don't even say it to you in my own head i'm tempted i need to make conversation another talk about i look pretty cool that i had this information now i'll have someone to gossip about let me tell him or her let me let me give the good vlasimar and then you say you know what in your own head you have this battle this conversation and you say no be quiet stay silent don't share have you done a mitzvah no you just didn't do a navera if you sit and stare down the bacon you look at it maybe even smell it you're tempted by it curious about it but you don't need it have you done a mitzvah no you just haven't had that you just haven't done an average so why is this the elixir of life how is it means that you're actively doing something which will prolong your life this is not something that earns a merit you haven't done a mix what shouldn't prolong your life you passively have abstained and refrained from violating a boundary and doing something wrong you wouldn't say that if you want to live a long life don't eat non-kosher you just say don't eat non-kosher because it's the only thing to do but it won't give you a long life it's a beautiful insight he says when you obtain a refrain from you're not doing something passive you're not just abstaining or refraining you are doing a mitzvah you're doing something positive and that's why it earns the sam it's not like any other avera that when you don't do it you're holding in neutral when you don't do it you're in the positive you're now in the black when you don't do it you've done something good you've done something right and that's why you want a long life don't just sit neutral and not do the wrong thing in this case in this unique case not doing the wrong thing is the right thing and puts you into the right place and into the right frame of mind i'll add my own to this that perhaps the reason that when you don't speak lashon hara you don't simply remain in neutral but you've done something positive is because most people don't not speak most people speak they talk we talked about last week i think or two weeks ago revolver we teach children to speak but we forget to ever teach them to stop speaking the value of silence the wisdom of silence the importance of silence we don't teach that we don't emphasize that we don't reward that we don't say yeah you're quiet you say yeah you said your first word it's amazing but we forget to reward them for silence science is important but most people don't do it most people speak speak incessantly in fact by the way we'll get to in a moment but this individual the mizora what do they bring what do they do to purify themselves command for the person being purified there has to be two live clean birds cedarwood crimson redness and hyssop eights errors we're going to examine in a second why each of these ingredients are part of the formula of their rehabilitation process but they have to bring two birds why do they bring two birds rashi for says we're going to have to go to the glasses rashi says you know what these birds do actually it's funny they're mushroom that translate you know what they do they tweet tweet tweet tweet they twitter is actually what they proper english word pitputedvaram they twitter they twitter incessantly they twitter unfiltered they tweet every thought they tweet three tweets we tweet all day long so we bring these two birds some of them fresh from wonder why two how many should you bring one you violated blessing are you spoke gossip slender you misused the power of speech so you bring one bird you were like a bird that was chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirping you didn't stop talking and when you don't stop talking you can end up saying the wrong thing hurtful things harmful things unintentionally without malice but if your default is to be talking you run over the things to talk about if you don't start talking about people so you're like that bird you just chirp chirp tweet tweet tweet to twitter so therefore you bring two birds but you should bring one why not the other bird so the answer is some say the two birds there was the speaker and there was the listener evalua when you're the one communicating it you violate lashanar when you're the one listening to it but listen to this interpretation i forgot where i saw it says you know why two birds you need to atone for what you said and you need to atone for what you could have been saying one bird is for what you said that was wrong you know what the other bird is what you could have been saying that would have been right instead of gossiping or slandering you could have been complimenting you could have been uplifting you know the power of a compliment is you know what it does for somebody it costs you nothing it's so easy to do and yet it can transform someone's life tell them you look wonderful or it's great to see you or you did a great job on that event that program that effort that speech you gave compliment to the food for the effort to our children to our spouses to our friends to our employees to our co-workers we could be using the power of speech to build worlds and build people and to enrich to elevate and to empower to inspire and when instead we use that power of speech and we use that time not to do those things but the opposite we're guilty of two things we're guilty of having used wrong speech but we're also guilty that in that moment we failed to use speech in the right way so two birds two atonements one for where we went wrong and one for where we failed where we could have gone right so if that's the case if that's true maybe that's why it's the same out of your life then you'll find yourself speaking much more compliments you'll find yourself speaking much more positive you'll find yourself speaking much more appropriately so it's the same because maybe when you cut lashes out of your life you're not sitting and doing something passive you know if if i if i stare down that bacon and i don't eat it so there's a passive sort of spectator not doing the law of not doing the