Parsha Perspectives - Tazria-Metzora

Okay, good morning, Boca welcome back to Parsha Perspectives. For today, we have the privilege of a double parsha, Tazria Metzora. If you like learning one parsha, you'll love learning two. Parsha series is generously sponsored by our dear friends Becky and Avi Katzin family in memory of Becky's father. Our learning should be neshama of David Menachem Monish David Grossman. This morning's shiur is also sponsored by Menucha Hershoren in loving memory of her husband Marvin Hershoren, our dear member whom we miss. Neshama should have an aliya. By Shoshana Elliot Moskowitz in honor of the special birthday of Debbie Moskowitz. So, a very very happy birthday to Mrs. Moskowitz. That's okay. She doesn't have to be here for it to be sponsored in her honor. She's out somewhere celebrating her birthday. Good for her. And uh today is also the 40th birthday of my sister-in-law Shani. She should have a very happy birthday and her best year yet to her as well. Okay, parsha Tazria appears in the Artscroll Stone Chumash on page 608. Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe lemor, Hashem speaks to Moshe. Daber el Bnei Yisrael lemor, Isha ki sazria, veyalda zachar. If a woman conceives and she gives birth to a baby boy, the tamas shivas yamim kiminei nidda vosasa titma, she shall be contaminated. She has the status of impurity of tumah for seven-day period as she would do during her regular menstruation. The Gemara Niddah tells us, melamdim osam kol torah kulah. We're talking now a woman conceives, she gives birth seven days, on the eighth day is the bris. Biyom hashmini yimol basar orlaso. The eighth day is the bris. We've spoken about this parsha many times. Why the number seven? Why is the bris on the eighth day? Why is our covenant with Hashem davka in that place, in that way, at that time? The days of tumah that ensue, 33 uh for a boy or the uh 66 for a girl, days of taharah, of purity that follow and so on. So, the Gemara tells us, melamdim osam kol torah kulah, that when this baby is in the womb, this woman conceives the baby boy, what is the boy doing nine months of gestation, nine months of pregnancy? The baby is learning Torah with the malach. The And once it's time to be born, the malach comes and gives a little pat, a little smack on the lip, the indent on the upper lip, and and causes the Torah the baby to forget all of the Torah that he has learned. And the Shmuel Bar wonders, If the baby's only destined to forget, what is the point of spending nine months studying, learning, only to be caused to forget? What's the point? Who come after? When a baby is in a mother's womb, he's in his own world. He or she is in their own existence. Hashem, the almighty creator of the world, in such a way that the only way we can exist, the only way we can have balance or equilibrium, the only way we can survive or thrive in our world, whatever it may be, is through Torah. That is the the energy, the driver, what balances the world is Torah. The principles, the values of Torah, are the blueprint for the world of Torah. And in fact, he explained why the world revolves, why the world, the sun, surrounds the earth. You know, there are different times of the day. In some places, it's night, while in other places, it's day. It'd be much more convenient to be all in the same time zone. If you have children who live in another time zone, you know the inconvenience of trying to schedule, of trying to connect, of trying to coordinate. It'd be much more convenient to all live in the same time zone. Why do we have different time zones? Why is it some places day and some places night? The Rambam blessed them and said, "K'dei she'ha kol ha'olam yishushu ha'olam Torah." So, that's every what time, no matter what time, 24/7, there'll always be somewhere and someone somewhere learning Torah. Because she have shalom skaima l'fi l'egah achas l'Torah. Because if there would be no one on Earth learning Torah, the world would cease to exist. The world exists in the merit, metaphysically, of Torah, or it exists the just like physics, just like science tells us the necessary conditions for the existence of the world, the right distance from the sun, and so on and so forth. You need Torah, that's one of the necessary ingredients for the existence. Um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, womb. Rav Soloveitchik gave a different answer. Soloveitchik suggested, "Why does the baby learn Torah in the womb if only the baby's going to of course to forget anyway? What's the point? What's the purpose? Isn't it wasted time, wasted energy of the malach?" Said Rav Soloveitchik. Because by learning Torah throughout those nine months, later when we're born and living life, when we learn Torah, it's familiar to us. It's not brand new. It's not yesh me ayin, something from nothing. It's not that I'm learning something I never saw or heard before. We are revisiting something that's familiar, something that's inside. This is the notion of the pintala Yid. There's a spark, there's a holy soul inside each and every one of us. And often you see it. You see Jews who are drawn to their Judaism, Jews who are connected to our idea, Jews who intuit something inside them. Why? It's familiar. I heard this. I saw this. I know this. I feel connected to this. I'm drawn to this. Why? Because we've been there before. Inside us, we've learned it with that malach in the womb, the other night Rabbi Leo Dee spoke and he said that um he once read a study or a book that someone had done research online, crowdsourced, of people who only discovered later in life they were Jewish. It was hidden from them. It was concealed from them. For whatever reason, their family had strayed so far, maybe following the Holocaust. People who found out later in life they were Jewish. And something astounding was that 40% of those who found out later in life they were Jewish had already voluntarily chosen to convert. Had already had their own interest in a Judaism to the extent that they converted before they found out that in fact they were Jewish. In other words, there's a pintel Yid, there's a spark inside our soul. And that's why where does it come from? Where is it? Why are there Jews who have a Jewish soul? They have a Jewish pintel Yid? Because we learned Torah with the malach in that womb, that's how we spent that time. We therefore come back and we revisit it. What's the smichos parshios? When we see a juxtaposition or a contrast of the subjects in the parsha last week to this week or within one parsha, nothing's random or chance, it's always for a reason. Hashem is communicating not only through the text, but through the contrast and the arrangement, the organization of the text. So, what was the end of last week's parsha? The laws of Was anyone paying attention? The laws of kashrus. The laws of what you're allowed to eat and not allowed to eat. And what's the beginning of this week's parsha? The laws of childbirth. If a woman conceives, she gives birth, she has her own impurity, she has to return from the boy as a bris on the eighth day, it's to precede Shabbos, and so on. So, the Medrash Tanchuma tells us, "Tino zeh, ach shelo yatzah me'imoh, Kodesh Baruch Hu metzaveh alav omer, "Mizeh tochlo umizeh lo tochlo. Mizeh lachem tameh." This baby before he's even emerged, before he's even born, Hashem is telling him, this you could eat, this is off limits, this is kosher, this is not kosher. And the baby in the womb agrees to only keep kosher, agrees to the laws of Torah, particularly in the laws of what we're allowed to eat. Then that baby is born. Look at this as we are. And that's why last week's parsha the laws of kashrus contrasted to this week's parsha, the