(א) בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוק בְּדִבְרֵי תורָה:
(1) Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with commandments and commanded us to be involved with words of Torah.
(מה) וְהַצָּר֜וּעַ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֣וֹ הַנֶּ֗גַע בְּגָדָ֞יו יִהְי֤וּ פְרֻמִים֙ וְרֹאשׁוֹ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה פָר֔וּעַ וְעַל־שָׂפָ֖ם יַעְטֶ֑ה וְטָמֵ֥א ׀ טָמֵ֖א יִקְרָֽא׃ (מו) כָּל־יְמֵ֞י אֲשֶׁ֨ר הַנֶּ֥גַע בּ֛וֹ יִטְמָ֖א טָמֵ֣א ה֑וּא בָּדָ֣ד יֵשֵׁ֔ב מִח֥וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֖ה מוֹשָׁבֽוֹ׃ (ס)
(45) As for the person with a leprous affection, his clothes shall be rent, his head shall be left bare, and he shall cover over his upper lip; and he shall call out, “Unclean! Unclean!” (46) He shall be unclean as long as the disease is on him. Being unclean, he shall dwell apart; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
(ה) וטמא טמא יקרא. מַשְׁמִיעַ שֶׁהוּא טָמֵא וְיִפְרְשׁוּ מִמֶּנּוּ (ספרא, מועד קטן ה'):
(5) וטמא טמא יקרא AND HE SHALL CALL OUT, UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN — he must proclaim aloud that he is unclean, so that people may keep away from him (Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 13 7; Moed Katan 5a).
(א) בגדיו יהיו פרומים. כמו קרועים להכירו ללכת במנהג משונה או טעמו כענין אבל על כן בגדיו יהיו פרומים וראשו פרוע והטעם שיתאבל על רוע מעשיו כי בעבור מעשיו בא לו זה הנגע:
(1) his clothes shall be rent (meaning, “torn”): He walks about differently, so that he can be recognized; or It is a sign of mourning. His clothes are to be torn, and his hair is to be uncut, because he is to mourn over his evil deeds which have brought him this disease.
לא תימא גנותו אלא אימא צערו כדתניא (ויקרא יג, מה) וטמא טמא יקרא צריך להודיע צערו לרבים ורבים מבקשים עליו רחמים וכל מי שאירע בו דבר צריך להודיע לרבים ורבים מבקשים עליו רחמים
Do not say that one should say that which is to his discredit in a loud voice; rather, say that one should publicize his pain in a loud voice. As it is taught in a baraita: It is derived from the verse: “And will cry: Impure, impure” (Leviticus 13:45), that a leper must publicize the fact that he is ritually impure. He must announce his pain to the masses, and the masses will pray for mercy on his behalf. And similarly, anyone to whom a painful matter happens must announce it to the masses, and the masses will pray for mercy on his behalf.
רבי אבהו אמר מהכא (ויקרא יג, מה) וטמא טמא יקרא טומאה קוראה לו ואומרת לו פרוש וכן אמר רבי עוזיאל בר בריה דרבי עוזיאל רבה טומאה קוראה לו ואומרת לו פרוש והאי להכי הוא דאתא ההוא מיבעי ליה לכדתניא וטמא טמא יקרא צריך להודיע צערו לרבים ורבים מבקשין עליו רחמים א"כ ליכתוב וטמא יקרא מאי וטמא טמא שמעת מינה תרתי
Rabbi Abbahu said: An allusion to the marking of graves may be derived from here: “And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and the hair of his head shall go loose, and he shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry: Impure, impure” (Leviticus 13:45). This verse teaches that impurity cries out to the passerby and tells him: Remove yourself. The leper must inform others of his status so that they know not to come into contact with him and thereby maintain their ritual purity. So too, in our case, graves must be marked so that others will know to avoid them and prevent contracting ritual impurity. And similarly, Rabbi Uzziel, grandson of Rabbi Uzziel the Great, said: Impurity cries out to the passerby and tells him: Remove yourself. The Gemara asks: But with regard to this verse, does it come to teach this idea? That verse is needed for that which is taught in the following baraita: “And he shall cry: Impure, impure”; this teaches that the leper must inform the public of his distress, and the public will pray for mercy on his behalf. The Gemara answers: If it is so that the verse comes to teach only one idea, let it write: And he shall cry: Impure. What is to be derived the repetition of impure, impure? Learn from this reiteration two ideas: First, that the leper must inform the public of his pain so that others will pray on his behalf, and second, that he must warn the public to stay away so that they avoid coming into contact with him and contracting ritual impurity.
א"ל רבא אלא מאי מחנה ישראל לא הואי נמצאו זבין ומצורעין משתלחין למקום אחד והתורה אמרה (ויקרא יג, מו) בדד ישב שלא ישב טמא אחר עמו
Rava said to him: Rather, what would you say instead? Would you say that the Israelite camp was not present in Shiloh? If so, it would be found that zavim and lepers are both sent to one place, i.e., outside the Levite camp. But the Torah said with regard to the leper: “He shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his dwelling be” (Leviticus 13:46). The word “alone” teaches that another ritually impure person should not dwell with him.
