The Weekly Shtikle - Tazria

This week's shtikle is dedicated to my nephew, Yaakov Yosef Shonek, whose Bar Mitzvah is this Shabbos.

    The topic that dominates most of parshas Tazria is the illness of tzora'as. Traditionally, tzora'as afflicted someone who spoke "lashon hara" as it did Miriam at the end of Parshas Beha'alosecha.

    R' Moshe Shternbuch in Ta'am Voda'as, in the name of R' Yisroel Salanter, writes that the end of the previous parsha, Parshas Shemini, we are taught of the animals that are not to be eaten and the tum'ah that results when we do. While it seems that very many people are careful about what they put into their mouths, they are seemingly far less careful of what comes out. The juxtaposition of these two topics is meant to show that just as putting the wrong things in our mouths results in serious tum'ah, the same grievous consequences result when we allow the wrong things to come out.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

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