laws of the laws of conception, childbirth. There are a lot of explanations offered in this contrast. Some say last week we had the laws of what you put in your mouth. And this week tazria metzora predominantly are about what laws? The laws of metzora, tzaraas, spiritual leprosy. And why does a person get that malady, that illness? Spiritual leprosy results from gossip, slander, speaking negatively, critically of others. So last week's parsha were the laws that govern what you put in your mouth. This week the parsha governs the laws what comes out of your mouth. We have many Jews who are very strict and very vigilant and correctly so and we encourage it and we support it. Kashrus is very, very important. Kashrus can spiritually it can contaminate the soul. We're vigilant, we're careful what we eat. Our ORB hashgacha we're very proud. Our ORB is mehadrin hashgacha. ORB is the largest food service hashgacha. You could say outside of Israel but maybe even including in Israel in the world. Hundreds and hundreds of accounts, food service, not companies. In Israel it's divided by different cities are under their own kashrus. ORB in Palm Beach, Broward and elsewhere is even larger than that and we strive for mehadrin standards. We're constantly raising the standards, the quality, the professionalism because kashrus is important, it matters. We have to be careful, we should be vigilant, we should check. That's why I get texts all the time. I'm at Trader Joe's. Here's a picture I never saw this extra before. Can I buy it? Can I buy it? People should be careful where they go for a Pesach program, what they buy at Trader Joe's, how we operate our own kitchen. It's important. It matters. But many people are super careful about what goes in their mouth and a lot less careful about what comes out of their mouth. Not nearly as scrupulous or vigilant or strict or stringent with Am I allowed to say that? Can I share that? Should I repeat that? When I was a kid, there was a guy in my shul. He loved to say, "I don't repeat lashon hara." So, listen carefully the first time. Okay, you can't say the first time you shouldn't repeat it a second time. Person has to be careful not only with what comes in our mouth, but what goes out of our mouth. But here the Maggid Yosef or Yosef Seratkin shlita quotes the Medrash Tanchuma with a different contrast. Why do we have the laws of kashrus just juxtaposed to the laws of conception, pregnancy, and childbirth? Because Hashem teaches this baby, this fetus in the womb, "Here are the laws of what you can eat and can't eat. Accept it? You're going to follow it? Good. Here we go. Isha k'ishah raya. Wonders Rav Yosef Seratkin, wonders the Maggid Yosef, "Why the laws of kashrus in particular? Why specifically? Why not say to the child, 'Here are the laws of Shabbos. Here are the laws of shatnez. Here are the laws of lashon hara. Here are the laws of tzedaka. Here are the laws of ribbis.' There's so many laws we could have reviewed with the child and made their birth, their conception conditional on accepting it. Why specifically machalos asuros? Why specifically the laws of what's kosher and not kosher, what you can eat and you can't?" After all, this child is not only obligated in the narrow area of kashrus. Child that will be born Jewish, boy or girl, is obligated in all Torah, all of Halacha. So, why specifically do we enunciate Why specifically do we articulate these mitzvahs or Halachas in the womb and tell the child accept it? Good to go. So, the first answer the Maggid of Mezritch gives is, because what is the first impulse that a child that a human being has? Among the greatest taivas, among the greatest temptations that we all struggle with, I shouldn't say we all, that most of us struggle with is in the area of food, eating. Arguably, this child, even before they reach an age of maturity where they'll notice the other great temptation, the opposite gender and the drive towards them, right? But, much younger than that, that child has a temptation for Give me candy. I want more candy. I want to eat a lot of candy. I don't want to eat what's healthy. I want to eat what's not healthy. I don't want to eat when you serve dinner. I want to eat only after bedtime, when it's time for put me to bed. Long before the child faces or confronts navigating what is the other great temptation of man, you could use man generically or man specifically, but earlier than that, every child, every human being is navigating the world of appetite, temptation, taste. Hashem gifted us that not only do we eat, he could have made us just eat bread and water. That's what we need to be nourished to live. He gave us taste buds. What a bracha. Delicious food. He said, "This is my world. Go enjoy it. It's delicious food. Make sure it's kosher. You should make sure it's healthy. Make sure you eat the right amount at the right time in the right place with the right people. Make a bracha before. Make a bracha after. Wash if it's bread." There's all kinds of rules and regulations that help us elevate the act of eating. He gave us taste buds. It's delicious, but now we struggle. We struggle. Probably none of you can tell me that you didn't struggle on Pesach. It's hard to not overeat. We sit at Yom Tov meals, delicious delicacies, dips, appetizers, mains, sides, multiple desserts, countless courses, delicacies. It's a absolute enormous challenge today. This past Shabbat, we were back to challah. If you had blessed someone in your home or you made it challah, oh, delicious challah. What do we do now? What do we do now? We're making it harder and harder and more and more challenging. We have a whole course before we even begin the meal called the dips course. Now we bring out expensive, homemade, incredible dips, incredible dips. And you eat three loaves of challah with tremendous dips and garlic confit, I think that's what it's called. Is that what it's called? One of my daughters, oh, delicious. Garlic and date confit, is that what you call it? Oh, it's good stuff. Before you start eating, you're full. Before you begin the meal, you ate a bigger meal than you eat any other day of the week. It's a challenge to be healthy. This is a taiva. This is a temptation. This is a world that we're navigating. That's why Hashem created it. Because when we regulate, when we have self-control, when we exhibit the godliness in us that's able to say, "I've had enough. Shouldn't eat this. I should eat that." Maybe I have one cheat day, but even with that, what does it look like? So, we elevate ourselves. That's our godly soul over our animal instinct. We are all made of two parts. This is what we're learning now in Tanya. Continue tomorrow morning. We have the nefesh bahamis, the animal instinct, the animal soul, the animal impulse, the animal drive. And the animal says, "Eat like an animal. Act like an animal. Act out like an animal. Live like an animal in a pigsty." That's the animal in us. Then we have a godly soul, chelek Eloka mimaal mamash, and the godly soul says, "No, no, no. Be in control. Be disciplined. Regulate yourself. You don't have to live that way. Get enough sleep, exercise, eat in control, control your speech, control your thoughts, control your behavior. You have the capacity, the godly soul over the animal impulse and animal instinct. That's the the nitzahon, the part of the brain that we grow every time we do something we don't want to do cuz the animal says, "It's 45°. What are you doing this to yourself? You don't have to dunk in it." And then the godly soul comes and says, "It's good for you." Who's in charge? Who's boss? Who's over Who's the boss over here? Who's in charge of who over here? How's this going to operate or work? Who's going