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Rav Shlomo Katz explores the teachings of Rav Shlomo Carlebach zt"l on the Parsha with the sefer Even Shlomo
Ay brothers, Chodesh Tov, Gut Chodesh. The month of Nissan, this is the last day, right? The last day of Nissan. We are, the shiur is sponsored anonymously in honor of all the open miracles we're seeing daily. Sponsored by the Silver family in memory of בתיה פייגא בת ישראל, by the Kram families, le'ilui nishmas רייזל בת רב דוד דב רב יצחק אריה בן נחום רב עזריאל בן רב יוסף טוביה נחה בת אפרים זלמן ורחל, and the week is sponsored by Paul and Devorah Grosse.
Okay, so it's already late. We're going to do a short piece today, mashehu chazak meod, and I want you to think about the following thing really strong. With an open heart, mamash an open heart. When we think about this parsha, these parshas, both of them, these amazing parshas that the Izhbitza tells us, there's like a one-liner in Chelek Bais of the Mei Hashiloach, we mention every year, that the Mei Hashiloach says Shlomo Hamelech, he wasn't basically maskim to be a king until he thoroughly learned all the secrets of Parshas Tazria and Metzora.
I want you to hear what we just said right now. Shlomo Hamelech didn't maskim, he wasn't לא ישב על כסא ממלכתו, he wasn't mamash feeling like he was a king until he was really holding in all the dinim of Tazria and Metzora. I would think maybe Shlomo Hamelech לא ישב על כסא ממלכתו עד שלא למד את פרשת חוקת, Chukas, what else? Mishpatim, let's get a bit more exciting. Yisro, keilu, efshar lehagid, Tazria, Metzora.
Tazria and Metzora, it's two parshas of secrets. Secrets. The whole inyan of bris, of nega tzaraas, of metzora, of negaim, of the tafkid of the Kohen, we'll be learning a lot over Shabbos be'ezras Hashem about all these things. Not all these things, some of these things, got to be careful with your words.
It's Parshas Metzora. Anyway, when we think about the nagua, the one that was afflicted, what type of person comes to mind? The person that's sitting michutz lamachaneh. Someone that has a... Shalom, you want, can you put a little bit of avira de'mazgana? A holy, holy person? Zechuso...
but actually no, right? Meaning it's pashut you're like you're saying adam. What do we think about usually? Moshe Rabbeinu, Sidra. Moshe Rabbeinu was, yeah, but that's not what we think about. A nagua, michutz lamachaneh, tamei tamei yikra.
Stop giving me Moshe Rabbeinu... let's go back a second. Raz Kodesh. Holding lumpen.
Holding lumpen. We're not, we're not thinking about someone that we would like dream to meshadech to our daughters, machshava rishona. Let's think about it, right? However, the Torah speaks about the nagua אדם כי יהיה בעור בשרו שאת ספחת או בהרת and the word Adam keeps on coming up in the parsha. Now you could say that's what else are you going to call him? Well, you could call man different things, ish, but look over here.
על פי המסורת האדם נקרא בארבעה שמות. The Zohar says Adam, Enosh, Ish, Gaver, Gever. There are four different ways of describing a person. Adam, Enosh, Ish and Gaver, Gever.
But the highest one, הגבוה מכולם הוא הכינוי אדם. Adam, when we say Adam, that is the highest form of man. Like the, it's the greatest attribute you could say about man. Machshava rishona, yesod hayesod.
Slicha? Adam Harishon. Right, he's not called Ish, he's not called Enosh, he's not called Gever, he's called Adam. Obviously with gematrias, Adam's gematria ma, so there are a lot of Torahs on this obviously. But for now, just understand.
Torah could have used any word to describe the nagua, but it chooses to use the name of someone who's on the highest status of man.
השאלה העמוקה היא איך ייתכן כשהתורה מספרת על נגע הצרעת שבא בגלל לשון הרע היא משתמשת בכינוי אדם איך ייתכן שדווקא אדם הוא זה שמדבר לשון הרע מילא היית אומר לי שהדרגה הנמוכה של האדם כמו למשל גבר הוא זה שנגוע הייתי אולי מבין בגלל שהוא Why davka Adam? Why davka Adam is the one that is nagua, that he's the one with the nega tzaraas, meaning that he's the one that did something to bring upon himself tzaraas? Adam. Why davka Adam? So this is a Torah based on the Meor Einayim.
