D’var Torah Parshat Tazria: The power of words

This weeks parsha details the many laws pertaining to the metzora a person stricken with a leprosy type disease known at Tzarat. One of the laws of the metzora is that he is separated from the rest of the Jewish people.

According to many commentators the reason why the metzora is separated from the Jewish people is because he spoke lashon hara or slander (which is true) about someone else. The slander about this person can often times ruin the person who was spoken badly about’s reputation often causing them to be ostracized from the community. The punishment of the metzora therefore, can be said to allow for the metzora to have the same experience of ostracism which they gave to the person they had spoken badly about. From here we can see just how powerful speech can truly be. How one piece of lashon hara spoken about another person GOD forbid can ruin their entire reputation.

On the other hand when used properly speech can have extremely positive effects as well. Both the new Jewish month of Nissan, beginning this upcoming week and Pesach in the near future are both times of new beginnings. Therefore, it is important for us to strive to seize any opportunity we have to work to use positive speech as much as possible. From something as small as telling someone thank-you for doing a favor for you or sharing with them a D’var Torah may we use this time of year especially to use speech positively and not GOD forbid negatively like the Metzora. Through that may we merit as we say every year at the seder to spend next year in Jerusalem with the coming of the Moschiach may he come speedily in our days.

Good Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom, Gut Shabbes, Gut Chodesh, Chodesh Tov, Good Chodesh-Gidon Herschander