When we recount the plagues during our upcoming Seders we are not to be gleeful when recalling those who tried to keep the Jews captive and suffered even unto death. Our posture is not to be: they tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat, no. no no. In fact the Abarbanel (a-bar-ba-nel, 15th century Rabbi) wrote, “By spilling a drop of wine from the Pesach cup for each plague, we acknowledge that our own joy is lessened and incomplete, for our redemption had to come by means of the punishment of other human beings. Even though these are just punishments for evil acts, it says, “Do not rejoice at the fall of your enemy” (Proverbs 24:17).”
When Israel sang after they crossed the sea the words of Shirat Hayam (the song of the sea from Exodus 15, where Michamocha comes from) their focus was to be on the freedom gained, not the destruction of enemies who drowned. This is found in our Seder when we sing “Avadim Hayinu,” we were slaves, now we sing songs of praise, not for the death of enemies, but because we are free! We read in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 39b) that God is said to have rebuked the angels for celebrating after the drowning of the Egyptians, a lesson that Judaism as long taught applies to us, hence the words of the Abarbanel above.
This week's parasha, Metzora, like last week’s Tazria, speaks of afflictions that have been connected to Lashon hara, or evil speech. Speech obviously comes from our mouth, rooted in the intentions of our hearts and minds, thus out of our mouth comes words of compassion or words designed to hurt and even hate. The book of Mishlei (Proverbs) captures both. Words that are affirming and compassionate are “Pleasant words that are like a honeycomb, Sweet to the palate and a cure for the body” (Prov. 16:24). Yet regarding words designed to hurt others, words of anger and hate we also read in Mishlei, “More had fallen by the tongue than had fallen by the edge of the sword” (Prov. 27:18).
Last Shabbat I mentioned how almost everything we do is preceded by brachot (blessings), 91 in total between the three times of prayer per day alone, but also prayers over food, drink, study, be wonderment of creation (like with the eclipse), human uniqueness, healthy bodies and so on. The purpose of the brachot are to speak holiness and goodness into our daily activities, albeit the mundane and the sacred alike, activities that include the words that come from our mouth (verbal and by image both convey messages). Interestingly, regarding the brachot, there is none that we say before we speak. I reached out to a colleague who shared his thoughts on the matter, suggesting words from the daily Amidah (I thought the same) that say, “You (God) favor humans with perception and teach understanding. Grant us knowledge, understanding and intellect from You.” In other words, we have all the intellectual ingredients within us to direct our speech and choose to make it holy, or not, before the words even leave our mouth.
Today, it seems like people often use their words for harm. This will get me in trouble with someone I am sure, but all the posted satire that we see online about political figures or what have you, for Judaism, falls into the category of Lashon hara, a true metzora (affliction) because they create a negative image to damage another. According to teachings of Judaism it is not about whether it is true (lashon hara does not mean a lie), but it is about the intent to do harm. Let's bring this back to Passover. There is a kabbalistic teaching that says that the word Pharaoh (פַּרְעֹ֑ה), can also spell “פה רע” (peh rah), which means “evil mouth.” Pharaoh according to Zohar (III, 205b) is the very illustration of the "the evil tongue", i.e. slander, a gross misuse of the power of speech and the like. Pharaoh treated those who he felt were inferior to him in harmful ways, he did not have compassion on human life in general. His words were meant only for harm and self affirmation. We learn from this that our words must be the opposite.
Therefore we too have the power of speech, speech that we are to use to verbalize our compassion on our enemies who wrong us, even if they don't deserve it (yes hard to do). In fact the Chofetz Chaim, who writes extensively of proper speech, would teach that the lack of verbal compassion is a form of Lashon Hara. We are being asked during our Seders to give thanks for our shared freedoms, and to celebrate our diversity and common humanity. I heard it said that diversity is not about uniformity but harmony. Living in harmony with others is about being okay and tolerant with others who we may not agree with, allowing our speech to be celebratory of our human journeys and not the differences that separate us. Yet the Seder also asks us to have compassion on our enemies, those who seek to harm us, which is why we recite the plagues and the story of the sea out loud. May we never lose our compassion and words of mercy for those who seek to impose barriers on our freedoms. The Pharaoh’s of this world will have their day of reckoning, we can bet on that, yet we must not lose our sense of goodness or compassion on account of them.
Shabbat Shalom and chag pesach sameach,
Rabbi Adam Ruditsky
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