האישביצר אומר שהאדם המדובר הוא מישהו שיש לו נשמה גדולה והשתוקקות גדולה.
The person we're speaking about that ends up tamei is really a person with a big gevaldige neshama, big big soul, and tremendous hishtokekus, tremendous longing for something. We'll explain in a second what.
לכן המילה אדם היא אותן אותיות כמו המילה מאוד. You really, they really want some me'od and Adam is the same letters because they have something a me'od in them.
They have something they really, really want. They have a tremendous longing for something. So look how he develops this.
כשאני רוצה משהו קצת והוא לא קורה, זה בסדר שהוא לא קרה.
If I want something a little bit and it doesn't end up happening, b'seder, it's not the end of the world. If something that I want that I don't really, really want doesn't happen, I could go to sleep at night. It's lo sof ha'olam. It's like people with geulah, right? Chas v'shalom.
אבל אם אני רוצה משהו מאוד והוא לא קורה, but if I really want something and it doesn't end up happening, what happens is אני מתמלא כעס בתוכי. Inside of me, I start getting filled with anger. This is what happens. Disappointment is not a passive experience.
Disappointment breeds, breeds anger, brings kaas, breeds Ikhsa, negativity, pollution, tumah. It's kind of what we're putting out today, what we wrote. That was neki nachon. Thinking about it, it's mamash the same inyan.
It's kimat the same exact thing.
רוב בני האדם נשברים כשהם רוצים משהו מאוד מאוד והוא לא קורה. Most people break when they want something really bad and it doesn't happen. Like there are many people that, I mean baruch Hashem I think we've spiritually matured as a people, it's not so much today, but moments that they thought geulah has to happen because it adds up and makes sense and if it didn't happen because I wanted so badly, ani nishbar.
I'm broken and we've been talking about this a lot since Shvii shel Pesach.
אבל רק כשהם רוצים בו מאוד מאוד, but they really break when you want, when they want something so bad and it doesn't happen. That's when they break. So the מאור עיניים אומר הדבר הכי עמוק.
He says the deepest thing.
אתם יודעים מי מדבר לשון הרע על אחרים? Who speaks lashon hara about other people? Adam. Why?
הוא רצה משהו בכל מאודו. He wanted something so badly, he had a strong desire for something to happen.
וכשהוא לא קרה, הוא מתמלא כעס על כל בני אדם בעולם. You know, when you get mad that something didn't happen, you think you keep your anger towards Hashem? Anyone that passes you by, passes by, you're ready to shacht them. Right? This is what happens.
התיקון עבורו הוא לשבת מחוץ למחנה.
And his tikun is you have to be outside the machane. Now on another way of understanding this where Reb Shlomo says somewhere else, listen to this. He explains that the person that ended up speaking, the Adam that ended up speaking lashon hara, why does it lead, why was he led to speak lashon hara? Because he had such a, such a hishtokekus for you to be a gevalt, for you to shine, for you to be an amazing person. And then when he sees that you're not living up to your expectations, because he has some, the Adam, the ish gadol, had such a hishtokekus for you to be an erliche Yid, to be holy.
And then he sees you're not living up to where you could be, what ends up happening? This produces the lashon hara but it came from where? A good place. It came from a me'od. It came from like I have a me'od vision of you. I have a me'od vision of you.
You talked about this with parenting, for instance, a parent to a child, a lot. Remember we used to do the series on Shabbos afternoon? Yeah, it's what's... You're disappointed in your child. They didn't do anything wrong.
They're just not living up to your expectations of them.
ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם. Is it possible also that Adam HaRishon himself spoke Lashon Hara? Because Hashem says what are you doing? Is it because she did it. He could have just said Shtok mimenu, stay quiet.
B'techila. It's from the makor already. It's definitely the makor 100%. And that goes against this thing.
Why? Because it's to raise a person who spoke Lashon Hara not to degrade them. No, the beginning is that you want to raise the person. They don't end up going there. He's saying kaf zechut, saying that Adam spoke Lashon Hara is the first person.
That's what I hear from Adam. No no let's stem it hold on. No let's stem it. Adam sees Chava and he's Chava Em Kol Chai.
You are, you are Kodesh Kodashim. You're the holiest thing in the world. I can't believe this. You're the holiest thing in the world.
