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Parshat Achrei Mot - The Kli Yakar

26/4/2016

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All text in block quotes (like this sentence) is a direct translation of the Kli Yakar's words.
And the Land became defiled and I recalled its transgression upon it and the Land vomited out its inhabitants. (18:25)
כה וַתִּטְמָא הָאָרֶץ וָאֶפְקֹד עֲו‍ֹנָהּ עָלֶיהָ וַתָּקִא הָאָרֶץ אֶת ישְׁבֶיהָ
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The Kli Yakar asks why the seemingly inert land is punished when those residing upon that land sin (just as the pre-Flood land was considered corrupted due to the great corruption of the people of that generation).
 

 

So the Kli Yakar recalls how Hashem originally commanded the earth to produce fruit trees in which both the fruit and the tree would taste the same via an element that was "pure and fine." Instead, the land put forth an element that was "dense and coarse," causing the fruit trees to be as they are today (which are pretty nice, but they could have been even better).

And this is what caused the taste of the tree to be unlike the taste of the fruit because there was a coarse and foul component, which also instilled Man with a yearning for the most nonspiritual desires.

And if this component had been pure and clean, he would never come to sin.

Therefore, the earth was not cursed until the sin of Adam because that's when the damage was most substantial.

​But with the fruit trees, the damage was not so great.

Then the Kli Yakar brings a Ramban from Beresheit 2:9, which states that the fruit from the Eitz Hadaat (Tree of Knowledge) produced the craving for physical intimacy as a purely unspiritual act.
....Therefore, we find that in every place where the sin of illicit behavior [gilui areiyot] is found, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu recalls the sin of the land because that was what influenced Adam Harishon, who sinned with the Eitz Hadaat, which in turn instilled within him a great inclination toward illicit behaviors....

The Kli Yakar gives more proofs for this idea, then quotes Devarim 29:21-22:
"....upon seeing the plagues of the Land and the diseases with which Hashem struck it."
"Sulfur and salt have burned all the Land...."

He explains:
Because with boiling heat it was corrupted and with boiling heat, it will be judged by fire in all the land

The word translated in the above verse as "struck" is chilah [חִלָּה], which is the same root as the word for "sick" or "to become sick": chalah [חלה].
​
According to the Kli Yakar's conclusion below, the predicted vomiting out is neither metaphorical nor miraculous, but a natural process, a sort of spiritual physics, that must happen whenever illicit behavior reaches a certain point.
And when it says, "and the diseases with which Hashem struck it," it is using an example of how every sick person's way is to vomit out that which is in his innards.

​Likewise, it says here, too, in this section on illicit behaviors "and the Land vomited out its inhabitants" because it is like the sick person who vomits out the food within him.

And regarding that, it says, "And the Land became defiled and I recalled its sin upon it."
 
And this is a precious lesson.

It bears noting that once again, the Kli Yakar is finding a merit for us.

When people give into their baser selves, it's not because they are innately bad at their basic core, but because of the fruit which we have no other choice but to eat (because all fruit trees ended up being produced from this baser component).

However, there is still a natural point at which illicit activities can no longer continue.
 
May we all merit to always actualize the best parts of ourselves.
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Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
Although I did borrow a couple of terms here and there from Rabbi Elihu Levine's translation, this is primarily my own translation and any errors are also mine.
 
 

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Winning the Battles against Ourselves & the Stars: The Kli Yakar on Pesach

20/4/2016

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And it shall be when your son will ask you tomorrow, "What is this?"....
(Shemot 13:14)
וְהָיָה כִּי יִשְׁאָלְךָ בִנְךָ מָחָר לֵאמֹר מַה זֹּאת
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Throughout Pesach, we read from Parshat Bo.
So the Kli Yakar uses that parsha to provide illuminating insights into Bnei Yisrael's first Pesach, the parable of the Four Sons, and what it all means for us and how we can apply these lessons to our own lives. 

(The Kli Yakar's insight into the Son Who Does Not Know to Ask appears here.)

