Deborah’s Torah Nuggets

Tazaria/She Bears Seed

Torah Reading-Leviticus 12:1-13:59

Haftorah – Isaiah 66:1-24

Brit HaDasha – Luke 10-11

Metzora/Infected One

Torah Reading- Leviticus 14:1 –15:33

Haftorah – 11 Kings 7:3-7:20

Haftorah – Brit HaDasha – Luke 12-13

LaShon Hara – The Evil Tongue

Leviticus 13:6-9

Le 13:5 "And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day; and indeed if the sore appears to be as it was, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall isolate him another seven days.

6 "Then the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day; and indeed if the sore has faded, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only a scab, and he shall wash his clothes and be clean.

7 "But if the scab should at all spread over the skin, after he has been seen by the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest again.

8 "And if the priest sees that the scab has indeed spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy.

“When the Bible speaks of inflammations, it is a reference to vain imaginations, mind games, slander, and gossip. These contaminate and make us unclean, growing and inflaming in others, like a forest fire that takes only a spark to start, but so easily spreads and consumes everything in its path. Gossip (called lashon hara in Hebrew, meaning: evil tongue) and murmur, scar people. If “the fire” is not contained, it will spread and ignite others, contaminating the whole house. Torah describes this as tzarat (Strongs # H6879), meaning in Hebrew: the visible manifestation of the contagious impurity, which YHVH will not tolerate in His House. Slander, bloodshed, false oaths and immorality can destroy a whole community.” Carl & Julie Parker-Torah Commentary

#1 Lashon Hara - Definition

n Lashon Hora (lit. evil talk) is defined as information which is either drogatory’ or potentially harful’to another individual. A derogatory statement about someone is Lashon Hara, even it it will definitely not cause that person any harm. To focus on the shortcomings of another person is in itself wrong. A statement that could potentially bring harm to someone-be it financially, physical, psychological or otherwise-is Lashon hara.

#2 Lashon Hara - Jewish Understanding

n The harm done by speech is even worse than the harm done by stealing or by cheating someone financially, because amends can be made for monetary harms, but the harm done by speech can never be repaired

#3 Lashon Hara - Jewish Understanding

n Speech has been compared to an arrow: once the words are released, like an arrow, they cannot be recalled, the harm they do cannot be stopped, and the harm they do cannot always be predicted, for words like arrows often go astray

#4 Lashon Hara - Jewish Understanding

n Tale-bearing is, essentially, any gossip. The Hebrew word for tale-bearer is “rakheel” (Resh-Kaf-Yod-Lamed), which is related to a word meaning trader or merchant. The idea is that a tale-bearer is like a merchant, but he deals in information instead of goods. In our modern “Information Age”, the idea of information as a product has become more clear than ever before, yet it is present even here in the Torah.”

#5 Lashon Hara - Jewish Understanding

n The person who listens to gossip is even worse than the person who tells it, because no harm could be done by gossip if no one listened to it. It has been said that lashon ha-ra (disparaging speech) kills three: the person who speaks it, the person who hears it, and the person whom it is told.

#6 Lashon Hara - Jewish Understanding

n Leviticus 25:17 – “You shall not wrong one another” This has traditionally been interpreted as wronging a person with speech. It includes any statement that will embarrass, insult or deceive a person, or cause a person emotional pain or distress.

#7 Lashon Hara-Death & Life

n Psa 34:11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

n Psa 34:12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?

n Psa 34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

n Pro 13:3 He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction

n Pro 21:23 Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.

n Pro 15:4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.

n Pro 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

n Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

n Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

n Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

n Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

n James/Ya’akov 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

nPsalms 34:11-13

The fear of the Lord begins with “The Tongue”- We cannot really have good lives if we do not control our tongues and our lips

nMatthew 12: 33-37

n Mat 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

n Mat 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

n Mat 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

n Mat 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

n Mat 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Cleaning Our Ways

The treatment for tzarat was to remove and isolate the contamination. The one spreading gossip, slanderous thoughts and bad reports about other people was to be removed from the camp before it infected the whole camp. During this time they were still contagious. After the seven days the priest inspected them to see if the condition had spread or changed. What the priest was inspecting was the heart condition of the contaminated person. Treating the sickness of the spirit took care of the sickness on the body in the physical dimension. This was the treatment: Once the contaminated person repented, the priest anointed with oil and immersed the person in water, called the mikvah, for status change from the unclean realm to the clean realm. The person was thus restored back into communion with YHVH and the community of fellowship again. This is called the ritual application of YHVH’s teaching and instruction for Life and is still applicable and works today!!! This is not Judaism or Rabbinic teaching but LIFE in Torah!

Many times a community can be too quick to receive a tzarat person back into the fold before the said person has totally repented and cleansed his way YHVH instructs us in His Word. Or the tzarat/contaminated person may have never been addressed and is still be in the House continuing to spread their contamination through the community because they have not been properly handled. The way back in is through repentance and forgiveness. Tzarat has been designed by YHVH to redeem a people back to relationship with Him, to keep His camp clean and to have a functioning priesthood and holy nation before Him.

Carl & Julie Parker-Torah Commentary

We have found the enemy and the enemy is our soul!