{"id":6231,"date":"2023-04-19T10:28:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T10:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/?p=6231"},"modified":"2025-05-05T15:44:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:44:52","slug":"parshas-tazria-metzora-the-dangers-of-slander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/parshas-tazria-metzora-the-dangers-of-slander\/","title":{"rendered":"Parshat Tazria-Metzora: The Dangers of Slander"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Q: <\/strong>What is one of the causes of the tazria affliction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A: <\/strong>Rambam infers that lashon hara is the cause, citing a story in Parshat Nasso when Miriam is punished for how she speaks about Moses who was afflicted with the same skin disease. The danger of <a href=\"https:\/\/cchf.global\/the-baal-lashon-hara-article\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lashon hara<\/a> is that the initial slander can initiate a downward path to future, more serious transgressions. The appearance of tazria therefore serves as a warning to avoid further sinful behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Blurting is Hurting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">Israelites wandered the desert abyss\r\nA man detected, his skin was amiss\r\n\r\nA whitish lesion, could be tazria.\r\nThe Cohen Gadol issues subpoena\r\n\r\nTo summon this man in order to deem\r\nThat he must be spiritually unclean.\r\n\r\nThe man is ordered away from the scene,\r\nFor seven full days, he must quarantine.\r\n\r\nMust stay in his room, and he cannot be seen.\r\nAfter seven days he may reconvene\r\n\r\nWith Cohen Gadol to see the lesion,\r\nIn order to check that it didn't deepen.\r\n\r\nDeclares the Cohen: \"I'm sure that you're cured!\r\nHowever we must ensure that you're pure!\r\n\r\nYour garments in water, shall be immersed,\r\nSo its impurities shall be dispersed.\"\r\n\r\nWhat is the purpose we get tazria?\r\nAccording to Rambam, reason is via\r\n\r\nLashon hara, which is an idea\r\nTo gossip aloud, will cause tazria.\r\n\r\nWe should never speak badly of others.\r\nAbout whom you speak, surely you'll bother.\r\n\r\nThe second person that will be hurt\r\nIs to whom the gossip that you did blurt.\r\n\r\nThe third person that will surely be harmed  \r\nIs whom that spoke gossip, should be alarmed\r\n\r\nOf what was written by Rambam who wrote\r\n\"13 Principles of Faith,\" we can quote.\r\n\r\nInitial slander plants seeds for future\r\nTransgressions that may prove to be ruder.\r\n\r\nNegative speaking can initiate\r\nA pathway downward, toward a sinful fate.\r\n\r\nThe only way to prevent tazria\r\nIs actually a simple idea.\r\n\r\nAvoid all gossip, steer clear of slander.\r\nNo lashon hara, speak with a manner\r\n\r\nPraising of others, being good-hearted.\r\nBe like tzaddikim, you'll feel rewarded.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By Ronen Khordipour<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"tm-cta\"><em>Ronen Khordipour makes Torah wisdom accessible to a wide Jewish audience through simple rhyming poetry. Khordipour is currently writing \u201cSoul of the Scroll,\u201d a book of poems for each Torah portion. Ronen is available for public readings, and can be reached at <a href=\"mailto:info@soulofthescroll.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">info@soulofthescroll.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button tm-cta\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/sign-up.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS WEEK&#8217;S TORAH PORTION. <br>JOIN TORAHMATES TODAY!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Q: What is one of the causes of the tazria affliction? A: Rambam infers that lashon hara is the cause, citing a story in Parshat Nasso when Miriam is punished [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,9],"tags":[146,698,542,45,687,544],"class_list":["post-6231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vayikra","category-weekly-torah-portion","tag-lashon-hara","tag-metzora","tag-metzorah","tag-parsha","tag-poetry","tag-tazria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Parshat Tazria-Metzora: The Dangers of Slander - Jewish Resources<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/parshas-tazria-metzora-the-dangers-of-slander\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parshat Tazria-Metzora: The Dangers of Slander - Jewish Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Q: What is one of the causes of the tazria affliction? 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