Tazria-Metzora - Source of Growth

You're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari Goldwag, recorded with Hashem's never-ending assistance in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel, 5786, 2026. This week's parsha is parshas Tazria-Metzora. And the topic of this week's parsha is the concept of lashon hara, speaking negatively of others, of gaiva, of an overinflated ego that causes one to do so. And it also causes one to be disconnected spiritually from Hashem and from the people around him. And the result, as are the meforshim explain, the result is tzaraas, which is a physical affliction, called, commonly, leprosy, and manifests on the skin, but it's also a spiritual affliction that can manifest on a person's clothing, on a person's house. >> [snorts] >> Now, this is a reflection of a spiritual malady, a spiritual sickness. And that spiritual sickness is egotism. That spiritual sickness is a disconnect, a feeling, a sense of separation. I'm different than you. When I speak about you, it doesn't affect me. That's my thought process. If there's gaiva, if there's kina, if there's jealously, it's a sense that I don't have what I need. But all in all, it's an idea, it's a the ego separates us. That's the foundation of the idea. Now, the Medrash brings a pasuk and brings a story, and I'd like to share with you and and explore with you the psukim that is brought, that are brought. The rock of Adam ki yebe or bisar, the pasuk says, when a person shall have on the skin of his flesh, sa'asis apachas, he has some kind of blemish, some kind of skin disorder, which is really a spiritual skin disorder. So, the obligation is to bring it to a cohen bring it to the priest. And the priest will look at it. And of course, why don't you bring it to a doctor, right? Because the cohen the priest is the spiritual doctor. He's the one who recognizes the elements of our soul, recognizes the sins that we've done the the separation that we have between ourselves and others, between ourselves and Hashem. So, he's the one to bring it to and for him to look at it and recognize is this the spiritual element which is caused by is this the physical element which is caused by the spiritual disease? So, the midrash brings a pasuk me pilag lashetif to Allah. It's a pasuk in Iyov, a very beautiful pasuk, which I'd like to explore with you in detail. The pasuk says, "Who separated the shetaf?" A shetaf means the water. It's a deluge. "Who separates the deluge into different streams?" Miderech l'chaziz koilos. It would be possible for Hashem, as it were, when he brought rain, when he brings rain, it doesn't have to come in droplets, right? We're used to rain coming in a certain way. It could come in a torrent. Or even worse, it could come in a deluge. There could be so much water that the earth is just overcome with the water. And when we find that there's thunder and there's lightning, so that thunder could be such a loud sound all at once that it causes maybe people to go crazy. And the the lightning could be such a great fire that it could cause incredible damage and destruction. But, that's not what Hashem does. That's not how Hashem does it. Me pilag lashetif to Allah. Hashem >> takes the water, takes the deluge and he splits it up. He makes little droplets of water. He doesn't allow it to to overcome mankind. Doesn't allow it to cause too much destruction. And the lightning and the thunder, there's lightning here, lightning there, but it's not all at once. It's split up. That's how Hashem manifests in the world. That's how Hashem brings down the the shefa that he wants to bring. And we'll see more about that soon. I'd like to share with you first what the measure says based on this pasuk. Reb Berachiah says, we just called we talked about a shetef, which which is a deluge, a tremendous amount of water. But there are places that refer to hair with the same word, the word shetef, which means an outpouring. If you think about the hair of one's skin, so it's a a product of your skin. There's an outpouring of hair. It's a funny way to think about it, but listen carefully to what the measure does with this pasuk. Measure just tells us a story with a particular person and the meforshim say this same measure just brought in the Tanchuma and it's a slightly different version. The subject of our story was a kohen, was a priest. And he was somebody who people would come to in order to check their tzaraas. Is this tzaraas? Is this something that I need to go through the entire process of contamination and then purification and then korbanos and separating myself. People would come to him to ask him to to look at their their blemish. >> So, he said a word. And the the it's not explicit here in this matter. She's sent it on Columbus Boulevard by the Adam of fortune. He said He said a word, but before the word, he was living in Israel this coin as priest, and he was having trouble with his parnassa. He was having trouble with his livelihood, and he decided that he's going to leave Israel. One of the reasons is permitted to leave Israel is because of parnassa. So, he was planning to leave Israel and to go to slaughter it in order to make some money and maybe return to his family. Now, one day he was saying cuz he's looking at the the hairs, right? He's looking at one of the things that indicates that a person has leprosy as tsaraas, is the fact that the hair it [snorts] it turned white. It was brown or black, and it turned white. Right? When that happens, so it shows, says this coin, that there's something caught up