to win? That's that battle. Do you hit the snooze or do you get out of bed? Do you eat that or do you say no to that? Do you say that or do you hold it in? Do you look at that or do you turn away? Do you go to sleep or do you doom scroll all night? That's that battle that's going on from the moment we wake up till the moment we're back to sleep between the animal impulse and the godly soul. Will we give in or will we be in charge and in control? Who's the boss? Who's in charge here? The one that's going to make you feel proud, accomplished, living your best self, or the one who's going to be regretful and miserable and feeling your your worst self. And one of the areas, if not the biggest area where this comes up, is in the area of is in the area of food, temptation, drive for the physical. We say Mizmor David, we say we ask the Kodesh Baruch Hu, "Torech lefanai shulchan neged tsorerai Hashem." Spread out for me a table opposite my adversary. Who's the adversary? The dips and the challah. Who's the adversary? Seven mains and six sides and 14 desserts and three appetizers. These are the tsorerai. These are my enemy. Torech lefanai shulchan, spread out a table neged tsor- let me elevate myself through this test. Let me surpass it. What's the Hebrew word for bread? Lechem. It's the root of the same word as milkhamah because it's a war. It's a battle. It's a battle. Are you going to eat the gluten, the white flour, the sugar? Are you going to give in? Lekhem milkhamah is the same word because this is the battleground. This is the battlefield. This is where the war happens, at the kitchen table, the dining room table. This is the milkhamah. So, Hashem turns to this baby who's conceived in the mother's womb and he says, "Here's the deal. Here's the deal. You're a human being, you're flesh and blood, you're a body, you're an animal. You have so much in common with an animal. And you're going to be filled with temptation and drive and desire and the seduction of garlic confit and endless challah. And someone will convince you it's a mitzvah cuz it's shlissel challah this week, you have to. It's going to be endless, the battle. But, I'm also giving you a piece of me," says Hashem. "I'm implanting, I'm breathing into you the life, a piece of myself, the capacity to say no, to be in control, to regulate yourself. Who's going to win? Are you going to keep kosher? Part of keeping kosher is are you going to live healthy? We make the mistake of thinking these are two separate things. You can eat kosher food, but it's unkosher in the quantity or the ingredients. Or all the ingredients can technically be kosher and it's also kosher cuz it's healthy and good for you. And you ate what you need cuz you're eating to live, not living to eat. So, Hashem says to this baby, "I'm putting you in this world. You're made up of a guf and a neshamah. Who's going to win? The neshamah or the guf? And when you say the neshamah the chelek Eloka mimaal mamash, God says, "Good. Here we go. Let's go." We shared in last week's shiur as I was driving this past week, that's also hinted to. The Beis Yisrael the Gerrer Rebbe says that Pesach we face this, we elevated this. Pesach is all mitzvahs of eating. If If Purim Rebbe Yitzchak, we shared the Kedushas Levi says Purim is all about hearing. You hear the megillah, of Mitzvah of listening, the sense of listening. Pesach is all about the sense of taste, of eating. Carbon Pesach, matzah, maror. It's all about the sense of taste. And following Pesach, the Beis Yisrael of Gur Aryeh Rebbe said, we are continuing, we're mamshich, this avodah, this work of elevating our eating, elevating our eating. What does that have to do with slavery and freedom? What does that have to do with liberation and emancipation? What does that have to do with yetzias Mitzrayim, leaving the Egypt of our lives? Said the Beis Yisrael of Gur Aryeh Rebbe, and listen carefully. Said the body kidnaps and holds the soul captive. The body says, "My appetite, my drive, my desire, what I want. I'm going to suppress you. I'm going to kidnap you. I'm going to quiet you because I want what I want." And when we are in control, we take the reins back, we liberate and we free the soul from the bondage and the shackles of the body. And in what area of our life can we do that best? In the area of eating. Kedushas Achilah, elevating and sanctifying the act of eating. And that's what the Sfas Emes says at the end of last week's parsha, pasuk, "Hamaleh eschem me'eretz Mitzrayim." The word hamaleh doesn't mean I took you out of Egypt, it means I I take you out of Egypt. Not I took you out in the past and history, you're not commemorating something from a long time ago. Hashem promises us and tells us over and over, "Hamaleh, I'm taking you out. I'm liberating you. I'm lifting you. I'm taking you out." Why in the present tense, "I'm taking you"? Because we have the ability. Every time we're tempted to look at or eat or say or go or do or think because the body wants it, we say, "No, no, no. You're not in charge. You're not in control. You're not boss. I'm the boss. You answer to me. I don't answer to you. I'm in control. I have the capacity to make boundaries, to say no, to live within my rules. Hamala, Hashem has taken us out of mitzrayim. The metzar, the narrow place where our body is holding our soul hostage, it's time to liberate the soul, to free that soul, to let the soul flourish and thrive, to let the soul be in control, in control of time, in control of money, in control of speech, in control of thought, in control of action, in control of eating. So that says the Meged Yosef, I'm elaborating a little bit, but that says the Meged Yosef is what's going on here. Hashem says to this uber emo, and that's why we have the juxtaposition of the end of last week's parsha and the beginning of this one. The laws of kashrus and then conception and childbirth because Hashem says to this baby, "Wow, when you come out, you're going to want candy. You're going to want to eat unhealthy things. You're going to want to eat unhealthy quantities and unhealthy times. Who's going to be in charge? Who's going to be in control? Your body or your soul? And when the baby, when the fetus says, "My soul, the chelek Elokah, the piece of you you put in me, God?" Then Hashem says, "Isha ki sazria, good. Right answer. Here we go. Let's go." Ulam ner Yisrael me'at, the Meged Yosef offers a deeper or a different answer. The Gemara says, Gemara Yuma daf pei beis, U'varshi richa machona so achi tachshav nafsha, peirush asher ulam me'rich re'ach tachshav mis'av lo. The fetus, even in the womb, can smell, can take in the aroma of the food and desires it. The Gemara tells of two stories of pregnant women who smelled an aroma and desired to eat. U'lacha sh'u'al nashim Yom Kippur hayom, u'lai tochli safek u'varshi achas kibla, peirush asher Yatzman Yochana. Rashi is a posuk u'lam ta'avah so, u'varshi shniya lo kibla, peirush achas Yatzman Macha, Yatzman Rasha. The Gemara contrasts two women smelled it was Yom Kippur, one felt they had to eat, the other didn't. The one who was able to overcome had Rav Yochanan, the great sage, and the other gave birth to a rasha, a wicked. I remember Purim eema u'van mis'av lo Macha. The fetus, I don't know if there's any research to support this, but the fetus already faces the temptation based on what it smells, what it wants, and impacts the mother because of it. Gives that temptation to the mother, and whether the mother gives in or not will ultimately affect and influence the health of the baby. Both and in a third interpretation, the mother says a very Thomas Marshall Adam that a person who does something wrong, when we make a mistake, it's not some external act