Adam says this right? And then he sees that the holiest person in his eyes granted it was the only person in the world but the holiest person in the world in his eyes - then gets seduced. So his Lashon Hara is coming from the same place of I had such big dreams for you. I can't- how could you have fallen? The way I look at you, how could you have fallen? Right? So he's mitmalei be'kaas. Now another thing we could even say a little bit level deeper is that really you get angry at yourself because you say to yourself had I known how to really look at that person, had I known how to really let the person know how special they really are then they wouldn't have ended up falling.
So it's all an internal process but the end of the day is ani mitmalei be'kaas. I get filled with anger and then Lashon Hara comes out. But in its shoresh, אדם כי יהיה בעור בשרו שאת. We're talking about a person with gevaldigue aspirations for who people could be and who they could be.
When they don't end up happening they get filled with kaas which leads to Lashon Hara. If you take the letters from the O-R-D in English and you just read it it's mad. M-A-D. Mad.
See? Ever get there faster. Kaas.
ובכאן בא האיש בצבי ושואל. Now here the man Shierach comes and he asks מדוע דוקא עורו של האדם צריך לסבול ולהצטרע.
What's the practicality of the inyan of tzaraas? What does it affect? Skin. Now you could think like this: what would also make sense for a person to suffer from as a totza-ah of Lashon Hara? You could say his tongue, you could say eyes, ears, sore throat, you could say a bunch of things and it would be tied up and it would add up.
אדם כי יהיה בעורו with an ayin, אדם כי יהיה בעורו skin. So why davka is it the skin? He says here something so simple and yet I don't know if people noticed this when they read the parsha davka why it's כי יהיה בעור בשרו שאת או ספחת או בהרת.
ומשיב שהדבר היחיד שמשתנה אצל התינוק לאחר שהוא יוצא מבטן אמו הוא העור. What's the only thing that changes by a human being once they come out of the mother's womb? Eventually that changes. Skin.
הבשר הוא אותו בשר.
The flesh is the same flesh.
העצמות הן אותן עצמות. The bones are also the same bones.
אבל העור משתנה ומתקשה.
But the skin changes and becomes tougher, harder. The skin transforms. Skin. What and the rest of the body? I mean what he's saying.
Think for a second. What else your flesh changes? Your bones change? Everything else just grows. Everything just naturally grows and evolve. The skin is the only thing that has this this like- you're thinking Michael Jackson, right? I know you.
The skin is- you give me those eyes, I can't ignore it. The hair changes color. The mahut of it doesn't change. In some cases it's removed.
But the or, this is not his chiddush, I'm not trying to belittle what he's saying, but this is brought down in the sfarim hakedoshim. The or is davka what really really is the- this sign of like how much our words can mamash change the formation of our kissuy, of our covering. That's what our or is. When I say or, I mean with an ayin, right, our skin.
As k'neged. Exactly. That's the old snake, exactly. Exactly.
Exactly. And that's connected to the Esav who's Edom, whose his his skin was born with the the ability to... he was mamash red. In his skin itself.
His skin, he had the ability to change, obviously. But it's true, it's Yosef. It's all from the the the the... it's all tied to the nachash, everything here.
K'she'adam na'asa metzora, so when a person does suffer from tzara'at, they have to hear what Hashem is telling them. And that's why they have to sit badad michutz l'machaneh. Aryeh shon yegevalt on the beginning of the week. Who was...
in the name of who? Aryeh, who was it? Do you remember? Likutey Moharan. It's from the Rebbe. That's his shkola, yeah. Right, I mean they taitched it up from Rebbe Nachman.
But basically that the only way you can understand why you're going through what you're going through is if you're sitting badad, doing hitbodedut michutz l'machaneh. And you can and really b'pnimiyut it's like okay, let me... Hashem, what are what are you telling me through what I'm... why am I suffering this? I I need to be michutz l'machaneh, I need to be away to hear this.
So Reb Shlomo is saying when a person becomes metzora, השם בעצם אומר לו אני יודע שנהיית אדם קשה. You become a hard person. You become a hard person. I mean, in your in your root you're a gevalt, but because you're you're full of disappointments, it's led you to become a hard person, a rock, the tough lev even.