caught cut off, sorry. Something cut off in the root power in the source of the power of that hair. So, he says in the coin of the name of the coin of the name of the name every single hair has its own hole. If you look at the hairs on your hand or wherever, >> [snorts] >> so you'll see that each hair has a separate entrance or exit that it comes out in the skin. Has its own hair follicle. There are no two hairs in one follicle. And each hair has its own source of sustenance. Well, we can think about grass. Looking at my grass here. Each little blade of has its own source of sustenance. I don't know if it's exactly the same. The hair is more obvious to see. So that each hair will not benefit from something from a different from the source of power of a different hair. Okay? So the idea is that if you see that there's a hair that is white instead of being brown, it means that the source of its of its life has been cut off. That's why it turned white. That's why the hair turns white. And it's a beautiful martial, of course. It's a great analogy for what happens when a person gets leprosy when he gets tzaraat. What's the spiritual source of tzaraat? As we said, it's egotism. It's a disconnect from the people around me. And really, when I say I'm disconnected from the people around me, it means that I lack the recognition that the people around me are also connected to Hakadosh Baruch Hu as much a child of Hashem as I am. Right? That's the source of my egotism. That's how I can say lashon hara about somebody else. I don't recognize that everyone is connected to Hashem. Each person is a child of Hashem. And I don't recognize that I'm connected to Hashem because I think that somehow I'm not getting what I deserve. Why am I speaking negatively about somebody else? They got it. They got something that's mine. Maybe. Or they got something that I should be getting. So there's a disconnect from my spiritual source. And that is the the spiritual mistake that I make if I'm involved in egotism. If I'm involved in lashon hara, speaking negatively, gossip. And so it reflects itself in the hair. Each hair has it's like we're all on this goof. We're all a part of the body of Klal Yisrael. The body of the Jewish people. Each one of us is a little hair sticking out of this body doing our job on this earth. And each one of us is connected just like a hair has its root of power. Each one of us is connected to the source of power which is Hakadosh Baruchu. Now, what happens when there's a disconnect to that source of power? The hairs turn white. So, this is what this Kohen was saying. He was saying a drasha. He was saying every single hair has its own source of power. And that source of power gets cut off. So, his wife heard heard him saying this idea. Heard him saying over this drasha about each hair having its own source of parnassah. And she said to him, "Don't you hear what you're saying? You're thinking about leaving Eretz Yisrael in order to get parnassah in order to get livelihood? That means that you don't believe that Hashem has exactly what you need for you right here. Right? Eretz Yisrael is the place which is closest spiritually to Hakadosh Baruchu. So, you're going to go out, you're going to leave, you're going to so to speak cut yourself off from the skin of Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael and you're going to go out there and find something that you don't have here? That's ridiculous." said her said his wife. "Come back. Come back from Chutz La'aretz or don't carry out your plan. And Hashem, your creator, will provide for you, will give you sustenance. Shma love Yisrael become the warrior. So, this cohen, this priest, listened to his wife. And indeed, exactly what she predicted would happen is what happened. He decided not to leave. He instead stayed in Eretz Yisrael, and Hashem took care of him. He had the livelihood that he needed. And that's a brave wife. It's a brave wife. But it's an insightful wife. It's an insightful idea. Okay, so that's the first part of the possuk. Mipilag lashevet to Allah means she has understanding. The possuk of Shas is that there's a there's a deluge of water that Hashem splits into little sprinklings of water, so that we're not overwhelmed by the water. And in the same way, each hair has its own And the And the word shetef means the deluge, but it could also mean something that pours forth, something that that comes out. And it's the it's the hairs. And it's the hairs that are coming out. Hashem has all of the parnassah. Just like the body has enough energy to push out all the hairs on our on our entire body. Hashem has all the parnassah that's needed. Just like every hair has its power that's given to it, so it can grow. So, too, every individual Hakadosh Baruch Hu has reserved for him the power that you and I need, each and every one of us. And And just like no hair can touch the root of a different hair, so, too, each and every one of us, we are directly connected in to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hashem has for us, each and every one of us, the livelihood that we need. Now, this goes on and explains the second part of the possuk. V'derech l'chaziz kol eis. The the thunder The thunder could be one huge amazingly I don't know how to say volume voluminous. I'm not sure how to use it as an adjective. The sound of thunder could be one loud manifestation of of of sound. But instead of some splits it into voices, splits it into separate separate sounds. So that we are not overcome and overwhelmed. Measure says that Hashem gives each and