Our Parsha this Shabbos is a double portion of Tazria - Metzora and deals with Purity and Contamination.
In Parashas Tazria, we are taught about the contamination after childbirth and how the purification is done.
Then the Torah goes on to discuss the various types of Tzaraas - Leprosy that comes on the skin which needs to be shown to the Kohein .Signs of Affliction can appear anywhere including on the head.The afflicted , is isolated during the affliction.
The Torah then discusses afflictions coming out on a garment.It is here where this Parsha of Tazriah Ends.
Parashas Metzorah then continues with the Laws pertaining to the one with Tzaraas.HaShem prefers to give us opportunities to repent and thus sometimes first sends the Tzaraas to a person's Garment or even house.
Parashas Metzora starts by discussing the one who was contaminated and teaches exactly what is needed for purification.
After this, Tzaraas in houses comes in The Torah.Even though HaShem was Angry at Loshon Horah, HaShem Still gave us this Law as He Knew, that as soon as we might start to have our house cleared of Tzaraas in Canaan Israel, after we came into the land from Mitzrayim,which would sometimes include chipping away at walls,that we might find the hidden things the Canaanites left hidden in the walls , when we came to Canaan from Egypt. HaShem Again Showed His Over-abounding Kindness and Forgiveness.
Then the male discharge is discussed,all to do with purifying and purification. The Laws of Niddah are taught.and how offerings of purification are brought after the time .
This is where the Parsha ends.
The first Parsha that starts to discuss a woman after childbirth comes straight after the Parsha of Shemini , after the Tabernacle was Inaugurated.
It is only natural to start at the beginning of life at the birth of a child.
One has to wonder why the Birth of a child causes such impurity.The act of working with HaShem to bring a child into this world is a beautiful thing .So how can it need purification. Many believe it has to do with Adam and Chava and how Chava's punishment would be to bring children with pain, due to the Sin that was committed and thus childbirth now is touched with the first action of impurity. So since then,there is a part of impurity to childbirth that would not have been there had they not sinned.
Another aspect to this is the very action of conception itself. No matter how Holy the couple, there is always a slight amount of pure physicality in the action of conceiving a child and so, that , lessens the level of pure spiritual holiness,something that would not have been , had the action of Adam Ve Chava never happened, which brought in the Yetzer Horah. Was it not them that now realized they were 'Airom' - 'Naked,' ( where the Snake was 'Cunning ' - ' Arum,' beyond any creature of the field , for negativity was now brought in ) even though they were naked before, now they noticed they were physically naked, as the Yetzer Horah had physically been stirred.Before this, it would have been a totally spiritual action , even though it would have been done physically. This is what we are to work up to, for only holiness and spirituality to be in the physical action of conception.
The very fact that the Yetzer Horah was aroused, brought impurity to them and us.This impurity makes us need to work against the Yetzer Horah to subdue it.
One of the main areas we need to learn to control is the area of Loshon Horah ( slander ). This very area is the subject mainly that results in Tzaraas and a Metzorah needing purification, for as the slanderer, slanders others and thus isolates others, so is the slanderer isolated themselves during their time of Tzaraas.This too goes back to the sin in the Garden of Eden, for it was the snake , that tempted Chava, that Loshoned HaShem, and so, dust became its food and it had to walk lowly on the ground by slithering in and eating the dust, the perfect punishment to teach it humility (and against slander ) , for behind every Slander, is the feeling of personal arrogance. . The word 'Metzorah'- a 'leper' is very similar to the Hebrew word ' Metzoraf,' which means 'Attached and Added,' for once we slander someone, we attach to them something of our own making that actually isn't really how they really are, but is our own opinion , the way we see it. We are thus adding to HaShem's Creation Chas Ve Shalom of them and it is as if to say to HaShem, that we can do better Chas Ve Shalom . We Can't and never can HaShem Make all that is needed and there is nothing we should add to Creation in the way He Makes people or anything , for HaShem Knows all .So the Parshas of Tazria and Metzora, that discuss Impurities and how they result, is so very important, as we learn how deep, the sins we make , can go.
For when we make a physical wrong action, it hurts our soul , that HaShem gave us and the result, affects the physical body. I refer in this case to leprosy. The Biblical Leprosy, is not like the modern disease of Leprosy. This Tzaraas Leprosy was purely a physical manifestation of the spiritual harm Loshon Horah ends up to be.Thus the only cure, is spiritual and emotional atonement and a regret of slandering and our own fortitude,that the slander will stop.
The purification of a human being starts even with the Mother at birth, showing, that even though HaShem gives us life and a body to live that life in, HaShem Expects of us to complete the perfection, by working every day since birth, to purify the body and improve its holiness and morality every day, making each day a day to come closer to HaShem.
Adam and Chava, in the beginning were forced to leave the Garden of Eden because of slander by a snake , who had within it the angel Samael, who tempted Chava and Loshoned HaShem . This shows so clearly that when one Loshons, there are three people who are hurt, as was the case with the incident with the snake. The three are the one Loshoned ( in that case it was HaShem ) , the one who listens to the Loshon, Chava and the Adam , and finally , the one who Loshons ( in this case the Snake) .
HaShem Put the tongue behind two barriers - the lips and teeth , so we should be reminded to keep the tongue guarded and not to talk about others.How often people forget.
One of the things the World Stands on as it says in Pirkei Avoth is Peace. A person who Loshons, breaks peace between others and thus hits on one of the very things the World Stands on. A person who Loshons , breaks the stability of the World, by breaking 'Peace '- ' Shalom' between others and , by doing that , ends up breaking down the 'Shaleim,' - ( which means ' Completeness ' ) 'Completeness' of HaShem's Beautiful Creation.
Slander ruins lives and breaks the World. Keeping HaShem's Commandments and Mitzvos builds the World. That is what we are all here to do. Build and maintain HaShem's Creation into what HaShem Wants it to be.So let's all start now and help make Creation a gift to HaShem .
With Love to HaShem , I wish HaShem with Love, a beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with love, and to all , a beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with love.
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