Weekly Parsha

Rabbi Ezra Wiener

Rav Yisrael Salanter inquires as to the juxtaposition between Parshat Shimini, which concludes with a discussion of a variety of creatures that are forbidden for consumption, and Parshat Tazria, which is dominated by the laws of tzara’at. He explains that the association Chazal have established between the sin of lashon hara and the punishment of tazra’at will help identify the link between the parshiyot.

Inasmuch as it is instinctive for the observant Jew to recoil at the thought of consuming forbidden foods, for some reason he does not exhibit a corresponding display of hesitation when faced with “consuming” another person through gossip. Parshat Tazria comes on the heels of Parshat Shimini to sensitize us to shun the reprehensible and objectionable psychological “consumption” of another human being.

The association between consuming forbidden foods and damaging someone through slander can be more acutely perceived by comparing the ultimate address of the damage. Although, on the surface, the forbidden food is what appears to have been consumed and destroyed, it is the one who ingested the forbidden food who is the ultimate victim, having consumed what the Torah considers spiritually poisonous. The talebearer too, although superficially has harmed the victim of his slander, has had an even more pervasive effect on himself.