Tazria-Metzora: Parsha And Torah Understanding - Jewish Wisdom: How To Destroy Everything - Judaism Decoded: Rabbi Grant Leboff - Torah Inspiration And Jewish Wisdom Uncovered

SPEAKER_00: A woman goes to see her doctor, complaining that she hasn't been feeling well for several days.

SPEAKER_00: The doctor examines her, goes away, and comes back with three large jars of pills.

SPEAKER_00: Take the green pill with a big glass of water first thing in the morning, the doctor says.

SPEAKER_00: Then the blue pill with a big glass of water after lunch.

SPEAKER_00: And just before bed, take the red pill with another big glass of water.

SPEAKER_00: The woman is upset that she has to take so many pills.

SPEAKER_00: She nervously asks the doctor, What's my problem?

SPEAKER_00: The doctor replies, You're not drinking enough water.

SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the problem isn't the problem, it's what's underneath it.

SPEAKER_00: In this week's partiat of Tazriam Matsura, we have an example of a disease that is not really a disease at all in the conventional sense.

SPEAKER_00: On the face of it, Sarat seems to be a purely physical phenomenon, a skin condition that is treating like any other physical ailment that we may experience.

SPEAKER_00: However, Sarat is actually a physical manifestation of a spiritual lacking.

SPEAKER_00: It is the consequence of behaving in an unacceptable way.

SPEAKER_00: We don't have Sara'at today.

SPEAKER_00: It stopped with the destruction of the Beitham Migdash.

SPEAKER_00: The question therefore is, why does the Torah spend well over a hundred Pasukim speaking of a skin condition that does not currently exist?

SPEAKER_00: The Torah is eternal, it's relevant in every generation.

SPEAKER_00: So what are we supposed to be learning, understanding and implementing in our daily lives if we don't experience Sarat?

SPEAKER_00: We will see that the Torah is teaching us what destroys a society, and consequently, therefore, how to build one.

SPEAKER_00: It's well known that Surat is caused by Lashon Hara.

SPEAKER_00: Examples given in the Torah are when Moshe says to Hashem at the burning bush that B'n'israel won't believe him when he tells them Hashem sent him to liberate them.

SPEAKER_00: Hashem tells Moshe to put his hand on his chest.

SPEAKER_00: He does so and it becomes infected with Surat.

SPEAKER_00: He then returns his hand to his chest and it becomes normal again.

SPEAKER_00: Similarly, when Miriam speaks badly of Moshe, she is afflicted with Surat.

SPEAKER_00: However, the Gomorrah in Arachin 16 Ahmad Alif actually specifies seven sins for which one suffers from Sarat Lashonhara, murder, false oaths, immorality, inappropriate relationships, arrogance, theft, and stinginess.

SPEAKER_00: Now on the face of it, this could seem like a random list of Aveyrot.

SPEAKER_00: However, it is far from random.

SPEAKER_00: It is a blueprint of how to destroy a society.

SPEAKER_00: These seven Aveirot are the core ways we diminish, undermine, and eventually destroy another human being.

SPEAKER_00: Lashonhara destroys reputation.

SPEAKER_00: A person's reputation is vital to be able to function successfully.

SPEAKER_00: When people speak Lashon Hara, they can destroy someone's prospects for marriage, their career, and their very ability to function in their community.

SPEAKER_00: The ramifications are endless for the destruction that the shonhara can do to another individual.

SPEAKER_00: Murder, of course, destroys existence.

SPEAKER_00: You're physically erased.

SPEAKER_00: False oaths destroy a person's reality.

SPEAKER_00: Because when you destroy truth, you destroy existence.

SPEAKER_00: And we're living this right now.

SPEAKER_00: Lies are repeated until existence is questioned.

SPEAKER_00: So with Eretz Ishrael, we're accused of genocide, of war crimes.

SPEAKER_00: And of course, what comes next?

SPEAKER_00: It's questioned whether Eretz Ishrael really has a right to be in the family of nations, has a right to exist at all.

SPEAKER_00: And we see it with the Jewish people themselves.

SPEAKER_00: We're accused of controlling the media, running the world, being behind everything bad that happens in the world, whether it's Charlie Kirk's murder, 9-11, or anything else.

SPEAKER_00: And of course, what happens then?

SPEAKER_00: It's questioned whether Jewish people really deserve to exist.

