One of the worst averot/sins between man and his fellow is the sin of Lashon Hara. That is why there is a miracle dedicated to this avera called Sara’at. It’s translated as leprosy but leprosy is a physical ailment and Sara’at is a spiritual ailment- when something shows up on a person’s body to indicate a sin- and that is not a natural event.
The Rambam writes that this is one of the rare examples of a miracle built into our Torah. (The same is true for the Sotah. The miraculous waters prove the wife’s faithfulness to her husband when she comes under suspicion, and from this we see that Hashem invokes miracles in order to bring peace between people)
In this week’s Parasha, the pasuk says (Vayikra 13,2)
אדם כי יהיה בעור בשרו שאת או ספחת או בהרת והיה בעור בשרו לנגע צראת
A man that has on the flesh of his skin….various signs of Sara’at….
There will be… and repeats the signs.
The second time, the word והיה V’Haya is used, which usually implies happiness. What is the happiness when this is on a person?’
The Shelah HaKadosh quotes the Zohar on a pasuk in Mishleh (21,23) that says,
שומר פיו ולשונו שומר מצרות נפשו
Someone who guards his tongue and lips protects himself from Sarot Nafsho/problems of his soul. Simply speaking, this means guarding your tongue protects you from problems. But the Zohar says that the words should read as Sara’at Nafsho which means, When a person speaks Lashon Hara, beside the outward physical manifestation of the of the impurity on his body, which is called Sara’at, there is also Sara’at Nafsho- His soul is also infected.
Therefore, one who cares about his nefesh/soul will guard his tongue, because he does not want to have a contaminated soul.
The Chida adds to this, in his commentary on the Shelah, that it says V’Haya in the pasuk in Vayikra because the person is happy he has this on his flesh and not on his soul. Today, we don’t have a Bet HaMikdash, says Chafetz Chaim. And we don’t have the ability to purify ourselves. So Hashem doesn’t make this miracle, because we could never get rid of it.
But he says that we have to realize that this doesn’t mean the Sara’at is not there. We have to worry about the fact that right now, God is covering up our disgrace, so we don’t see it. But after 120 years, it will be there, unless we do Teshuva.
Therefore, just like in this world when a person is a M’Sora they have to sit alone, so too,
has v’shalom, he will be quarantined
“upstairs,” and separated from everybody else- if he doesn’t do teshuva properly.
This is the motivation, from the Chafetz Chaim, to be more careful and do Teshuva on this sin of Lashon Hara, which is in this week Parasha, Tazria.
B’ezrat Hashem, we are all committed to Ahavat Yisrael and are careful to avoid bad mouthing, or saying anything detrimental, about somebody else.
Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.