every sound a separate path to travel, right? We have sound waves. Sound waves travel through the air. Each sound wave has its own path that it travels. Why? that it doesn't come out and cause massive destruction in the entire world. Right, sound can cause destruction. I'm thinking of the plague of of Arbeh. The locusts, they were making so much noise. Or was it the frogs? I'm sorry, it was the frogs. They were making so much noise that Pharaoh was extremely disturbed. Right? Noise, constant noise can can really cause great disturbance. Another possible explanation about the separation of the of the voices of the sounds Rebbe Nachman says that it's analogous to a to a vegetable garden. And there's water flowing into the garden. Right? You have your sprinkler system set up. You are a leper. This is also reference to what happens with the hairs as we said earlier. As long as there's substance, as long as there's water coming into the garden, so the garden, the grass gets green. The moment that the water source is cut off, you look at my garden, you can't see it right now, but there are spots where there is a lot of green and there are spots where the grass has dried out cuz of a lack of rain or a lack of water. So, that's the the reality of it. And we can we can personally dry out, so to speak. We can disconnect ourselves from and lose that youthfulness, use that lose that joy, lose that connection, lose that sustenance. If a person marries, so then the the hair that comes out is black. We're not talking about the white hairs of my beard right now. We're talking about a person who normally has black hairs and they became white because of tzaraas. As long as they stay connected to their source of power, they are they are black. The moment that they lose that source, the tzaraas will So, what happens? A person can become pure again as long as his hairs are black. But if it has turned from black to white, so then the tzaraas will see him as a leper. The pasuk says, when a person shall shall have the skin of his flesh that the the hairs have turned white, so it starts off with adam. What is adam? And Adam is a man. Right? Adam is a human being. But the word Adam, the root of it is the word dumb, which means blood. Because the human being our essence is that we have a choice. Are we just a bag of blood? Or are we connected? Are we connected to Hakadosh Baruchu? Are we connected to the master of the world, Hashem? Or are we disconnected? And that's that can be seen clearly through the the inyan of tzaraas. It can be seen when the when the hair is turned white. I'd like to share with you a little bit from these psukim in Iyov. Look at them more closely just because they're so beautiful and so connected to this idea of having that spiritual source, having that spiritual connection to Hakadosh Baruchu. And also the way that Hashem provides for us, the way that Hashem takes care of us. It could be done in an overwhelming way, as we've been saying. But Hashem chooses not to. I'd like to read to you from the psukim. I'd like to read to you from the Malbim, who explains the psukim. Pasuk before says, "Eizeh haderech yechalek or?" Another example the pasuk brings of the way that Hashem shines his light upon us. Right? Think about it. If Hashem took out the sun all at once instead of it coming up gradually, so we would be blinded. Eizeh haderech yechalek or, but Hashem separates the light. Hashem gradually causes the light of the day to come about. Yafetz kadim alei aretz. It it Hashem lets the light spread from the east upon the upon the earth. So it's an incredible um it's an incredible kindness of Hashem on one hand, but I would I would say in connecting it to the concept of sarahs and egoism on another hand it also creates a certain problem, right? If Hashem would let's say analogously reveal himself to us, Hashem would say, "Here I am. Here I am." So, a few a few different things could happen. Number one, we would lose our bechira. We would become bottle to Hakadosh Baruchu. I should we would disappear. We would just be automatons. We would be our our free will would be ended. Because if you see Hashem is there, so then there's not really a choice, right? So, if Hashem shows too much of his light, so we disappear. But what does Hashem do? Hashem shows his light in gradations. Gradually, he allows it to appear gradually. Now, what's the result of that? The result of that is I can say, "Well, where is Hashem?" It just looks like everything is happening. It looks like the light is just I'm used to it. The the sun rises and the sun sets. I do the things I need to do for my parnassah and they have a certain effect. I have my job, I get my paycheck. Right? It It because it's distributed and it's distributed in a way which is so that the world is not overwhelmed by Hashem's light or Hashem's shefa of water, it needs to be that way. But because of that, it creates a different issue. And the issue is the potential for me to think that I'm separate. That's the That's what's going on here. I'd like to read So, so let's see that in the pasuk. Give me pelag lashet of to olam, like we said before, the pasuk says in regards to the water, instead of it being coming down in one fell swoop, Hashem allows the rain to come down also in gradations and just like there are sun rays, there are water rays or water ways. The thunder also doesn't overwhelm us, it comes in separate sounds. Also allows water to the the rain falls in places where there's wilderness, where there's no human beings. And it allows the grass to grow. Causes things