that has nothing to do with who we are in our essence. It contaminates, it compromises, it corrupts our very essence. It closes off and it seals off and closes off and it seals off the pathway to wisdom. The don't read you become contaminated, read it as you become sealed or closed off. By a gives a different answer. All right, he goes on and on and he explains that when we make a mistake, it seals and it closes off our capacity to access wisdom and truth, to absorb Torah, and that is through eating the wrong things. That's why we're so careful. Particularly with children who are not yet even the age of mitzvahs, because just like if your child had a peanut allergy, you go to the end of the earth to ensure that they're not exposed to it. You ever fly and they tell you don't nobody open peanuts on the plane, M&M peanuts on the plane? There's someone here who has a peanut allergy, and even the smell circulating in the air conditioning system could send them into into uh anaphylactic shock. So, you can't even If you have someone in your family, if you had an allergy that was life-threatening, you wouldn't go to someone and say, you know, is are there peanuts in the recipe? And I don't think so. Okay, that's good enough. You never said it's good enough. Yeah, there are a little bit, but it's not a You'd never say it's good enough. Kashrus? It's not good enough. That's a spiritual poison. It's a spiritual allergy. It has the ability spiritually, metaphysically to do to us spiritual anaphylactic shock. It can destroy us. And therefore, we have to be so careful. And that's why even Uber the may emo, we are so careful. Or turn it around, Rashi quotes another reason. So, we said we said so far two reasons why we have a contrast or juxtaposition last week's parsha and this. Either just be just as careful not only with what goes in your mouth, what comes out. It's number one. Number two. Number two, we just saw because the body and the soul, the body's holding the soul, and therefore we want to experience the existence of time of the soul. How is that in the area of lechem milchama neged ayin in the area of eating? A third reason. Rashi quotes Rabbi Simlai. In the creation story, Breishit, Genesis, who's created first? Man or animal? Animal. The Breishit story tells us all about the animals, fish, creepy crawlies, the animal, the birds. And then, the pinnacle of creation happens on the sixth day, and that is man. Women like to point out it's not the pinnacle of creation, that there's still one more creation, which is the most superior and the ultimate pinnacle, and that is women. Cuz the Torah has a gender bias towards women. Anyway, so the Medrash tells us that just like the description of the creation of man is after animal, so too the laws governing man come after the laws of animals. Last week's parsha were the laws of animals, so what you could eat is what you can't eat, and this week are the laws of people, the tuma and tahara when it comes to man, contamination based on childbirth and the like. Why was man created last? If we were the priority, maybe we should have been created first. The Gemara Sanhedrin lamah has tells us because you can tell this rasha, if somebody's a rasha, wicked person, you could say, "You think you're so special? You think you're so special? The gnat, the fly, the ant was created before you. You think you're something special? The gnat, the fly, the bee came before you." So, it benefits both for us to be the last creation. If someone's a rasha, you say, "You're a you think you're so special? Even the lowly lowly iguana was created before you." And if somebody's a tzaddik, you say, "You know why everything was created before you? Cuz the whole world is for you." So, Hashem created everything because the whole world is special, is just for you. It's just for you. The ain tam d'Shabbos d'parshas hekham Simlai k'shein. So, how did Rabbi Simlai say k'shein? Just like in the creation man came last, so too k'shein, so too here man comes last. Ikar Torah of the maxum of parshas dinim metzora sheb'Mishnah Lashon Hara What are these laws all about? Tazria and Metzora are predominantly about what laws? Gossip, slander, speaking ill, tsaraas. Why does a person gossip? Why do we slander? Why do we speak negatively? Why do we speak and repeat lashon hara? Why do we marginalize and judge and hyper-criticize? Where does it come from? Gaiva. Arrogance. I think I'm better than, so I speak, I judge, I call a name. This arrogant person who thinks they're in a position to speak negatively and critically and gossip and slander we say, you know, the lowly gnat, an ant, and bee, and lizard, and iguana was created before you. That's the kashaim. The same way man was created last so we can say to the rasha, to the arrogant person, that the lowly gnat preceded you in creation. So, to the person who slanders or gossips because they're arrogant, we say, "What are you so arrogant about? The lowly gnat was created before you." Ad rabba. Find several beautiful insights from the Maggid Yosef. Perek bet, pasuk hey. So, Torah tells us the eighth day you give the bris, 33 days the woman is pure, no matter what she sees, no matter what discharge she has. On the And she's allowed And the cave of saylaid, and if it's a girl she gave birth to, then she's impure for two weeks, 12 14 days, and then 66 days that she is to make tahara, no matter what she no matter what she sees. Says the Tiferes Shmuel. Yish lion. Map shat the kishnola ben abbas mikaim mitzvah of Torah shavuah puruvu. The guy mitzvah of mitzvah kedusha, give mushit the guy over him. Shav am shav akash baruch. If he talking about this, maybe the day to Why is it? Birth of a boy generates 7 days impurity. Birth of a girl generates 14 days impurity. First of all, why the disparity? Lots of reasons are offered, one of which is the boy also should have been 14 days impurity, but we want to make her pure in time for the bris. And that's why it's lessened and shortened for the boy. Whatever the reason is, but in both cases a woman conceives and gives birth, and what happens? She's impure. Impure? What she do wrong? Ordinarily, normally we think of impurity resulting from a mistake, from an indiscretion, from poor judgment. Here, this couple fulfilled pru ur'vu. Adiraba, this couple fulfilled the mitzvah to procreate, to have children, to populate the world. They became partner with the Almighty. The Gemara in Kiddushin says, when a couple conceive and give birth, they become partnership with the Almighty. So, where did the tumah come from? Why should they be impure? Why should she be impure? In potential, we could be the greatest. Potential to be the highest. Potential we could be greater than an angel. But in reality, we're born with temptation, desire, weakness, failure, shortcoming. And a person who doesn't pursue their potential, a person who doesn't try to live their best self, their best life, can be lower than an animal. So, the choice is ours. When we come into this world, we come in with enormous potential, pregnant, pun intended, with possibility. We can be higher than an angel or lower than an animal. So, where does the tumor come from in this moment? The father and the mother, the way they need to run the home in this time in this time. When a person is a child, they bear awesome responsibility. Because no longer are you living for yourself. No longer are you only impacting yourself. When a person is a child, they bear responsibility not only to shelter and feed that child, but to be a role model and example to teach and communicate that child. Why does it say "teshave"? She dwells in the days of impurity than purity. "Ayn teshave" Essentially, what this results from, says the