prohibition have i done a mitzvah no so you'll say but you didn't eat the bacon but now you're hungry so instead of the bacon you can have a kosher hamburger was it a mitzvah having a kosher hamburger no i mean hopefully you washed broccoli before and after but eating the hamburger itself is not a mitzvah whereas here here if you don't speak lashinara and you fill that same space and effort and speech with something positive and a compliment by abstaining from doing the negative you will fill it with something positive with is a mitzvah so maybe that's another shot why it's the same and why it's different than these other alveros not just that you haven't done enough error parakeet the coin goes out of inside the camp and he looks and he sees negative min the tarasa affliction has been healed from the mizora they just had their dinner on sunday night review rosh the what is chirping we even use that in the vernacular somebody's just speaking incessantly use verbose who's just chattering on about nothingness stop chirping they're chirping incessantly it's carlos roche there's nothing of significance eleanor roosevelt said that small people talk about people average people talk about things great people talk about ideas so we're supposed to use our power of speech to talk about ideas and this person chirped talking about either things or worse talking about people what does the torah tell us about the individual how do they go to the coin how did they get there sorry the end of passing base that was right zostia storms hakoen they are vehuva what is vuva they're brought what do you mean they brought let me put them in a stretcher and carry them take it on a helicopter put them in a baby bureau and then carry them what do you mean ella cohen they are brought to the coming how are they brought to the cohen they don't walk on their own volition they're on two feet says the individual who spoke lashinara who gossiped they were just swept up and caught up in peer pressure swept up and caught up in the social pressure to speak to gossip to slander they're living a life of of peer pressure of social pressure of trying to fit in why do people slander and gossip why do they abuse the power of speech because they're trying to impress they're trying to fit in they're trying to be the center of attention they're trying to look like they have some social commodity of information to share that's why people do it they move up they're drawn in people don't sit and say ha would this be a good thing to talk about will it reflect positively about me will it positively help people i care about and then go ahead and speak about it they don't do that why do we do it because in that moment we give in to that yet sahara we are drawn in we're drawn in they are brought to they're brought to rashi brings the apostle king midbar in great contrast to the mitsura zos toras someone else that we have a torah of not the torah of the mizora but we have the torah of the nazir zostara san nasa beyond is there in the torah of the nazir it doesn't say the nazir also needs to complete their process and the nazir also needs to make an appearance at the omoid how does the nazir get there it doesn't say vehuva what does it say the nazir brings himself or herself would say listen carefully you ready if you had a scale and you put all the works of wisdom of the world on one side and the other side all you had were these three words yavi es atmo those three words would a way would be heavier more significant than the rest of the wisdoms of the world why she came back takes this vow of abstinence the nausea learns to live without because the nazir craves to live with more more spirituality more significance more mission more connection and closeness to hashem what drives and moves another to live that way the nazi doesn't want a fine bottle of wine another don't want to be willing to be exposed to tama the nazis says i'm going to live with this ascetic life i'm going to live without because i want to live with more with more ruchnes you know what drives the nazir what gives the nazir the discipline and the capacity to live that way because the nazir is yavi es atzmo the nazir carries himself herself they're disciplined they're driven which is real freedom by the way that's also one of the themes of the seder one of the themes of pesach is that discipline freedom is discipline discipline is freedom freedom is discipline discipline is freedom that when you're undisciplined you're not free if you want more money you have to be disciplined with money you want more free time you got to be disciplined with time you want a longer life and better health you have to be disciplined with your health that's why we have the most bizarre celebration of freedom in the world a kid finishes a young person finishes their college exams what do they do they party all night no rules no barriers no boundaries no limits persons finally arrived at that vacation from work what do they do no rules no limits no barriers no boundaries what do we do freedom we're out of bondage we're going to mark the end of 210 years of slavery what do we do everyone please take your seat at the table please look at the agenda everyone take out your measuring devices make sure that we have the exact requisite amount of wine eat the right amount of mats on the right amount of time how do we celebrate freedom the night of freedom with seder by being organized and disciplined it's incredible absolutely incredible because the torah understands that discipline is freedom it's not that a lack of discipline is freedom discipline is freedom discipline financially you have more money discipline with your time management you have more time discipline with your health you have a better quality of life and more health discipline is freedom seder is freedom yavi as atsmo be disciplined move yourself be inspired yourself be disciplined yourself what led someone to become a mitzora the huva el haqain they were brought to the cohen they're an object salvation a beautiful jerusha