to grow because I've watched this happen in my own garden it's right here. That the grass in the spots where there was too much water the grass didn't grow. In the spots where there was less water or the right amount of water, it did grow. Right, too much water can be damaging. But Hashem distributes it properly so that things can grow. Hashem distributes his kindness to us in such a way as well so that we can grow, so that we're not overwhelmed by the kindness of Hashem in such a way that we don't feel like we need to feel like we have a separate existence as well. But that separate existence, as we said, can lead to the problem of egotism, can lead to the problem of lashon hara, of sensing that hey, that person is separate from me. He's a different hair on a different part of the human body. Okay, he's not really we're not all part of one body. It could be a person could think that. Right, a moshol of a tree. A tree that has some leaves on the top of the tree, some leaves lower in the tree, and the leaves that are below say, "Hey, how come we're not on top?" Why are those leaves there? And then but the leaves don't realize that they're all part of one tree. They're all part of one one life form. And the the leaves are there to provide energy through their through the through the processes receiving that light etc. Okay, so we could perceive ourselves to be separate. >> [clears throat] >> And a light beam could also perceive itself to be separate from the sun. But it's connected. The Rambam says, "Aza Haderech." What is the path that the light is split up? He's explaining how Hashem created everything perfectly measured, perfectly weighed for the human being. Point to what we can handle. Hashem established the sun should not suddenly rise upon the earth. When the sun is a certain distance below the horizon, so then the light starts to shine in in the world. This is done in a way that the human being shouldn't become blinded. And again, I say that that's an analogy to the way that Hashem brings out his light. Hazal say it that when Mashiach comes, it's going to be in gradations. Hashem's not going to reveal himself in a moment because we can't handle it. You could this is also going to have the effect of shining light on a greater portion of the earth. I don't know what that means exactly, but somehow helps the people in the north. >> [cough] >> The light is is separated out. It's distributed by the wind on the eastern side. I'm sorry, not the wind. On the easterly direction. As it comes up, the sun rises in the east. What happens is the sun comes up, the rays shoot out from the sun. Obviously, we can't yet see the sun. And it causes the the condensation of as it warms up the air, causes the condensation of the water and it becomes clouds. Okay, he has a whole scientific explanation here. I'm not going to get into it, but the point is it's like flowing from one place into another. First, we talk about the light, then we talk about the the water and the rain, and it's a continuation. And he says, "Mipi Hillel and Shamai Also, not just in light did Hashem distribute it in a careful way, but also in the water. Sham distributed the water in a careful way. >> [cough] >> Water could have come down on the world world and and and flooded everything. Hashem could have made the world that way. Look at the beautiful and amazing balance of the world that Hashem made. Right, we have the the element of fire, the element of water, we have the element of fire, which is the lightning. And Kodesh Baruch Hu could have allowed it to just explode all at once in fire and destroy the world. But that's not what Hashem did. Hashem allowed each and every drop of rain to come down in a separate location. Hashem allows every single sound to have its own separate sound wave that we receive that sound, so that the world will not be overcome. >> [sighs] >> I want to really take out of this a few amazing things, but mainly number one, that Hashem created everything in a balanced way, in a beautiful way, so that we could receive the good and the bounty that he wants for us. But as we said, that very balance, that very separation, and that very desire to to give to give each thing its own demarcation, its own definition, creates the potential for a sense of separation, a sense of distance, a sense of disconnect from Hashem and from the people around us. And so it's our job, and I bless you and ask you to bless me. Hashem should help us to fulfill our job, which is to recognize that we are all parts of the same tree. We're all leaves on the same tree. We're all hairs on the same body. That body is the body of Klal Yisrael. We are all part of a unified being. And we are all the children of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We're all the children of Hashem. Hashem should help us to recognize that and to realize that everything that I have is mine and everything that you have is yours. Every single person has their own source of life, their own source of sustenance. Let's not get confused. Hashem should help us to have that clarity and with having that clarity, recognizing that we are all truly connected, each and every one of us to the source of all power, Hashem should help us to have Hashem should help us to have a sense of completeness and wholeness inside of ourselves and as part of that greater whole. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabbos. This podcast was made possible [music] through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.arigoldwag.com [music] or search on iTunes Ari Goldwag.