Tiveres Shmuel, he elaborates, is a reality. When parents give birth, there's a reality check. You're no longer a child. You're no longer consumed with what you want. You're no longer going to sleep through the night. You're no longer going to be on your schedule. You're no longer going to only care about what you want to eat, you where you want to go. You now bear an awesome responsibility. And there's an adjustment. There's an adjustment. It's very important. Our kids are getting married very young. In many cases, they're getting married while still very immature. And they're playing house, and they think life is fun and games. Fun and games. Rav Moshe said recently, particularly in seminary with girls, but really with both, we teach them, you know, school is fun. This color war, it's fun. And camp is even more fun. And you go off to seminary, and then it's more fun. And all that is to learn, and you You ready to get married, cuz that's going to be the most fun. No, it's not. It is amazing and there's nothing more gratifying and satisfying. There's nothing more beautiful and pleasurable in the world than connecting and meeting your other half and becoming whole, but it's hard work. It's compromise. It's sacrifice. It's work. It's being on someone else's schedule. Sfas Emes says, we have a minag when a couple get engaged, when a boy becomes when a young man, I should say, we do a disservice cuz in the world of shidduchim we talk about, "Oh, I have a girl for that boy. I have a boy for that girl." Is it a boy and a girl? They're not boys and girls. If they're ready to get married, they're young men and young women. But why do we get that young man that chasan a watch, a zaiger? The minag is to get them a watch. Why do we get them a watch? I said this to each of my three sons-in-law when they came to ask me permission. Yeah, that's right. I told them they had to come and ask me permission. I'm old school in that way. When they came to ask me permission to marry my daughters, I had a big speech prepared for all three. Big speech for all three. But all three I told this inside of the Sfas Emes. You know why the Sfas Emes says you get a watch when a young man gets engaged? Cuz he needs to know his time is no longer his own. Young man, until now, you want to learn all day and night, learn all day and night. You want to go out with your friends, you want to you Whatever time you want to wake up, whatever time you want to go to sleep, whatever you want to go, whatever you want to do, your time is your own. Here's a watch cuz now you need to know there's someone waiting at home. And when you said you'll be home at a certain time, you better be home at that time. And when you're deciding how to spend your time, it's not your own. You need to figure it out with the other person. We buy a chasan a watch not so we can show off in shul or under his chuppah his fancy watch. Today the son-in-law chasan has a nicer watch than the father-in-law. But let's leave that aside. But it's a separate commentary. It's a nicer watch than the father-in-law will ever afford or for himself, but it's what he has to buy. Whatever, we'll leave that aside. What's happening in our world today? So much we have to fix and improve and repair and make better. But anyway, the young man, not the boy, we buy a watch because we say, "Your time is not all no longer your own." So, getting married is hard work. You know what's even harder work that we also don't prepare them for? Having children. The mitzvah of not everybody does and we doubt from the bottom of our heart for all those who are trying to have children that Hashem should bless them with health and children who give them nachas. First of all, we should educate our young couples that 1/3 of pregnancies end in miscarriage, that it won't necessarily happen easily or on your schedule. Be ready, be prepared not to scare you, God forbid, but to prepare you for the bracha, but also get ready because it's not fun and games. And you may not get a baby nurse and if you do, you won't have her forever. It's not the world we live in. So, you're going to have to wake up in the middle of the night. You're going to have to change a very messy diaper. You're going to have to afford to pay yeshiva tuition. It's not fun and games. And says the fair shmuel, that's tayshave the tahara. Tayshave, stay home, chinuch, get ready, bear responsibility, grow up, mature, understand what it means to be a parent and to take that responsibility. Perek gimmel pasuk hey, turn to the next perek. Hashem, now we turn to tzaraas. Adam ki ya'avur b'saro, if a man Now, we have a lot of words to describe man. Adam, gever, ish. We have so many words and yet we use the word Adam. Why do we talk about Adam? We've shared before. Adam is the name of the first human being. And why was he named Adam? Because he comes from adamah. The adamah is a place that you plant and you grow. It's a place of potential and possibility. It's a place where you can grow. This person could have used speech to build, to construct, to grow. He used speech negatively to destroy. Adam, he forfeited that possibility, that potential. He violated what he could have been. He's Adam, the Adam More than that, what distinguished, what made Adam unique, what made Adam different than animals? Uncles says he God breathed life into us, into man. And Uncles says he filled them and gave them the power of the power of speech. Animals don't speak. I know they have code, they grunt, they bark, they meow, they all the noises when I walk around the lake with my grandchildren and we the duck, they quack. They have all these noises they make. They do not speak in a sophisticated manner the way human beings do. They can't communicate their inner world and their inner thoughts the way human beings can. Speech is uniquely human and speech is godly. And that is the power, that is what God gave us. By the way, why? When Adam was created and God breathed life into him, to whom was he meant to speak? Why did he have to be endowed with the power of speech? He's all alone. Who is he meant to speak to? You see that the core of the gift of speech is to speak to Hashem. He wasn't all alone. There was someone to speak to, namely Hashem. Before Hava, Eve comes along, there already is someone to speak to, namely So what was the original purpose of speech? To talk to Hashem. So many people talk all day, talk talk talk talk talk, chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp. They talk all day and they never talk to Hashem. Which is the original reason, the original intent, the original purpose, the original gift of speech was to talk to Hashem before we also can use it to speak to other people. Too many mistakenly use it to speak only to other people and never talk to Hashem. That was the original purpose, the reason that that got it. So what distinguishes and differentiates man? What makes us an Adam? The power of speech. And this individual abused it. They misused it. And that's why the Torah employs that word, not another. Adam ki y'vor b'sar o se'so s'pachas, we have the beginning of these laws. So, perek pasuk hey, v'ra'ah ha'kohen b'yamim sh'vi'i, this person has to be sequestered, quarantined. Until 5 years ago, that was a word that we only ever used, parshas Tazria Metzora. Quarantined. Whoever heard or used that word any other time? Then 5 years ago, we started to use it a lot. Baruch Hashem, we don't have to use it, and please God, should never use it again. V'ra'ah ha'kohen b'yamim sh'vi'i negah amadah einav, the kohen re-examines on the seventh day, and he sees the negah, the blemish, is still visible. Lo pasah negah ba'or, v'siger ha'kohen shiv'as yamim shenis, the kohen sees it has not spread, he