The Universal Lesson of the Wise Son ​

Regarding the Wise Son, the Hagadah says the following:
What does the wise son say?
​
"What are the testimonials, statutes and laws Hashem our God commanded you?"
You should tell him about the laws of Pesach, that one may eat no dessert after eating the Pesach offering. 
The Kli Yakar notes that the questions and answers of the Wise Son are mentioned in the Torah itself:
And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, "Because of this, the Lord did [this] for me when I went out of Egypt." (Shemot 13:8)

If your son asks you tomorrow to come, saying, "What are the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the Lord our God has commanded you?" (Devarim 6:20)

​You shall say to your son, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand. (Devarim 6:21)
The Kli Yakar sees the order of the answer as a universal lesson on how to attain spiritual perfection:
....the Wise [Son] shall learn the order of the acquirement of perfection. And this is the order:

[1] From the beginning, a person must bring his physical essence into the crucible of affliction [kur ha'oni] to refine and purify it from its "rust."
[This is symbolized by the bitter herb/maror--MR].

[2] And through this, he will come to submission before his Creator.
[This is symbolized by the matzah, as we'll see below.--MR]

[3] And through this submission, he will come to a recognition of Hashem's Existence.
[This is symbolized by the Pesach Offering, which is symbolized today by the afikomen.--MR]

​For Hashem's bringing Yisrael into the crucible of affliction of Egypt was in order to scour their physical essence to bring them to submission, and from within that state, they ended up coming to the recognition of Hashem's Existence.

​And the first two are like laying the groundwork to come to the third idea, which leads to knowledge of His Existence because this is the most desirable and the direct purpose above all others: to bring them to emuna in the Blessed One.
Along these lines, why is it so important that the Pesach Offering be the last thing one eats on the Seder night? Why is it so crucial that the taste of the Pesach Offering linger in one's mouth, and not the bitter herb or the matzah?
The Pesach Offering is the primary objective and the desired final purpose, elicited by the eating of the matzah and the bitter herb: That is to say, the Pesach Offering signifies emuna in Hashem Yitbarach.
We'll see exactly why in the following section.

The Pesach Offering vs. The Entire Zodiac

The Kli Yakar explains the tremendous power behind the Pesach Offering:
The Pesach Offering [Zevichat HaPesach, AKA "the Pascal Lamb," AKA "haPesach"] bears witness that Hashem's Testimony is Faithful in that Hashem Yitbarach rules over the astrological system, even over the sign of Aries [the Ram], which is the first-born and leader of all the Zodiac [according to the opinion that Nissan, whose sign is Aries, is actually the first month of the Jewish year] and certainly over the rest of the Zodiac.

For the mitzvah of the Pesach offering is as Rashi interprets the verse (Shemot 12:3) "And I shall pass over you [ וּפָסַחְתִּי עֲלֵכֶם ]" as: "I shall be compassionate."

He means to say that now you will go out from the authority of the Zodiac, whose functions are compelled and innate, and doesn't have within them the power to carry out any function that derives from compassion [chemlah], mercy [chaninah], and charitableness [tzedakah].

And you shall enter under the Wings of the Shechinah.....through this, we will go out from under the hand of the astrological system and we will stand before Hashem Elokim to enter into the shade of His Wings.

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ARIES by Till Credner @www.allthesky.com
Just like in the other parts of Parshat Bo, we see once again that our deeds and inner spiritual work influence the stars, and not the other way around. Once we whole-heartedly choose to enter under God's Protection and realize that He rules over all and that there is no force greater than Him, we truly have nothing to fear.
 
It feels counter-intuitive to most people, but in actuality, submitting to Hashem is the most liberating and powerful thing a person can do.

The Symbolism of Matzah and Chametz ​

As is well-known, matzah represents humility. The pre-Pesach drive to annihilate, throw out, and nullify all chametz (leavening and leavened products) represents the goal of doing the same to our Yetzer Hara, and especially to any unearned sense of superiority and haughty pride. Chametz makes the otherwise flat dough rise just as haughtiness makes us rise in our own estimation.
....the dough of the matzah is "limited;" it does not rise.

​Similarly, matzah is a sign of freedom because in the merit of our submission to Hashem, our fathers were redeemed from Egypt, as it is written (Devarim 7:7), "Not because of your being greater than all the nations did Hashem desire you, but because you were the smallest."
And here's what the Kli Yakar has to say about chametz:
Chametz is sentenced to burning because anyone who is haughty is judged by fire as seen in the Yalkut (Tzav 480) regarding the verse: "The Olah [Burnt Offering] that burns...." (VaYikrah 6:2) because the nature of fire is to rise upward. Likewise, one who rises upward [i.e., become haughty or prideful] is judged by it.
May we all merit to be truly liberated this Pesach.
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Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
Although I did borrow a couple of terms here and there from Rabbi Elihu Levine's translation, this is primarily my own translation and any errors are also mine.
 

