Tazria-Metzora: A Call for Help?

By Eric Lenefsky

When one contracts צרעת, there are many laws which now apply to him, most famously that he is sent outside the camp to sit in isolation. One of the lesser known laws though, is the law of “טמא טמא יקרא” which commands the צרוע to inform all those who he sees that he is טמא, and there are numerous explanations for this law. One the one hand, it could be meant to reinforce his isolation. Alternatively, it could be meant to keep people from catching his contagious disease as some מפרשים explain. However, the Gemara in Shabbos 67a explains that he must inform all others of his טומאה in order to arouse their mercy to daven for him.

This last explanation is nice, but not so simple. Asks the חפץ חיים in his work שמירת הלשון, why is this law specific to the מצורע? Why must he alone inform the public of his טומאה so that they will daven for him? We don’t have such a דין by a זב זבה or יולדת, nor by a טמא מת. What’s special about the מצורע?

The חפץ חיים answers his question as follows. The Gemara in Arachin 16b tells us that one of the root causes of צרעת is לשון הרע. However, צרעת is not the only by-product of his words. The Zohar HaKadosh explains, that when one speaks לשון הרע, his תפילות do not fully ascend to הקב”ה. They get stamped as תפילות of a מספר לשון הרע, and must wait in limbo until the מספר לשון הרע does תשובה. If that is the case, a מצורע is in dire need of everyone else’s תפילות. Generally, the תפילות of a חולה are more powerful than the תפילות of others who daven for him as we learn from the פסוקים by הגר and ישמעאל. But the מצורע cannot daven for himself. His תפילות do not reach Hashem. Therefore, answers the חפץ חיים, he must inform everyone of his status, so that they can daven for him.

There are a number of lessons to be taken from this. First, we should realize the severity of speaking לשון הרע. Not only is it wrong, not only does it leave us with צרעת, but it keeps our תפילות from reaching הקב”ה. Second, we should understand that only by the מספר לשון הרע do his own תפילות not work. מכלל הן אתה שומע לאו, that the תפילות of any other person reach הקב”ה, and have so much power. Third, and perhaps most important, we should internalize the ability and responsibility we have to daven on the behalf of others. Sometimes we will be informed of the need of תפילות, we will be asked to daven for the חולה or the victim of terrorist attacks. But in most situations, the קריאה is not an external one, but an internal. Everyone has issues in their lives and it is incumbent upon us to recognize that and daven on their behalf. Whether it’s health, parnasah, shidduchim, having children, or anything else, we must hear the silent call and daven for the other.

May we reflect on the severity of לשון הרע, the power of our personal תפילות, and the need to daven for others, whether we hear the קריאה or not. If we do so, may we be zoche that Hashem accepts all our prayers and desire.

Have a great Shabbos!