declares him uh he he says what has to happen, he quarantines him a second time, and so on. Says the Amoras, Torah says the Racham Sh'muel, Rebbe, quoting from the Basain, the Heiliger Basain, he heard in the name of Rav Yitzchak ha'Kohen mi'Koretz, the author of the Sefer Bris Kodesh Olam, the Zohar ha'Kodesh tells us, Ashrei ha'ayin she'ra'asah oneeg l'negah. The Zohar makes a comment, and tells us that the confused people, the people who are the ones who who impact us negatively, they mistake, they flip oneg and negah. Both of them are comprised of the same letters, ayin, nun, gimel. What's oneg? Pleasure and joy. What's negah? A blemish. Negah osiyos oneg. K'mochin, kol ish Yisrael yesh lo negah, Rachmana l'tzlan, nehpach etzlo oneg l'negah. If a person gets this negah, this blemish, because they've misused and abused the power of speech, it turns and transforms the oneg, the pleasure, into pain. Nehpach etzlo oneg And the person has to be quarantined, sequestered. They have to be alone so that they can repair. So the whole purpose of being sequestered alone is to learn to transfer back, to flip the one egg that became nega, take the nega, turn it back into one egg. So they should be deeded with a hesker until they can you got to sit alone. You got to be alone, solitary confinement. The passage we just saw says the coin looks at it and behold the affliction retained its color. It retained its color. It was omed be ainav. Be ainav means the nega remains with its ainav, with its ain. It's a play on words. It remains with its ain. In other words, what's the coin checking? Is it a nega or one egg? Where is the letter ain? This individual who got confused and messed up, who had poor judgement and misspoke, they took the ain that should be at the beginning of the word and they put it at the end of the word. And so what the coin is checking is omed be ainav. Where is the ain? Where's the ain? So what's this teaching? What does that mean? The individual is sequestered, the individual who's isolated and quarantined, the coin goes to check did they learn their lesson? How will you know if they learn their lesson? Where they put the letter ain. The beginning of the word one egg or the end of the word nega. Omed be ainav, does he still have the ain at the end of the word nega? That's what the coin is looking for. What in the world is this teaching? What is the Zohar Kadosh telling us? What's going on? Zakh ha basar in Chazal tell us, our rabbis teach us, the Mishnayos in Avos Pirkei Avos Mishnayos, Kol mi she yesh lo shlosha dvarim halalu hu talmidav shel Avraham Avinu. A person who has the following three qualities is a disciple, a student of the great Avraham Avinu. What are the three qualities that will distinguish us, that will identify us as a student of Avraham? Ayin tovah, a good eye, a positive eye, generous eye, ruach nemucha, nefesh sh'feilah. Ayin ra'ah, veruach gavoha, venefesh rechava hu talmidav shel Bil'am haRasha. In contrast, the Mishna says, Mishna says, so if you're humble and you have a good eye, you're a student, a disciple, you're progeny of Avraham Avinu. And if you are stingy, you're haughty, you're arrogant, and you look negatively, hypercritically at everyone, you have an ayin ra'ah, then you're a disciple, you are the offspring of Bil'am haRasha, the wicked Bil'am. Ayin tovah nikras ayin yamin. A good eye is called the right eye. The ayin ra'ah nikras ayin smol. A negative eye is the left eye. Vezeh mashma efshar bein nega leoneg. K'she yesh le adam ayin tovah, einav letzad yamin. It's on the right. Shenasa tzir shel oneg, shebo ayin letzad yamin sheb'teva. Lo kein im yesh le adam ayin ra'ah, ayin smol. Az ayin osa ayin letzad smol, venasa nega. Wow, such a beautiful insight of the Baal Ayin. You would expect the one who's known as the Baal Ayin to have this insight about the letter ayin. What is the ayin? It's our eye. How do you look at the world? Do you see the good? Do you see the positive? Do you see what you have in common? Do you see what's redeemable? Do you see what's admirable? Do you see what you can compliment? Or do you have the eye of Bil'am? Oh, you do you see what's wrong, how bad, how negative, see the shortcomings and the failures and the failings of another? Do you see what's missing? Do you see how different you are? Do you see the disagreements and the division? It's our choice. Our same eye can choose what to see. Do you want to see the good? What you can compliment? What you can admire? What's redeemable? What's positive? What you have in common? Do you just want to see what you can criticize? What's missing? What's negative? Called the missing tile syndrome. When you walk in a room, do you see all that's there? Do you see the one missing tile? Where is your eye drawn? Where is your eye drawn? There's a lot of psychology, a lot of deep data and research on it. Where is a person's eye drawn? People are made differently. In this room are people who walk into a room, they see the positive and the good and the hopeful and the upbeat. And other people walk into a room and all they see is what's missing, what's negative, what they do differently, what they're critical, what's bad. Who do you want to be? How do you want to be thought of? What's your legacy? Which eye do you want to interact and see the world with? Because the outcome will be is the eye in the eye at the beginning of the world word, is the world filled with oneg? Pleasure and joy and positivity? Or is the eye in at the end of the word nega? All you see is the blemish, all you see is what's missing, all you see is what's wrong. This individual had to be quarantined cuz they don't know how to look at the world. You need to sit and be alone. Through gossiping and slandering, by speaking negatively about others, you made them feel isolated and alone, you made them feel apart. You need to know what that feels like. And in that time that you're isolated and alone, experiencing that loneliness yourself, what you need to focus on is how to recalibrate, where to put the eye in. So the coin comes, and what does the coin check? What does the coin hinneha nega amad be'einav? If the eye if the nega is amad be'einav, if the eye in is still in the same place, if this individual says to the coin, "It's about time you came here. Where have you been all this time? And I can't believe they did this to me. And I can't believe anything that's wrong. And this nega, have you seen this place? The food is terrible and the pillow is terrible and that the the eye in is a mod ba'in of. The eye in is still a nega. It's still at the end of the He's still seeing all the negative. But if the individual is one egg, "Wow, thank God you're here. You're so wonderful. I'm so grateful. Look at all the good even though this is a hard time, but I see so much good." So the person has recalibrated and replaced. They put the eye in where it belongs. So the individual is tahor. Now it's time to take them back. So the Bas Ayin has this magnificent insight that all of the tzara'as all comes down to the contrast of the one egg and nega. Where does this person put their eye in? How do we look at? Where do we see? How do we see the world? That's up to us. That's up to us. Do you see what's worth complimenting or do you see what's worth criticizing? Do you see the good or the bad? Do you see what you have in common or do you see the differences? Choice is ours. How do we want to see the world? One will lead to one egg pleasure and the other will lead to nega, seeing the blemish in others, which really is revealing the blemish in ourselves. And the choice is our own. Perek Gimmel Pasuk Mem Hey. Cuz I want to get to Metzora as well. Page 616. We have all kinds of tzara'as. Tzara'as