For a wonderful rendering of the Kli Yakar into English on Parshat Bo, including helpful footnotes, please see Rabbi Elihu Levine's translation.  
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Part II: The Happy Cure for Blabbermouthed Fault-Finders (AKA, The Kli Yakar on Parshat Metzorah)

14/4/2016

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Return to Part I
 
Ultimately, the Kli Yakar — being the emuna-filled tzaddik that he is — gives us final hope.

Despite his earlier statements, he believes that rectification can be achieved — through a great deal of Torah learning.

​The Kli Yakar emphasizes that not only will learning Torah help spiritually, but practically speaking, one cannot do two things at the same time. If one is learning Torah, one cannot be slandering others.

Yet what about someone who is an am ha’aretz?

Based on Tehillim 34:19 (“Hashem is close to the broken-hearted…”) and Mishlei 15:4 (“…but if there is corruption in it and a break in the spirit”), the Kli Yakar insists that the am ha’aretz can be cured through a broken spirit [shever ruach].

(Needless to say, in order to achieve this, one must do the opposite of finding fault in others; one must seek out all the positive attributes and recognize Hashem’s goodness in everything.)

Metzudat David defines a nishbar lev [broken-hearted] as one who submits himself and returns from his [bad] deeds.

 [The Talmud] wants to say that one doesn't need medications and that teshuvah holds great power.

​Nevertheless, one needs to guard his tongue via Torah learning, in the case of a learned person [a chacham].

​But regarding an am ha'aretz, it said later, "Hashem is close to all the broken-hearted" and likewise in Mishlei 15:4: "....but if there is corruption in it and a break in the spirit." 

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The Kli Yakar delves into a well-known midrash of a peddler who traveled throughout Tzipori and its environs, proclaiming, "Who wants to buy the elixir of life?"

But only Rabbi Yannai was interested.

The word used in the midrash is rochel [רוכל], which is the same word the Torah uses to mean "slanderer" 
— which is basically a peddler of slander.

The Kli Yakar uses both interpretations in his commentary to show that really one can rectify his sins of focusing on people's faults and then relating these faults and defects to others.

But the peddler opined that there is a rectification even for one who has already related [lashon hara] and he knew this from his own experience because he also was a slanderer who went about slandering and his tongue was habituated to casting strife between brothers.

Yet later, he gave his heart to do teshuvah and requested the ways of healing mentioned by our Sages: Torah learning for a talmid chacham and via shever ruach [a broken spirit] for an am ha'aretz.

And he saw that these "medications" benefited him.

Therefore, his heart filled with the desire to bring merit to the masses and to bring teshuvah to all the very towns in which he knew there were baalei lashon until days of evil containing tzaraat would be prevented from coming upon them....and he declared, "Who wants to buy the elixir of life?"

For they were like sick people who need medications for a cure, which needs to be purchased.

So he mentioned the need to purchase the medication and this is the reason a proclamation alone is not enough: One might say, "I will go and sink into sleep, etc." [Because if he's sleeping, he will be unable to sin further.]

For where is it taught that one who is already sick will be cured by doing teshuvah and not sinning further?
 
.....And here is a ground-breaking idea [chiddush]: Torah learning benefits even he who has already related [lashon hara].....

....Everyone pressed around him [the peddler] because they'd already chosen for themselves the rotten path and their tongues were used to speaking lashon hara; therefore, they didn't ask to buy anything from him.

​On the contrary, they harassed him; "they looked behind him" because they were baalei raatan who look after the defects of many souls and their faults because this is the way of those who despise rebuke: They gaze behind those who rebuke them to see if they can find within them some kind of disqualifying speck in order to reply, "Take the board from between your eyes, etc." [i.e. "Look at your own faults!"]

And so they said to him, "Yesterday, you were a slanderer who went about slandering and today you want to fix our path? Adorn yourself first!"

Yet the former slanderer DID "adorn himself first" [i.e. clean up his own backyard, so to speak].

He realized the error of his ways and risked humiliation by going around to the same people who knew him in his former days and tried to persuade them to acquire the very "medicine" which helped him.

​He no longer slandered others, yet the people of these towns could not accept that he had changed.
 