where he distinguished between the human being can be a hefso or agavrah we the human being could be a hefza we could just be an object that gravity pulls us down or we can be a gavra if i drop my glasses right here gravity will make them fall but a human being i could lift my arm and i can go against gravity objects don't go against gravity unless there's a human force so are you agavra are you just going along for the ride are you passively an object that's in motion are you the hoova el akoen are you drawn into the pressure of whatever is around you they're gossiping the slandering so you join that church scripture are you vehuva are you drawn in or are you via v are you able to be disciplined and self-control and sovereign become a gabra gover rabbah don't just be a hefster be something that's so much so much more than that that's raven what a great insight the distinction between the mitsura and the nazir the distinction between the muva the huva and the yavi very powerful distinction a friend of zedelwebs that's all of toro or a talmud also has an insight on these words he says the following he says they'll heard from you so it's really two ruby rokums in a row he says this is the most complicated complex detailed difficult rehabilitation there is we have all kinds of forms of tumor we have people who make contact with impurity we have people who become contaminated take two of those say three of these and you're good to go and yet this mitsora it's complicated and detailed and arduous so hard what happens first they're quarantined seven days if they don't get better they need another seven days of quarantine if a sign of tumor comes then they have to sit badly they have to sit outside the camp and their clothing is torn and they're not allowed to sit with other people who are impure and if they merit and these signs of tomohill and the day of the tahara comes now you begin with the process of rehabilitation the birds and the hyssop and the washing of the clothing and then you need seven more days and then you shave all the hair of the body and then you bring all these carbonos this is complicated difficult you got to take off time from work you got to find the money to buy these ingredients and these animals these sacrifices and your entire body and being go through what can be a humiliating process shaving every hair in your body wild why says him you're in the hospital you have the opportunity to tour the operating rooms and you look into different operating rooms and in one operating room there's two instruments and the next operating room the 30 instruments where do you think the more complicated surgery will take place which patient do you think has the more complicated life-threatening illness the one that needs two instruments the one that they've reserved that operating room for 20 minutes and the one that the operating room will need to be used for eight hours obviously the more complicated the more difficult the more complex the lengthier the more dangerous lethal the more intense it was that needs to be healed says the same is true over here it's true that we have all kinds of all kinds of contamination but what do you see from here from the formula of rehabilitation of the mitsura you see that this is the most intense this is the worst the deepest form of impurity you see that which seems benign and innocuous okay so you gossip you slandered kumar tells us there's nobody alive who doesn't fall prey or struggle at least with that every day okay so a little okay when i was a kid in tina growing up there was a guy in the shula would say i don't repeat lush anhara so listen carefully the first time who doesn't talk a little bit of lush so you think it's benign everybody does it it's impossible to avoid it so what's the big deal so torah comes along and says it's a big deal and how will i let you know it's a big deal because i'm going to make it the longest the most expensive and the most complex recovery process and you will know it's a big deal that's what i tell us to hellum when you is washing hard you kill three when you murder you only killed one who are the three who die in lashinara the subject the listener and the speaker all three have compromised themselves all three are harmed in the process so a person who murders terrible of course severe they've murdered one life but a person who shares la shanhara they've compromised three lives so therefore the measure tells us it's even more hammer it's even more kasha nigimalaveros and that's why sandra berukham this process is so expensive and arduous and difficult to tell us how serious it is parakeet moving right along but they take all these different ingredients one more ish tummy one more rub druk eight eras why why does the mitsura bring this cedar and hyssop in the process of recovery says why is one struck with with uh saras what did one do wrong where did someone go wrong that they then get salas what precipitated it in other words saras is the symptom but it's not the disease this is so important when you study pressures tazria and mitsura sarasa is the manifestation is the presenting symptom but it's not the illness what's the disease so rashi tells us you know what the disease is arrogance person who gossips or slanders a person who bullies a person who uses their words wrong wrongly they abuse the power of speech such an individual is arrogant egotistical they think they're the center of the universe so that's why he says rashi what do they use for the purification process cedar wood crimson thread and hyssop these are all lowly they're all considered to be very lowly from the worm ces is the symptom sarasa is the manifestation but what's the illness and disease it's arrogance ruach so that's why what's the response me the negative what's the best thing for an arrogant person is to be brought low brought down i don't mean brought down that you destroy their life the way people describe i'm going to bring them down but brought down means humbled to be humbled that's why says rodrique this