of the body, tzara'as of the head and the scalp, tzara'as of the clothing, tzara'as in the walls of a home. In these two parshas we go through all the forms of It's not leprosy. It's not a dermatological disease. It's a spiritual malady. And it can reveal itself on all these places and all these ways. So the Torah tells us Perek Gimmel Pasuk Mem Hey. Hatsaru'a Asher Bo Hanega, the individual who's struck with tzara'as, who has this uh nega bigadav Yafri'ah Rosh Yafri'ah Paru'a Vechol Ha'atzma'ot Yateh. Torah tells us his garments have to be torn, the hair has to be unshorn, he cloaks himself up to his lips, and what does he do? He calls out, "Tamei tamei yikra." He lets everyone know, "I'm tamei, I'm impure, keep your distance." In other words, again, it's not a parallel at all cuz COVID was a physical illness and disease and this is a spiritual one, but I'm I don't want you to remember, but if you go back and remember, if somebody took a COVID test and it was positive, we had all these I I don't want to remember cuz I'll break out in hives, but we had our medical task force, which had its rules and protocols that if you were test positive, you need to let everyone know. Anyone who might have been exposed to you, we have to send an email, you have to let them know, you have to notify. Again, we don't want to go back, it's 5 years later, and remember, tamei tamei yikra. This individual has to notify everyone who was exposed to them. Stay away, keep your distance. Tamei, I'm tamei, you need to keep your distance. You need to keep your distance. Says the Tiferes Shmuel. Says the Shmuel Baron Bend. I'm tamei tamei yikra. Sorkin, Rashi tells us, sorry, mashmia shehu tamei v'yifreshu mimenu. He lets the world know, "I'm impure, keep your distance from me." Sorkin in the Gemara Maseches Sotah tells us, "Yafah urecha kemochah bor lo misah yafah." We saw in the Gemara mentioned several times, those who learn the daf. Even when we have to carry out a capital punishment, we do it with sensitivity and love. We always try to soften the blow. We try to even when we have to punish, we do it, if we can, in a sensitive and loving way. Who tzarich leishut badachot tzomachat, and this individual already has to be quarantined and isolated. B'filu eni chamesh bima, and you don't you can't even quarantine and isolate together. Why aren't we worried about protecting his dignity? That here he or she has to announce Keep your distance. Stay away. You don't want to get too close to me. Are we going to embarrass them? Are we going to shame them? Isn't the Torah all about protecting and preserving dignity, not shaming people? What's going on over here? What's going on over here? There are external acts we do where externally we've done the act and we violated You ate non-kosher. You wore shatnez. You're an avaryan. You did something wrong, but you're you who did something wrong. However, there are other kinds of avayaros. You didn't just compromise your Yiddishkeit. You compromised your very self. You forfeited your humanity. If you gossip and slander, if you mistreat others, you've compromised your very humanity. You've corrupted the very dignity, your very sense of self. You haven't just violated your rules of Yiddishkeit. You corrupted, you compromised your very identity. Keben Adam. So, you forfeited your humanity. What made you more elevated distinguished from an animal, as we shared, the power of speech, the ability to speak elevated us to build, to connect, to draw bridges. Through your actions, you reveal that you don't protect your own dignity. You don't care about your own humanity. You forfeited it. You corrupted it. You compromised it in the way that you acted, in the way you spoke. If you don't care about it, we don't have to care about it. So, it's true. You violate a Shabbos, we don't want to embarrass you. You violated eating non-kosher, we're going to protect your dignity. We don't want to embarrass you. But, if you hurt other people in the power of speech, then you didn't care about your own dignity, we don't have to care about it, either. And therefore, tamei tamei yikra, announce you're tamei, so others know to keep a distance, because if you don't care about your dignity, we don't have to care about your dignity. Tell everyone that you're tamei, so they know to keep a distance. Az yizakdi Tiferes Tiferes Shmuel. That is the Tiferes Shmuel. The Maggid Yosef also has an insight on this. Maggid Yosef says the following. Tamei tamei yikra. The Gemara tells us The Gemara gives two reasons. One is, he now tells people to keep a distance. It's contagious. The tumah. There's a second reason the Gemara might come and gives us, which is he lets everyone know I'm I'm sick. Daven for me. I need your t'fillah. I need your davening. The Gemara learns from here, in fact, that if a person's going through a hard time, they should let others know and ask, "Please daven for me. Please daven for me." Don't hold it in. Don't keep it to yourself. Don't be proud. Let others know, "Please keep me in your t'fillos." Frekta Chofetz Chaim mekashya es the How is the metsora different than Wonders the Maggid Yosef. Ordinarily, if someone's sick, we put out an email, "Daven." We add their name to our Tehillim list. We add a name to our weekly bulletin. We announce, "Please daven for so-and-so." Yet here it seems with the metsora, he or she themselves have to ask others to daven. Why? Why ordinarily do we publicize, we the community announce to daven, and here it's the individual themselves who's supposed to ask others to daven. Wonders the Chofetz Chaim, what's the difference? The Chofetz Chaim says, "Because Hashem doesn't listen to the tefillah of the person who spoke lashon hara, so this person themselves needs to ask others for help." But it's not only the one who spoke lashon hara. It's hard for someone themselves in jail to free themselves. You need another to come help you. So everyone who's going through hard time needs the help of others. So why do we differentiate? Ordinarily, the community announces, and here this person has to let others know themselves. So this is what the Maggid Yosef suggests. He says, Because This is the one malady that comes from speaking ill gossip. If we would say, "You know, Barrel has tzaraas, everyone davening for him. We'd be essentially speaking lashon hara about him. So yes, somebody God forbid is going through a hard time, it's not their fault, not of their own doing. Somebody God forbid rachmana litzlan is facing and confronting an illness, they didn't do anything wrong. Of course, we take the responsibility to announce, everybody daven fervently for that person. But when the whole malady comes because the person gossiped, we shouldn't compound their gossip by being the one to announce, "Daven for Beryl, the oisvorf, who has tzaraas, cuz he spoke lashon hara." He should announce it. He shouldn't have too much pride, he himself should announce it, cuz there's nothing wrong with needing and accepting help, nothing wrong with asking others to daven for you. He should ask for it, but the reason this is different than all other cases, says the Maggid Yosef, is we shouldn't compound or it shouldn't even look like we are speaking lashon hara by announcing, "He needs us to daven for him for the very thing he got because of lashon hara." Brilliant, fascinating insight. We have time for one last one. Can't believe we didn't even get to Metzora. Let's just start Metzora. Parshas Metzora beginning of Parshas Metzora. This is the law of the Metzora on the day that he now becomes purified, his process of reentering the camp and reintegrating into society. The Yatzah Kohen el machaneh, the Kohen goes outside to see him. V'ra'ah Kohen