SPEAKER_00: And of course, Hitler came to the conclusion that we didn't.

SPEAKER_00: Immorality destroys intimacy and the possibility of deep and close relationships.

SPEAKER_00: Because immorality in appropriate relationships destroys the trust and safety that is required to be able to nurture very close connections with others.

SPEAKER_00: Arrogance destroys people's self-worth because it undermines the contribution that others make.

SPEAKER_00: When someone walks into a room and acts like only they matter, everyone else disappears.

SPEAKER_00: Theft destroys dignity by taking away the sense that anything a person has is theirs.

SPEAKER_00: When one's personal belongings could be a watch, a computer, sentimental items that have come from relatives moved on.

SPEAKER_00: When those are taken, a person feels violated, they feel undermined.

SPEAKER_00: Stinginess also destroys self-worth.

SPEAKER_00: While arrogance means a person's contribution is not recognized, stinginess means a person's needs, their requirements are not considered.

SPEAKER_00: This undermines their self-worth because in both cases, whether it's their contribution or the things that they need, it's like they don't matter.

SPEAKER_00: When people value others, their reputation, truth and their reality, intimacy, then society can flourish and prosper and grow.

SPEAKER_00: Conversely, undermining others, their reputation, self-worth, and dignity is an effective way to destroy any cohesion and any sense of togetherness at all.

SPEAKER_00: Without this, society unravels.

SPEAKER_00: If these seven Aveyrot destroy society, where do they come from?

SPEAKER_00: What is their root?

SPEAKER_00: The first rupture in the world, the first disconnection came through the Nahash, the snake, the serpent.

SPEAKER_00: When Hashem created the world, there was connection between Shemayim and Aretz, the physical and the spiritual.

SPEAKER_00: We're told in Hagigah in 12 Ahmad Alif that Adam Harishon's feet were firmly in Arets.

SPEAKER_00: It was firmly in the earth, and his head was in Shemayim.

SPEAKER_00: Of course, that doesn't mean he was millions of miles high and tall.

SPEAKER_00: That's not what it means.

SPEAKER_00: It means that heaven and earth, Shema'im and Arets, they were connected.

SPEAKER_00: When Adam Harishon eats from the eight Sadat, from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the Gomorrah says he was diminished.

SPEAKER_00: There's disconnection.

SPEAKER_00: The link between heaven and earth, Shama'im and Arets is separated.

SPEAKER_00: So originally the Shekhinah was able to dwell with Adam and Hava in Ganadin.

SPEAKER_00: But the sin of eating from the eight Sadat brought disconnection to the world, severing the link between Shema'im and Aretz, the physical and the spiritual, and meaning that the Shekhinah no longer had a place to dwell in the lower realms.

SPEAKER_00: The Zohar explains that the Nachash is the vehicle through which evil enters the world.

SPEAKER_00: It's one koach, one power, one system.

SPEAKER_00: So it starts as the Yet Zahara, persuasion.

SPEAKER_00: And we understand that the Yet Zahara originally was external to Adam and Chava.

SPEAKER_00: It wasn't within them.

SPEAKER_00: It was the Nachash that persuaded Chava to eat from the tree.

SPEAKER_00: Today, after that sin, the Yet Zahara is within us.

SPEAKER_00: It's our own inner demons enticing us with physical desire against our interest.

SPEAKER_00: It then presents as the Satan, the accuser, the prosecutor.

SPEAKER_00: Once we have behaved inappropriately, the Satan will accuse us so we can be punished.

SPEAKER_00: The ultimate consequence, of course, is the malachamavet of death.

SPEAKER_00: Eating from the eight sada'at brought death to the world.

SPEAKER_00: This disconnection the Nachash brought into the world can manifest as the forces that disconnect us from Hashem or the forces that disconnect us from one another.

SPEAKER_00: Sarat is not a result of the disconnection between man and Hashem.

SPEAKER_00: That's why idolatry is not one of those seven Aveyrot.

SPEAKER_00: It is about society and the disconnection between man and man.

SPEAKER_00: The seven Averot all manifest from the Nahash, the source of evil, and are the core ways that we make Ahtut in society impossible.

SPEAKER_00: Conversely, when we respect these areas, we can build a sense of Achtut, a sense of togetherness.

