This week’s portion is a continuation of last week’s and speaks of the purification process of someone who had been afflicted with Tzoraas ― a spiritual malaise that is manifest through a physical blemish or discoloration which indicates that the person was lax in the area of speaking Lashon Hara, ill of another.
To remain silent when one has an urge to share gossip about others is a powerful feat.
During the plague of frogs, our Sages teach us that the frogs went beyond their call of duty to wreak havoc on the Egyptians, and even risked their lives by jumping into hot ovens. Because they risked their lives they survived.
The Torah tells us that the vicious dogs that the Egyptians used against the Jews remained silent during the last plague of the slaying of the firstborn. Because the dogs abided by G-d’s directive to remain silent, G-d rewarded them by telling us that when Trief meat comes our way, we are to throw it to a dog.
Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld o.b.m. asked, why is it that when G-d rewarded the frogs that risked their lives by jumping into the hot oven they themselves survived, but the dogs who listened to G-d by not barking were rewarded for posterity?
Reb Yosef Chaim answered, “You see from here, that remaining silent takes greater courage and is more difficult than jumping into a scorching oven!”
Many times, one falls into the trap of speaking ill of others when it has nothing to do with them.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievski o.b.m. commented on the Seder poem ‘Chad Gadia’ and brought out the following point.
The lone sheep was eaten by the cat. Then the dog came along and ate the cat. It seems that dog acted correctly by punishing the cat, yet, the next stanza tells us the dog was hit by a stick. Why? Reb Chaim answered, the dog was punished for mixing into a quarrel that was no concern of his.
And so on down the line, each participant of the song got involved in something that was not their affair, until even the angel of death was punished by G-d.
Someone asked me my opinion about actor Will Smith’s slap in front of millions of viewers. I asked him for details. He told me that Will’s wife was publicly made fun of for a medical condition of hers. Will went up on stage and slapped the person who said the disparaging and humiliating remark.
Right or wrong I won’t go into. But I feel that that slap seen and heard by the public will stand as a ‘correction’ to the freedom that the media and social media has to humiliate others. Perhaps people will now think twice before embarrassing another. There is a real person and family members that suffer by being the butt of a joke.
During the Seder, we are introduced to the questions and answers that are to be given to the four types of sons.
The wicked son asks a question that insinuates his detachment from all the rituals. Our surprising response is, “Hakeh es Shinov – blunt his teeth – and say to him, if you had this attitude as a Jewish slave in Egypt you wouldn’t have been freed. For only those who wanted to leave and believed in G-d left Egypt. The rest perished during the plague of darkness.”
What does “Blunt his teeth” mean? I don’t believe there is a rush for dentures or implants after Pesach. Blunting or slapping is not the most effective way of getting a point across to children.
Commentators explain that ‘Blunt his teeth’ implies that you are to respond to the wicked son by telling him, “Don’t talk and sarcastically ask and respond to everything that is being done at the Seder. It is disruptive to those who want to be inspired. Be like one without teeth – remain silent. Just listen and observe what is truly going on at the Seder. Let the message of the entire process and the meaning of this awesome Seder, an event that has been unbroken for 3334 years within the Jewish family and nation, do its magic.” We are guaranteed that the positive and uplifting effect will be felt by each and every participant!