Ata kol kach me'uchzav, you're so disappointed from the world, min ha'olam, v'ha'or shelcha hitkasheach and your skin is now become hard and tough, right? Tough skin, hard skin. Aval tizkor b'vakasha, but remember one thing, רק החיצוניות שלך התקשתה. It's only on your outside that's become that's changed, that's kind of deformed.
הפנימיות עדיין אותו דבר.
Your insides have not changed.
הפנים ממש אותו דבר. A Yiddele can come to this conclusion only when they're badad michutz l'machaneh and they have time to think and absorb what's going on. This is what Reb Shlomo is saying will be heard through a result of proper hitbodedut as a result of a person that has that has tzara'at.
Problem is is that usually when we have a tzara'at in our lives, the last thing we want to do is be alone with ourselves. But ein derech acheret, there's no other way to understand what the real message is. So the real message isn't only this is why it happened to you. Maybe you'll understand that as well.
But the pnimiyut message is it's just the skin. It's just the skin. It's not your insides, not your or with an aleph. Oof, zehu.
Again. That's the idea. It's not your or with an aleph, it's your or with an ayin. Right, not the unity of aleph but the multiplicity when you're when you're into the world of dibur and the world of like ayin, shivim leshonot, yeah, that's when you...
gevalt. When you tap in in hitbodedut to your aleph and you understand that you haven't changed. You haven't changed. Your insides are still...
most most of us don't believe that. Most of us when we go through tzara'at in our lives, I'm not obviously speaking about you know leprosy, although maybe that happens to people, I don't know. But most of the people that have tzara'at, the the last thing they they they think is that my insides haven't changed. The conclusion they come to is I am rotten.
And the Aybisheter is telling us it's just your skin. You have to be michutz l'machaneh, but it's just your skin. Your insides are still pure because if I believe that my insides are still pure despite doing something that brought upon me something very negative, az b'ezrat Hashem, you know, I'll be... I'm going to join now the deepest pnimiyut of this as all is when would the Yidden continue traveling in the in the midbar? After the...
when the person came to the conclusion as when the person had a refuah, when the person understood why they went through what they went through and then it started to heal. It's like Yidden are waiting, like we can't move on until you remember that you're mamash that your insides are clean, which really brings the refuah, which leads the Kohen to come and say tahor hu. Efshar l'hitbonen, last line, אפשר להתבונן על העולם במבט של עור עבה וקשה. You could look at the world through eyes of like a a very thick lens of like thick, hard, tough skin.
ואפשר להסתכל על העולם ולקבל את כולו באותו אופן שאור השם חודר בכל העולם. Or you could look and say the Aybisheter's light... with an Alef, underneath the surface, underneath all the skin that you see, reaches everywhere and it starts with me. How did this whole Torah come about? Because the Torah chose to use the word Adam.
You see the beauty of the neimus hatorah, the beauty of the Torah. The Torah chose to use the word Adam. Most people when they read the parsha, it’s not something without the light of the Baal Shem Tov you don’t notice these things. It doesn’t make you think, why does the Torah davka choose to use the word Adam? There could be other words.
Adam, me’od, Adam, highest level of human. Why is davka that type of person? So for now, I just want to give us a bracha, this hischatchus of Chodesh Iyar, is that maybe our skin over the years or definitely over the last few months has become hardened again and we’re filled with disappointments about what we thought should happen by now in the world. Get rid of it because disappointment leads to saying bad things about people, about ourselves. Get rid of it.
Not to get tzara’as, not to have to go out of the machaneh. But if you are michutz lamachaneh, badad. Have a shtikel hisbodedus. I have to tell you, yesterday in the women shiur, so we’re doing one nekuda about hisbodedus right now.
I tried to get all the women to maskim to start with 15 minutes a day. And I told them the story about someone that I also had a inyan with him this week and I told him you have to start 15 minutes a day. He said five, I said 10, he said five, I said 10, get out of the office. I think he was maskim.
I know he was maskim. This inyan of really sitting with, in hisbodedus and speaking to the Ribbono Shel Olam, we hear all the things Hashem wants to tell us, but He can’t tell us when there’s too much ra'ash. And Hashem is telling us a lot of things right now. We should be zocheh to hear it, to believe it.
The most important thing is to believe that our p’nimi, our p’nima, never changed. It’s just the or with an Ayin. It’s just the skin. And we can look at each other with those eyes, we’ll be in a good place, be’ezras Hashem.