SPEAKER_00: The Nachash doesn't just introduce sin, it models every form of destruction.

SPEAKER_00: We can see the manifestation of these al-Aveyrot in Arachin, 16 Ahmed Alif, that we get Sara'at for in the behavior of the Nachash.

SPEAKER_00: So Lashon Hara.

SPEAKER_00: The Nahash told Hava that she'd be like Hashem, knowing good and evil.

SPEAKER_00: And of course, Lashon Hara isn't necessarily lying.

SPEAKER_00: There was an element of truth to what the Nachash said.

SPEAKER_00: Hava would have an understanding of good and evil that she didn't have before.

SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, it was Lashon Hara.

SPEAKER_00: It was disparaging.

SPEAKER_00: It shouldn't have been said.

SPEAKER_00: Murder.

SPEAKER_00: Eating from the eight Sadat brought death to the world.

SPEAKER_00: False oaths.

SPEAKER_00: The Nachash destroyed reality by telling Hava she'd be like Hashem.

SPEAKER_00: Her eyes would be open and she'd be like Hashem, which of course was not true.

SPEAKER_00: Immorality.

SPEAKER_00: The midrash tells us that the motive of the Nachash was the Nachash wanted to be with Hava.

SPEAKER_00: The Nahash wanted Chava.

SPEAKER_00: Arrogance.

SPEAKER_00: The Nachash saw itself as equal to mankind.

SPEAKER_00: It was at the time the highest of all the animals, but it was not equal to man.

SPEAKER_00: Theft.

SPEAKER_00: The Nahash persuaded Chava to take something that wasn't hers.

SPEAKER_00: It was exclusively Hashem's.

SPEAKER_00: You can eat from any tree in the garden, but not the eight Sadat.

SPEAKER_00: And stinginess.

SPEAKER_00: The Nachash defines Hashem as stingy.

SPEAKER_00: You could be like Hashem Chavah, but Hashem won't let you.

SPEAKER_00: He won't let you eat from the tree that will make you like him.

SPEAKER_00: Made out like Hashem was being stingy, which of course was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00: But in the moment Chava believed it.

SPEAKER_00: The Nahash never disappeared.

SPEAKER_00: In relations between man and man, it presents itself as le shonhara, murder, falsehood, immorality, arrogance, theft, stinginess.

SPEAKER_00: But ultimately what it produces is disconnection.

SPEAKER_00: The Ramban explains that Sarat is not a natural phenomenon and only happens in Eritz Israel.

SPEAKER_00: When the Shahinah is among Khlali Shael, Sarat can appear on people, on clothing and houses.

SPEAKER_00: Where the Shahinah is present, spiritual corruption can become physical.

SPEAKER_00: So in the cases we have in the Torah, with Moshe, the Sarah was really simulation.

SPEAKER_00: You know, Moshe didn't really get it.

SPEAKER_00: It was he put his hand against his chest and his hand comes out Sara's and then he puts it back and it goes away.

SPEAKER_00: It was a message to Moshe, but it was simulation.

SPEAKER_00: But of course it happened when the Shekhinah was there.

SPEAKER_00: The Shekhinah was in the burning bush speaking to Moshe.

SPEAKER_00: With Miriam, the Shekhinah is among Klali Ishrael in the Midbar.

SPEAKER_00: The Shinahina had come down into the Mishkan to dwell among Klali Ishrael as they were going through the Midbar.

SPEAKER_00: With this understanding, we can explain a number of ideas about Surat.

SPEAKER_00: The purpose of Torah is for Klali Ishrael to build a society among which the Shahinah can dwell.

SPEAKER_00: Therefore, Sarat only appears in Erit Israel, because that is the only place where the purpose of Torah can be completely fulfilled, where the Shachinah can dwell.

SPEAKER_00: Of course, the Shachinah dwelt with the B'Ney Ishrael in the Midbah, but once they entered Erit Ishrael, that was the only land it was going to dwell in, and therefore the only place that Sara'at after that appeared.

SPEAKER_00: Of course, Hashem wants the Jewish people to be unified and get on wherever they are in the world.

SPEAKER_00: However, it's in Eritz Ishrael, where any breakdown in society has the ramifications that the Shachinah will not be able to dwell, because that is where the Shahinah will dwell.

SPEAKER_00: That is therefore where Sura'at manifests.