individual who thinks through the life of every party they monopolize every conversation they need the spotlight to always be on them this individual you know what will bring them down you know we'll humble them you know rebuild rehabilitate them you think you're the life of the party you monopolize every conversation you suck all the energy out of the room you know what you need to do but dad you shave you need to sit alone tomorrow you can't even sit with the other people with saras in a leper colony the lepers can be together the danger and fear of the contagiousness of leprosy obviously doesn't affect those who already have it so in in a leper colony lepers can sit together but here when you have outside the camp a group of mitsuras each of them have spoken gossip slander each has abused the power of speech and they now suffer from saras can they at least enjoy one another's company the answer is no because part of the rehabilitation process is aloneness not necessarily loneliness but aloneness someone became contaminated by contact with the corpse can they be together with someone else who has thomas mace sure are you leaders can they be together yeah why not and yet this mitsora you over here over there you over there no contact solitary confinement all alone aloneness aloneness you know why however who hiv diabetes with your loss you got between a man and a his wife a woman and her husband you got between two co-workers you broke off a shidduch you spoke negatively about a neighbor you harmed the business deal not talking about with each of these scenarios when it's permissible and whether when you have a responsibility to share talking about when he was clearly losing hara so bad yeah because and this is so important to understand that saras is only the symptom the illness is arrogance how do you heal arrogance with humility so this individual is they sit alone aloneness is a time to reflect and to think and to feel and to crave connection and contact now you know what you made the other person feel when you are the subject of la shanhara you feel so alone in this world and there's nothing more punishing than that that's why in the prison system what is the worst most of your punishment solitary confinement it's the worst and the person who is the victim the subject of la shanhara they feel all alone they question all their relationships and friendships they wonder who was talking about them who was listening to it who was sharing it who believes it and they feel so alone and so the one who violated the one who did that has to know what that feels like so we put them all alone they make her sit all alone we make them know and experience what that's like to be all alone what that means to be all alone you know we just finished a period i hope we finished i hope and i daven that we finished a period of aloneness of quarantining we didn't have saras but for two years people are quarantining diagnosed you have to be alone it's contagious you can't go near you can't make contact thank god we have technology i don't know today because the mizora facetime another monsoon because the mitsura living in a facetime their family it's an interesting shiala i don't know on the one hand physically they're not together on the other hand the vision is that they are separate and alone i don't know i don't know what the answer would be logically we had the gift of technology to never fully be alone but there were people alone for a young different hospital and they couldn't take visitors and all of us most of us went through periods of quarantining even if we didn't have corona ourselves but we were exposed to people who did and then we had to quarantine and lock down and we know what that loneliness is like that should make us much more empathetic people if we come out of corona and we don't understand and value being together anymore then what was it for what did we go through then we didn't learn its lessons and we don't feel more empathy and sympathy for people who are alone having now known what that's like and what did we take from it what did we learn from it how did we grow from it what was the point of it all maybe we could look back from it and understand and appreciate that there was something to learn from that experience not only to have suffered through revolba also has an insight here the great mashiach for the person being purified two clean live birds rashi notes that these birds are part of the process why person acted like a bird and the pasta camborius when we were first crafted and created by hashem when he first mixed the materials and the ingredients together to create man how did he bring us to life how did he make us living vibrant dynamic animated beings we became alive instead of just being a golem we weren't just a corpse what gave us life what brought us to life was he blew into our nostrils the soul of life and rashi explains that although the torah refers to animals also as living beings man is superior man is the pinnacle of creation why what do we have over animals the ability the power of speech now i know the whales and the dolphins they make high-pitched noises to each other and some dog owner here is going to write me an email or tell me afterwards you don't understand my dog speaks to me my cat understands me my parakeet can imitate me i got it but it's a very primitive primitive communication it's not the power of thought and mindfulness self-awareness and the power of speech speech is a tool that gives a person the ability to connect with others speech philosophers describe make man a social creature we can connect with each other and we can create connect with hashem and before should point out that the target says we had the power of speech that's what differentiated us from animals we were given the gift of speech that's differentiated us with whom were we meant to speak when adam is created all there are are animals so with whom is he meant to speak the answer is there was someone to speak to namely hashem god what do you see about the power