torah portion

[cellio]

I drew the "leprosy" portion this week (Tazria-Metzora). Everyone is going to be talking about lashon hara (gossip, approximately), because that's the apparent cause of the affliction (midrash, and one data point in Torah). "Everyone" includes my rabbi tomorrow night (he mentioned it tonight). I'd like to say something Saturday morning that they haven't already heard a zillion times and one of them within the previous 14 hours. I wonder if inspiration will strike. (I suppose there's always the haftarah as a source of material, though we have a fairly strong convention of talking about the Torah portion.)

Comments

Other thoughts

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

The same Torah study site has several other articles about this....

http://www.torah.org/learning/rabbiwein/5763/metzora.html
Metzora / Shabbos HaGadol
Not Afflicted, Still Affected (about destructive speech)

http://www.torah.org/learning/drasha/5761/tazria.html
Parshas Tazria-Metzorah
Gold in them Thar Walls
by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky

More on Materialism and Slander: "Rashi tells us that the first stage of tzora'as -- the home -- is actually a blessing in disguise. Tzora'as on a home can indeed bring fortune to the affected. As the Israelites were approaching the Land of Canaan, the inhabitants, figuring that one day they would re-conquer the land, hid all their gold and silver inside the walls of their homes. When one dislodged the afflicted stones of his home he would find the hidden treasures that were left by the fleeing Canaanites.

"It is troubling. Why should the first warning of tzora'as reek of triumph? What message is Hashem sending to the first offender by rewarding his misdeeds with a cache of gold? What spiritual import is gained from the materialistic discovery? ..."


http://www.torah.org/learning/olas-shabbos/5760/tazria.html
Tazria
Rabbi Eliyahu Hoffmann
Getting Beneath the Skin

On slander coming from negativity which comes from self-hate, which is a disease within the self...

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Oh, well. I should leave you to your own inspirations. I am, however, grateful for the serendipitous nature of your thoughts, because I learned from looking...

Re: Other thoughts

[cellio]

Thanks for all the links! Serendipity is a wonderful thing. :-)

Re: Other thoughts

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! All of this, plus some radio announcements about our water and power situation in California, gave me some other points to ponder.. (well, you'll see ;-) )