SPEAKER_00: The Shahinah can only dwell where there is Ahtut amongst Khlali Shrael.

SPEAKER_00: Hashem is one, and his people have to be united to testify to the oneness of Hashem.

SPEAKER_00: Therefore, these seven Aveyrot that result in the destruction of Achtut and society have a divine punishment.

SPEAKER_00: It's really a chesed, because it prevents the spreading of a behaviors which will make the tafkid of Khlali Shrael impossible to fulfill.

SPEAKER_00: When Hashem's presence is clear, such as the time of the Beithamiddash, spiritual failure becomes visible.

SPEAKER_00: Sa'arat is what happens when spiritual damage that is unseen can no longer stay hidden.

SPEAKER_00: The Gomorrah in Arachin, 16 Ahmed Aleph, says that the punishment for the first five of the seven Averot, Lashonhara, murder, false oaths, immorality and arrogance is Sarat of the body.

SPEAKER_00: Sarat of the body requires one to leave the camp or the town in which they are.

SPEAKER_00: In other words, the focus is on social exclusion from society.

SPEAKER_00: The person is removed from the very community that their behavior was destroying.

SPEAKER_00: Having destroyed the reputation, reality, relationships, and self-worth of others, the person is now banished from society for a time, from diminishing the very things that they ruined.

SPEAKER_00: It's their presence, their active presence doing these things that's destroying society, and therefore their presence is removed.

SPEAKER_00: But the Gomorrah in Arach in 16 Abu Alaf goes on to explain that for the last two of theft and stinginess, sarat on your house is the result.

SPEAKER_00: Before the Kohen brings begins his examination of the house, the house contents are emptied, so they do not become impure.

SPEAKER_00: The Gomorrah in Yoma in Lemma Eleven Ahmed Bet explains that the person who denied owning certain possessions and refused to lend them to others now has them presented in society for all to see.

SPEAKER_00: Similarly, the thief who took possessions belonging to others is now exposed with everyone being able to see the items which they stole.

SPEAKER_00: So in the last two cases of theft and stinginess, the person who removed themselves from society by not giving to others, to lending to others, or by taking things that don't belong to them, is not excluded from society, but thrown into society.

SPEAKER_00: Their possessions are exposed in the public arena for all to see.

SPEAKER_00: Those that undermine society that destroy Achtut by being present through Lashon Hara, murder, false oaths, immorality, and arrogance are excluded from that society.

SPEAKER_00: Those that undermine society by excluding themselves and living outside of social structures, thieving from others and refusing to lend when others are in need, are thrown into the very society from which they tried to exclude themselves.

SPEAKER_00: So the first five are veyrot, you destroyed society with your presence, so you're removed from it.

SPEAKER_00: The last two are veyrot, you removed yourself from society, so you're exposed within it.

SPEAKER_00: The Torah is eternal.

SPEAKER_00: Sarat may not manifest physically today, but the messages it teaches are as relevant as they ever were.

SPEAKER_00: We are not to hit to live here as individuals.

SPEAKER_00: We are here to build a society based on Torah in which the Shahinah can dwell.

SPEAKER_00: Sarat teaches us that ultimately this can only be achieved in Erith Israel, which is why it is the only land in which Sara'at existed.

SPEAKER_00: In order to achieve this goal of creating a place where the Shachinah can dwell, we need Achar, togetherness, a unified society, a unified Jewish people.

SPEAKER_00: These seven Aveh, for which one gets Sarat, are the behaviors which deny the Tselam elokim in the other and undermine the very purpose of creation.

SPEAKER_00: They are among the most serious of sins, not because of what they do, but because of what they destroy.

SPEAKER_00: There are no neutral interactions.

SPEAKER_00: Every interaction that we have with other people either builds Achtut or destroys it.

SPEAKER_00: How we speak to others, view others, and treat others matters.

SPEAKER_00: Surah no longer appears on our skin, but the forces that caused it are still alive.

SPEAKER_00: We think destruction is loud.

SPEAKER_00: War, crisis, collapse.

SPEAKER_00: The Torah is telling us something far more uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_00: Destruction is quiet.

SPEAKER_00: It happens in conversations, in attitudes, in how we see other people.

SPEAKER_00: So the question for every one of us today is simple Are we building a world of Ahdut?

SPEAKER_00: Or are we quietly destroying everything?

Field Notes