of speech the original intent for the power of speech the original motivation for the power of speech is to speak to hashem ah now that we have the power of speech to speak to hashem it's pretty convenient that we could also speak to one another but if you ask what's the main driver what's the main reason for the power of speech it's not to speak to one another it happens to be that we can also speak to one another but the main reason for the power of speech is to speak to hashem so it's not that i speak all day and i talk talk talk yap yap yap tweet tweet tweet all day and then oh i should find time to daven even though i don't really connect to it but i have to it's that i should use my power of speech to talk to hashem to unburden myself on him to confide in him to thank him to ask him for things that's why i was given that gift of the power of speech oh now that i have the power of speech to talk to hashem i should also use it discerningly judiciously to talk to the people around me halacha dictates that when you say shma and shmona esrei you're supposed to say it not to yourself even though it's called the silent amidah one is still supposed to hear themselves one shouldn't be so loud that they disturbed the person next to them but they should be so loud that they can hear themselves why because that's real speech when you say something out loud when you make it real now you're confronting the real words you said you don't bluff your way through them they're not just in your head or your heart but you and nancy and you say them rav says that's not says two people sitting and learning the divine presence dwells among them i have to tell you a cutscore i don't have a cutscene passionate soda but i have a cutscore on this mission at berkey elvis i love this cut skirt i love this cut skirt the mishna says torah two people sitting and they're not studying diver torah so what does the mishna say something terrible about them two people sitting and they're not studying torah it's like a table of whatever but two people are sitting and studying torah bene mesa but two people are sitting and studying torah and hashem comes and he joins them he pulls up a chair he says you mind you have room for another and then you have the divine presence there yourself so katsuka says we're reading it all wrong don't read it read it yo two people who are sitting and ain't been ahim there is nothing between them no one feels superior to the other better than the other no one is driven by their sense of ego or self aim what is between them is divreitora that's torah shnayam shiyoshin yeshpenayam the two people who are sitting and they feel a sense of yash between them feeling of yeash there's a feeling of yesh they exist and there is someone and there's something and they're better and they're greater then there's no torah katsuka reinterprets the whole mission very very beautifully back to our vulva so alba says why should it be the two people sitting and studying torah what about one person is there no value sit and learn on your own is there no value it has to be with another with a hamusa so revolver says certainly when one person studies torah on their own they fulfill a mitzvah but if you want the shrina to be sure you have to use the power of speech positively which is to articulate torah when a harusa are going to talk torah between them when you say advartora out loud and you share it with another koreshboku when you learn on your own in your head to yourself you've done a mitzvah but hashem says you're good you got it keep going but when you articulate when you verbalize when you express the torah when you bring it into this world when you use your power of speech and your words for torah then akash bar who pulls up a chair you see this also with the power of vidoi you see this with the power of vidue vidu is the core component of chuva without vidoe is not where we've gone wrong and what we want to fix why do i have to say vidui clap hate and say video loud can i just think in my heart hashem you could read my heart you know i'm sorry i have regret and remorse i feel bad why do i have to say it out loud the answer is only what we say out loud only what we articulate only what we confront is it real only then do we take it seriously only then is it meaningful only then is it meaningful only then is it meaningful so this is the power of speech the power of parasha's taras reminding us reminding us of it the power of speech paragraph like hey just so we could say we turned the page oh we didn't turn the page it's all the same page see we'll get there perk you download pasta okay vigila this individual part of the rehabilitation process is they have to shave their entire head all their hair sorry where's the puzzlic why is that part of the process are we trying to ashame we're trying to bring shame humiliate embarrass this person maybe that's consistent with the idea that they were arrogant and they need to be made humbled maybe maybe but the kid has a deeper idea says you have a judgmental eye a stingy eye adam sovereign plony batslacha no tommy manners also you say you know i'm gonna gossip about them because they're doing so well i want that money they stole my parnassa or i deserve the honor not them so you go over and say the honorees of the dinner it's nice they chose them yeah i'm sure they volunteered but do you know about them do you know what i saw them do do you know what i heard about them they're not so great those nice things they said in all those videos they had to trying to raise money needed honorees but you know the truth about them where does it come from la shanhara because when you think someone else has something you deserve you deserve the honor you deserve the money you deserve the happiness you deserve the marriage you deserve the nachos and you're jealous and envious and judgmental so you end up gossiping about the other person so what is shaving your head how is that rehabilitative how does that repair or teach you not to be that way so remember what hashem