closeicon
Sidrah

Metzora

“This shall be the ritual for a leper (metzora)” Leviticus 14:2

articlemain

The Hebrew word metzora is traditionally translated as leper though in reality it refers to a person suffering some one of several skin diseases. The rabbis, in studying this verse, asked themselves why someone would become afflicted with t’zaraat, scaly afflictions, as the Torah only talks about how the community should deal with them, not the causes.  

In the Talmud we see the rabbis interpret the word metzora as an acronym for the Hebrew term for slander, motzi shem ra  (Arachin 15b).  The rabbis understood these skin diseases to be a divine punishment for defaming others Baba Metzia 58a). We could look to our prophetess Miriam for an example of someone who was struck with tzara’at because she slandered Moses behind his back (Midrash Sifra, Metzora 5:7).

This explanation may all feel quite fantastical and far removed from our understanding of science today. However, describing the consequences of gossip and defamation as an awful skin disease enables us to understand the real costs of speaking out against others in an unhealthy and unskilful way. Anyone who has been the victim of slander or gossip knows how deep it cuts.  

Maimonides, our medieval Sephardic philosopher, tells us that “evil talk kills three people: the person who said it; the person who hears it; and the person about whom it is said.  And the person who hears it, more so than the one who said it” (Mishneh Torah, De’ot 7:3).  

Perhaps it is surprising to hear about the injury (described as death, no less) to the person who hears the evil talk. But just like an infectious, sore  and itchy skin disease, evil talk injures all involved. We lessen ourselves each other and God by not having the courage to find the right spaces to work through our issues and deal with them skilfully rather than lashing out or spreading rumours or making barbed comments on the ones closest to us.  

May we all guard our words and thus increase our health and wellbeing by asking ourselves three questions before we speak: is it true, it is necessary, and is it kind?
 

Share via

Want more from the JC?

To continue reading, we just need a few details...

Want more from
the JC?

To continue reading, we just
need a few details...

Get the best news and views from across the Jewish world Get subscriber-only offers from our partners Subscribe to get access to our e-paper and archive