Torah Networking
He Will Sit Alone Outside the Camp
Types of impurity described in the Torah differ in severity; their cure differs according to level.
Until a cure can be effected, a carrier of impurity must stay away from the Mikdash (The Holy Temple in Jerusalem) and sanctified objects. The type of impurity determines the distance.
A person who has been in the presence of a corpse, or who has had contact with a “sheretz”, (a crawling member of the animal kingdom) must avoid approaching the Mikdash (Holy Temple) and the Temple Mount.
A person with the type of impurity classified as “zav” (a bodily discharge not identifiable to us today ed.) must also avoid areas classified as the Levites’ camp.
A “metzora” must leave even the Israelite camp. (A “metzora” is a person with “tzoraas”, usually translated as leprosy. It is not the disease known today as leprosy).
The Israelite camp formed the outermost ring of the three concentric camps in which the Children of Israel encamped during the years of traveling in the desert.
In reference to the “metzora,” the Torah says, “He [she] must sit outside the [Israelite] camp” (Vayikra13).
It seems clear that tzoraas is the most severe form of impurity. According to Chazal, our Sages of blessed memory, tzoraas is also the most contagious of the types of impurity. Tzoraas contaminates even houses and clothing. Other forms of impurity do not.
Our Sages teach that the various afflictions, including tzoraas, which come as punishment for the sin of loshon hara, evil speech, (Tractate Erchin 16), demonstrate the severity of this transgression.
Speaking evilly of someone brings the most severe consequences of any meted out for entering the state of impurity. Chazal tell us that banishment to the area outside the perimeter of the entire camp is “measure for measure.”
Just as the speaker of loshon hara caused his or her victim(s) to feel separated from fellow human beings, so he or she (the speaker of evil speech) will discover, through the punishment of banishment, how painful it is to be separated from society.
It’s uncertain whether contemporary society, in general, even knows to condemn one who speaks badly of a fellow human being.
Sometimes, it seems as if the gossip, the teller of tales, is accepted by society with fanfare and honor.
The “reality” programs that have popped up on the media landscape the way mushrooms (sometimes, poisonous mushrooms) crop up on the forest floor after a good rainfall are based on the principle of disgracing others. The actor-contestants speak, on camera, in a derogatory manner about their actor-contestant colleagues. They reveal dim views of their fellow players in an attempt to minimize their standing in public opinion and to humiliate them.
These programs acquire a lot of fame for a reason; they ostensibly “purify” the deep impurity of lashon hara, that is, they grant legitimacy to bad-mouthing.
If we are to judge the speaker of lashon hara on a conceptual plane, we’ll have to refer to Chazal, who state, “Everyone who speaks lashon hara deserves to be thrown to the dogs” (Tractate Makkos 3).
According to the Maharal (Rabbi Judah Lowey of Prague, z”l), the human being who speaks lashon hara is inferior to dogs. That’s because when the Children of Israel left Egypt, the local dogs not only refrained from attacking them. The dogs did not even bark at them (Shemos/Exodus 11).
A dog’s entire job, its “wisdom”, is to bark; for instance, when an unknown person approaches the house or even passes near it. During the Exodus from Egypt, however, the dogs knew how to behave according to the principle, “a time to be silent.”
A person’s level of wisdom, conversely, is discerned in his or her silence, as our Sages said in Pirkei Avot, “Silence is a fence for wisdom” (Pirkei Avot Chapter 3). In other words: generally, canine wisdom is to bark, human wisdom requires one to refrain from “barking.”
Therefore, the one who guards his or her faculty of speech, and not the chatterbox, is the one worthy to receive praises and rewards, and the understanding of how and when to remain silent is the litmus test to determine the ideal human being.
Olam Hatorah
Until a cure can be effected, a carrier of impurity must stay away from the Mikdash (The Holy Temple in Jerusalem) and sanctified objects. The type of impurity determines the distance.
A person who has been in the presence of a corpse, or who has had contact with a “sheretz”, (a crawling member of the animal kingdom) must avoid approaching the Mikdash (Holy Temple) and the Temple Mount.
A person with the type of impurity classified as “zav” (a bodily discharge not identifiable to us today ed.) must also avoid areas classified as the Levites’ camp.
A “metzora” must leave even the Israelite camp. (A “metzora” is a person with “tzoraas”, usually translated as leprosy. It is not the disease known today as leprosy).
The Israelite camp formed the outermost ring of the three concentric camps in which the Children of Israel encamped during the years of traveling in the desert.
In reference to the “metzora,” the Torah says, “He [she] must sit outside the [Israelite] camp” (Vayikra13).
It seems clear that tzoraas is the most severe form of impurity. According to Chazal, our Sages of blessed memory, tzoraas is also the most contagious of the types of impurity. Tzoraas contaminates even houses and clothing. Other forms of impurity do not.
Our Sages teach that the various afflictions, including tzoraas, which come as punishment for the sin of loshon hara, evil speech, (Tractate Erchin 16), demonstrate the severity of this transgression.
Speaking evilly of someone brings the most severe consequences of any meted out for entering the state of impurity. Chazal tell us that banishment to the area outside the perimeter of the entire camp is “measure for measure.”
Just as the speaker of loshon hara caused his or her victim(s) to feel separated from fellow human beings, so he or she (the speaker of evil speech) will discover, through the punishment of banishment, how painful it is to be separated from society.
It’s uncertain whether contemporary society, in general, even knows to condemn one who speaks badly of a fellow human being.
Sometimes, it seems as if the gossip, the teller of tales, is accepted by society with fanfare and honor.
The “reality” programs that have popped up on the media landscape the way mushrooms (sometimes, poisonous mushrooms) crop up on the forest floor after a good rainfall are based on the principle of disgracing others. The actor-contestants speak, on camera, in a derogatory manner about their actor-contestant colleagues. They reveal dim views of their fellow players in an attempt to minimize their standing in public opinion and to humiliate them.
These programs acquire a lot of fame for a reason; they ostensibly “purify” the deep impurity of lashon hara, that is, they grant legitimacy to bad-mouthing.
If we are to judge the speaker of lashon hara on a conceptual plane, we’ll have to refer to Chazal, who state, “Everyone who speaks lashon hara deserves to be thrown to the dogs” (Tractate Makkos 3).
According to the Maharal (Rabbi Judah Lowey of Prague, z”l), the human being who speaks lashon hara is inferior to dogs. That’s because when the Children of Israel left Egypt, the local dogs not only refrained from attacking them. The dogs did not even bark at them (Shemos/Exodus 11).
A dog’s entire job, its “wisdom”, is to bark; for instance, when an unknown person approaches the house or even passes near it. During the Exodus from Egypt, however, the dogs knew how to behave according to the principle, “a time to be silent.”
A person’s level of wisdom, conversely, is discerned in his or her silence, as our Sages said in Pirkei Avot, “Silence is a fence for wisdom” (Pirkei Avot Chapter 3). In other words: generally, canine wisdom is to bark, human wisdom requires one to refrain from “barking.”
Therefore, the one who guards his or her faculty of speech, and not the chatterbox, is the one worthy to receive praises and rewards, and the understanding of how and when to remain silent is the litmus test to determine the ideal human being.
Olam Hatorah
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