told eof shalakos passes says that every hair comes out of a separate pore in the skin if two hairs would come out of one pore a person would go blind every hair has its own every follicle comes out of its own pore one hair is not infringing on another hair each follicle has its pore to come out of and similarly in life because nourishes and provides and gives each of us what we need and there is no competition and one is not drawing from the other but each one has exactly what it needs when i end with one last thought i was going to tell you an amazing piece that's there april 13th 1940 the piazzetta's russia and the warsaw ghetto but we don't have time so instead i'll tell you one other thing one other thing now we'll turn the page turn a couple pages to really impress you page 624 saras of the house we have taras of the body we have taras of the clothing and we have tsaras he says there is a salmon he says do you know why eretz canaan is called eretz kanan it's kanan kanan comes on humble lowly modest you need to be humble to merit israel arrogant ego inflated people who are self-assured that's why it says i'll give you tzaras you when you enter kanaan you were supposed to practice but what happened instead you thought it was eretz ahuza this land you're not entitled to it it's not coming to you you didn't earn it you don't own it hashem says it's my land i gift it i lend it but practice practice some humility and modesty if you want to keep it that's what went wrong in this passage says mr zaman also that we entered eretz kenan and we were meant to have achna and instead we saw it as ahuza we saw it as our own we acquired it we worked for it we showed off about it we flexed about it and that's why hashem says you have to be humbled so the politics says when we enter the land not only do you get this ailment on the skin or clothing but even on the home and rashi suggests that as opposed to those who get like on the skin with niggem one should consider it to be a besora tova good news did you hear your house has chinese drywall you gotta demolish the whole thing is that great news mold there's a leak in the pipe in the wall you have to fight an insurance company great news you have to demolish the rooms that's great news rashid tells us why what happened when they demolished the walls of the house what did they find the practice of the kanan was to hide their wealth in the walls of the home so when the coin confirmed a person's home was indeed afflicted what happened it had to be dismantled they had to be dismounted demolished and when you took apart the walls what did you find these hidden treasures so you thought it was bad news that your house had saras you thought what was me there's a leak in the pipe i've got mold but no it's besora tova great news you're going to discover riches and wealth treasures hidden in the wall now it's very puzzling to understand why would hashem reward someone who has this ailment batman again the underlying illness the symptom is on your house but the disease is greed craving more material things why would hashem reward this person why would he give him good news the person who spoke last night the arrogant person has to suffer humiliation aloneness aloneness but this person with the hamdus mammon this person who was greedy and craved money endlessly hashem in fact rewards them good news they'll have to dismantle your house but here's the good news you gotta find treasures hidden in the walls what's the story so think about the following i once heard the person who's done this whose house is afflicted is forced to first go to the coin and announce that he thinks his house has this plague and then what does he have to do next he has to take all the possessions from his house and lay them in the yard you have to empty up the house so when you empty out the house you have to take everything out of the house it's exhausting it's tiring it's time consuming but you know what else it does everything you take out of the house and you take inventory of everything you have you know what it makes you realize just how blessed you are wow i forgot i even had this oh i didn't know i had that how many of these do i have wow i'm incredibly blessed i'm incredibly blessed as the owner goes through the process maybe there's embarrassment humility maybe it'll make them more modest maybe it has that rehabilitative process do you know what else it does it makes a person feel like how wreck rich and blessed and how many treasures they have why do i share that with you to end the partial class today because i think that one can bring the same attitude towards cleaning for pesach that instead of feeling i have tsaras i gotta clean for pesach i'm afflicted with this illness and ailment on me i have to go through my whole house how miserable i have to clean say wow how rich and how wealthy and how lucky and how fortunate look how much i have to clean i don't live in a studio apartment one room with one space that i can clean by looking around and i'm done in four seconds wow barak hashem how many rooms i have to clean many pieces of furniture many possessions hashem how much hummus i have that i could have made its way around the house the same attitude the besora toba the good news that niggem could have represented we don't have to empty our possessions to the front yard of the backyard we're not to demolish or dismantle but when we do go through and check our house when we take an inventory in life it's an opportunity not to complain if it's miserable but it's an opportunity to count our blessings and to feel just how lucky and fortunate we are wishing everyone is tomorrow morning 10 minutes mr made 15 8 45 is living with emunah tomorrow night we're going behind the vemma with coach of auburn coach pearl you may remember he had a great news conference recently where he spoke he was asked about ukraine and he spoke to all that spoke all about purim and his hebrew name he's our guest tomorrow and behind the bema till next time stay healthy stay happy and stay holy