ואמר ר' יוסי בן זימרא כל המספר לשון הרע נגעים באים עליו שנאמר (תהלים קא, ה) מלשני בסתר רעהו אותו אצמית וכתיב התם {ויקרא כה } לצמיתות ומתרגמינן לחלוטין
And Rabbi Yosei ben Zimra says: Anyone who speaks malicious speech will be afflicted by leprous marks coming upon him, as it is stated: “Whoever defames his neighbor in secret, I will destroy him [atzmit]; whoever is haughty of eye and proud of heart, I will not suffer him” (Psalms 101:5). And it is written there: “And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity [letzmitut]; for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and settlers with Me” (Leviticus 25:23). And we translate this term letzmitut as laḥalutin, in perpetuity or confirmed.
בעא מיניה רבי שמואל בר נדב מרבי חנינא ואמרי לה רבי שמואל בר נדב חתניה דרבי חנינא מרבי חנינא ואמרי לה מרבי יהושע בן לוי מה נשתנה מצורע שאמרה תורה (ויקרא יג, מו) בדד ישב מחוץ למחנה מושבו הוא הבדיל בין איש לאשתו בין איש לרעהו לפיכך אמרה תורה בדד ישב וגו'
Rabbi Shmuel bar Nadav asked Rabbi Ḥanina, and some say that it was Rabbi Shmuel bar Nadav, the son-in-law of Rabbi Ḥanina, who asked of Rabbi Ḥanina, and some say that he asked it of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: What is different and notable about a leper, that the Torah states: “He shall dwell alone; outside of the camp shall be his dwelling” (Leviticus 13:46)? He replied: By speaking malicious speech he separated between husband and wife and between one person and another; therefore he is punished with leprosy, and the Torah says: “He shall dwell alone; outside of the camp shall be his dwelling.”
From "Tazria - The price of Free Speech" by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks http://rabbisacks.org/tazria-5774-price-free-speech/
Tazria and Metsora, are about a condition called tsara’at, sometimes translated as leprosy. The commentators were puzzled as to what this condition is and why it should be given such prominence in the torah. They concluded that it was precisely because it was a punishment for lashon hara, derogatory speech.
Evidence for this is the story of Miriam (Numbers 12: 1) who spoke slightingly about her brother Moses “because of the Ethiopian wife he had taken.” God himself felt bound to defend Moses’ honour and as a punishment, turned Miriam leprous. Moses prayed for God to heal her. God mitigated the punishment to seven days, but did not annul it entirely.
Clearly this was no minor matter, because Moses singles it out among the teachings he gives the next generation: “Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt” (Deut. 24: 9, and see Ibn Ezra ad loc.).
Oddly enough Moses himself, according to the sages, had been briefly guilty of the same offence. At the burning bush when God challenged him to lead the people Moses replied, “They will not believe in me” (Ex. 4: 1). God then gave Moses three signs: water that turned to blood, a staff that became a snake, and his hand briefly turning leprous. We find reference later in the narrative to water turning to blood and a staff turning into a serpent, but none to a hand that turns leprous.
The sages, ever alert to the nuances of the biblical text, said that the hand that turned leprous was not a sign but a punishment. Moses was being reprimanded for “casting doubts against the innocent” by saying that the Israelites would not believe in him. “They are believers the children of believers,” said God according to the Talmud, “but in the end you will not believe.”[3]
How dangerous lashon hara can be is illustrated by the story of Joseph and his brothers. The Torah says that he “brought an evil report” to his father about some of his brothers (Gen. 37: 2). This was not the only provocation that led his brothers to plot to kill him and eventually sell him as a slave. There were several other factors. But his derogatory gossip did not endear him to his siblings.
No less disastrous was the “evil report” (dibah: the Torah uses the same word as it does in the case of Joseph) brought back by the spies about the land of Canaan and its inhabitants (Num. 13: 32). Even after Moses’ prayers to God for forgiveness, the report delayed entry in the land by almost forty years and condemned a whole generation to die in the wilderness.
Why is the Torah so severe about lashon hara, branding it as one of the worst of sins? Partly this has deep roots in the Jewish understanding of God and the human condition. Judaism is less a religion of holy people and holy places than it is a religion of holy words.
God created the universe by words: “And God said, Let there be … and there was.” God reveals himself in words. He spoke to the patriarchs and the prophets and at Mount Sinai to the whole nation. Our very humanity has to do with our ability to use language. The creation of homo sapiens is described in the Torah thus: “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen. 2: 7). The Targum renders the last phrase as “and the man became a speaking being.” Language is life. Words are creative but also destructive. If good words are holy then evil words are a desecration.