v'hinei nirpa negah hatzara'as min hatzarua, the Kohen leaves the camp to where he's being sequestered, to where he's being he's being isolated, and the Kohen checks whether the tzaraas has healed and whether he can come back. Says Rav Soloveitchik, "The Yatzah Kohen." When we explore the parsha, we find a peculiar phenomenon. The Kohen here assumes the role of diagnostician and nurse. Only the Kohen has the right to pronounce the sick person clean or unclean. This is a task that a coin would normally not be expected to perform given the lengths he has to go to to avoid impurity. Think about it for a moment. What category of people, which demographic is particularly warned, cautioned, has to remain heightened, vigilant to avoid ever becoming impure? Kohanim. Can't go to a cemetery, don't go to a hospital, don't be under the same roof as a dead body. Kohanim has to be particularly hyper vigilant about impurity. And yet, who's the one who goes out of the camp to go check and see whether this metzora is still impure? The Kohanim. So if there's anyone you choose not to do it, it would be the Kohanim. Why is it the Kohanim? Why is this job assigned to the Kohanim? Furthermore, there are many forms of impurity in the Torah. Anyone with the required knowledge can help with purification. Yet, tzaraas is assigned only to the Kohanim. Let's analyze the situation with the metzora, says Rav Soloveitchik. In the treatment of tzaraas in biblical times, the phobia related to leprosy in olden times is similar to the phobia of modern malignancy. The greatest fear was the fear of discovery. One took sick and the outward symptoms caused others to suspect that he had leprosy. Immediately, the sick man lost his human dignity. He became isolated from the community. People were afraid to associate with him, even greet him. He was often killed or at least driven out of town. From time to time he was offered a meager supply of food thrown to him like food thrown to a dog. He was treated harshly for the sin of having contracted the disease. What is the Jewish approach? The first thing Torah demands is bring this to the Kohanim. Bring the Kohanim. The leper was thus instantly removed from the mob psychosis. The Kohanim diagnosed him and pronounced the term as tzaraas. But the leper leper was not subsequently cut off from society. He was in communication with the Kohanim as one of the heads of the community. In fact, the metzora could request being seen by the Kohanim Gadol himself, a man who is not permitted to attend the funeral of his closest relatives. Yet, if summoned, the Kohanim Gadol had to go to with metzora. Kohanim Gadol couldn't go to the funeral of his closest relative. And yet, if the metzora asked to see the Kohen Gadol, he went. Why? Says Rav Soloveitchik, what we're trying to communicate is no one's lost. Yes, this individual made a mistake, and yes, they need to rehabilitate themselves by being isolated, by being chutz l'machaneh. But by sending the most dignified, the highest profile leader of the Jewish people, what we're messaging is this individual is not cut off. They're not beyond hope. They're not beyond repair. They're not beyond repair. Torah legislated to prevent the loss of human dignity. Kohen went with the leper outside the camp to demonstrate he was his friend. The leper was isolated from everyone except the leader of the camp, who must do everything possible to heal him and bring him back to society. The Kohen assures him, "You're needed. You'll get well. You'll return." The Kohen acts for the need of the people. The message of Parshas Metzora is that even someone who holds the exalted office of kehunah must not abandon his fellow Jew. He must have his compassion for everyone, even someone as dangerously ill as the leper. Not only the Kohen, but the prophet as well was charged with the role of being a friend. Someone might say, "Rabbi, why do you go to jail? The people person who's in jail, look at the mistake. Look at their crime. Look at what they did. It's beneath you, Rabbi. Sends the wrong wrong message, Rabbi." Says Rav Soloveitchik, "No. Sends the right message. You need to be in jail. You need to pay a price. You did the crime, you got to do your time. You need to rehabilitate and be better. But you're not lost. You're not hopeless. You're not beyond repair. The Rabbi himself, the Kohen himself, the prophet himself goes to visit. Goes to spend time. Goes to see person who's in treatment, person who's in rehab. Why is the Rabbi going? Rehab, that treatment, that's where they go. That's where they Yes, 100%. Person needs to go where they can improve themselves, where they can come back. That's where they go. "V'tzivah Kohen," continues the Rav, "we've become specialists in criticism, in searching out the blemishes of others. However, we've overlooked one significant point. The priest who declares a person unclean must go outside the camp to the afflicted individual in order to purify him. It's incumbent upon us to purify those who are outside the camp, who dwell in the great camp of ignorance. We have to go to help the people who dwell in the great camp of ignorance. We go wherever they are. That's our responsibility in order to lift them. The tonal Rebbe shlita has a very similar idea. We'll end with this. Torah says El Aaron or one of his sons. The Torah tells us the laws of tzaraas this individual is brought to Aaron or one of his sons. Torah could have simply said, "Bring him to a cohen." Why does it delineate specifically to Aaron or one of his sons? Cuz it's emphasizing the cohanim are the ones who must descend from their lofty heights of sanctity and work with the metzora, who's sunken and fallen to the lowest depths of impurity. And he has to go outside the city because of the machaneh. Torah not only requires the cohen to leave the sacred, serene environs of the mikdash, but also requires that he do so joyfully. Pasuk says cohen, vihinay nearpan negah tzaraas min hatzarua. Vihinay. The psiktas who trace of the midrash tells us the word vihinay connotes simcha. Hinei is the word we use to connote simcha. The cohen is to feel such a level of closeness to the metzora he experiences joy over the fact that the person's tzaraas has been cured. Cohen is not just doing a job. It's not just a profession. It's not just a career. It's not just a paycheck. If you're a chaplain in the prison, if you're working in rehab, if you're interacting with everyone, no matter where they are or how they fall into what they've done wrong, vihinay. The love that has to come from love. But the leader has to come without judgment. I meet people all the time. And I always say, there's almost nothing, I think, I haven't heard or dealt with. And my job is not to judge. So, I often introduce, don't be ashamed, don't be embarrassed. Don't hesitate. I'm not here to judge, I'm here to help. I'm here to help and support. You come back or repair or improve or rebuild rehabilitate, whatever needs the work. It's my job. Cuz it's modeled after the coin and the navi, whose job it is the hinay, to even feel the simcha of helping the metsora. The willingness to go out of our comfort zone mikutz hamachaneh and to do it even the coin godol even if it means lowering or lessening or becoming or exposed ourselves, because that's the responsibility and that is the message to the rest of the camp. We didn't get too far in parshas metsora, but we got a good start. Have a good day, a good week. Please remain to say all of safe at tehillim. We have booklets, so if everyone takes a booklet, we can finish all of safe at tehillim quickly. Should we zocheh to the return of the hostages and the success of all of our soldiers and the soros tovos, yeshua venachamas.