Tazria and Metsora, are about a condition called tsara’at, sometimes translated as leprosy. The commentators were puzzled as to what this condition is and why it should be given such prominence in the torah. They concluded that it was precisely because it was a punishment for lashon hara, derogatory speech.
Evidence for this is the story of Miriam (Numbers 12: 1) who spoke slightingly about her brother Moses “because of the Ethiopian wife he had taken.” God himself felt bound to defend Moses’ honour and as a punishment, turned Miriam leprous. Moses prayed for God to heal her. God mitigated the punishment to seven days, but did not annul it entirely.
Clearly this was no minor matter, because Moses singles it out among the teachings he gives the next generation: “Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt” (Deut. 24: 9, and see Ibn Ezra ad loc.).
Oddly enough Moses himself, according to the sages, had been briefly guilty of the same offence. At the burning bush when God challenged him to lead the people Moses replied, “They will not believe in me” (Ex. 4: 1). God then gave Moses three signs: water that turned to blood, a staff that became a snake, and his hand briefly turning leprous. We find reference later in the narrative to water turning to blood and a staff turning into a serpent, but none to a hand that turns leprous.
The sages, ever alert to the nuances of the biblical text, said that the hand that turned leprous was not a sign but a punishment. Moses was being reprimanded for “casting doubts against the innocent” by saying that the Israelites would not believe in him. “They are believers the children of believers,” said God according to the Talmud, “but in the end you will not believe.”[3]
How dangerous lashon hara can be is illustrated by the story of Joseph and his brothers. The Torah says that he “brought an evil report” to his father about some of his brothers (Gen. 37: 2). This was not the only provocation that led his brothers to plot to kill him and eventually sell him as a slave. There were several other factors. But his derogatory gossip did not endear him to his siblings.
No less disastrous was the “evil report” (dibah: the Torah uses the same word as it does in the case of Joseph) brought back by the spies about the land of Canaan and its inhabitants (Num. 13: 32). Even after Moses’ prayers to God for forgiveness, the report delayed entry in the land by almost forty years and condemned a whole generation to die in the wilderness.
Why is the Torah so severe about lashon hara, branding it as one of the worst of sins? Partly this has deep roots in the Jewish understanding of God and the human condition. Judaism is less a religion of holy people and holy places than it is a religion of holy words.
God created the universe by words: “And God said, Let there be … and there was.” God reveals himself in words. He spoke to the patriarchs and the prophets and at Mount Sinai to the whole nation. Our very humanity has to do with our ability to use language. The creation of homo sapiens is described in the Torah thus: “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen. 2: 7). The Targum renders the last phrase as “and the man became a speaking being.” Language is life. Words are creative but also destructive. If good words are holy then evil words are a desecration.
From "In Praise of Privacy" by Dena Weiss, https://www.hadar.org/torah-resource/praise-privacy#source-7169
There are many different types of tzara’at, but the one thing that every case of tzara’at requires is the involvement of the kohen in the diagnosis and the treatment. Perhaps this is not because the person is not expert enough to determine whether or not they have tzara’at, but in order to enact a type of measure for measure, middah k’neged middah, punishment for their crime of lashon hara. It is to force them to expose themselves to the kohen just like they have exposed others. And the most telling aspect of the process is that once a person has been determined to be a metzora, they need to walk around calling out tamei tamei, impure, impure about themselves sharing this highly personal information with any passerby.
So perhaps the actual punishment for tzara’at is this moment of declaring their own impurity. The gossiper is forced to acknowledge publicly that they have been afflicted with tzara’at. This person who was going around informing on the status of other people or perhaps just collecting information about them for himself, now himself has to go around exposed, letting everyone know of his condition. By experiencing this shame of exposure he can learn to internalize the value of privacy. Once he understands what it’s like to be the object of unwanted attention and uninvited scrutiny he will become wiser and more sensitive regarding obtaining and spreading information about others.
There are many different types of tzara’at, but the one thing that every case of tzara’at requires is the involvement of the kohen in the diagnosis and the treatment. Perhaps this is not because the person is not expert enough to determine whether or not they have tzara’at, but in order to enact a type of measure for measure, middah k’neged middah, punishment for their crime of lashon hara. It is to force them to expose themselves to the kohen just like they have exposed others. And the most telling aspect of the process is that once a person has been determined to be a metzora, they need to walk around calling out tamei tamei, impure, impure about themselves sharing this highly personal information with any passerby.
So perhaps the actual punishment for tzara’at is this moment of declaring their own impurity. The gossiper is forced to acknowledge publicly that they have been afflicted with tzara’at. This person who was going around informing on the status of other people or perhaps just collecting information about them for himself, now himself has to go around exposed, letting everyone know of his condition. By experiencing this shame of exposure he can learn to internalize the value of privacy. Once he understands what it’s like to be the object of unwanted attention and uninvited scrutiny he will become wiser and more sensitive regarding obtaining and spreading information about others.