His message was one of hope: "If I could change and have my teshuvah accepted, then you can, too!"
 
But the baalei ra'atan could not hear his message.
The truth is certainly with the words of the peddler, that this verse speaks of the groups that already spread lashon hara and it's difficult for them to leave the habit.

And sometimes they won't ask to buy the medicine—just like what happened to the merchant: they didn't ask to buy anything from him.

And nonetheless, the proclaimer is obligated to inform them of this path of mussar, even if they don't seek it from him.

​And so the verse rejected the words of the "customers" to tell you that even if it may be a generation of corruption [dor hatahafuchot] that will not ask to buy anything from the Healer and will not seek Him, nevertheless, one should seek them to teach them the way of peace, like it says (Tehillim 34:15): "Request peace and pursue it...."
 
....And regarding that which says, "Who is the one who desires life, who loves days to see good?" because these same baalei raatan love the days in which they see the bad that they find in others in order that they have a place to malign him and tell of [his faults].

But the one who desires life shuts his eyes from seeing the bad and loves the days in which he can see the good in others....
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So the Kli Yakar states once again that learning Torah and shever ruach can transform us. And then he concludes with:
And I went out of my usual bounds to go on a little bit at length about this....because I have seen that this generation is very, very unbridled [parutz] in the sin of the tongue and tzaraat is chronic because also the Egyptian Exile was because of slanderers.

And they were redeemed in the merit of four things, one of which was that there was no lashon hara among them, etc.

​And in the Second Beit Hamikdash, they turned back to that which they'd originally turned from.

And still today in this Galut [Exile], the sin of the tongue has begun to increase and grow beyond cure.

​Therefore, I saw fit to speak a bit with such spiritual arousal [hitorerut] to say that perhaps the blind ones in the camp of the Jewish transgressors will hear and give their hearts to repair this breach.
 
And I gave this sermon in the holy community of Lublin, Parshat Zechor 5362 [1602] at a gathering of the leaders of our nation and the Sages of all the communities and there was additional discussion of various aspects.

So putting this all together, how should we relate to ourselves and to others regarding sins of the tongue?

  • Refraining from lashon hara is not enough; we must also actively seek out the positive attributes in others
 
  • While spending time with those who seek out the bad in others and spreading this information around is both harmful and useless, we still have an obligation to alert those same people to the need for and the efficacy of doing teshuvah (However, the peddler did not spend more time than necessary with the baalei raatan.)
 
  • Learning Torah and humbling oneself [shever ruach] can rectify even this severe sin.
 
  • Mishlei and Tehillim are particularly helpful (not quoted directly in this post, but is found in the original commentary on the parsha).
 
  • As destructive and irredeemable as being a blabbering fault-finder is, our Sages apparently consider it an illness, with the Kli Yakar even acknowledging that such people just find it "difficult" to "leave the habit," and it is ultimately curable.
 
  • Training ourselves to actually enjoy seeing positive attributes rather than enjoy pouncing on negative attributes is the key to effecting a cure.
​
  • Pray for that person—in Parshat Ki Tisa, the Kli Yakar emphasizes a sinner's sweet potential and the need to fast and pray for our fellow sinners

How to Really Help Difficult People

Due to the strong wave of secularism and materialism engulfing Western culture, we often either disregard or remain cynical regarding the power of speaking on someone's behalf to Hashem.

When we speak at length regarding a difficult person, especially a person who has hurt us, and ask Hashem to forgive that person and to help that person do teshuvah and to fulfill their unexpressed potential, we are showing that person more love and helping him or her eons more than we are when we are directly interacting with them.
 
For example, even with a manipulative and devious person, it is easy to see how they could flip their deviousness to help people rather than hurt them.

​Verbalizing this positive aspect of their behavior to Hashem can effect very real change for both you and that person.


People who have done this discovered that, say, 20 minutes of pleading for that person to Hashem produced a positive result that hours of listening and "understanding" and "helping" never did.

​For more ideas on fulfilling the Torah's obligations for unity and teshuvah while dealing with problematic people (including myself), you can check out the following articles:
Time for a Paradigm Shift by Hava haAharona
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Return to Part I
 
Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
This is my own translation and any errors are also mine.
 
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Part I: Dealing with Blabbering Fault-Finders (or, The Kli Yakar on Parshat Metzorah)

14/4/2016

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וְלָקַח לַמִּטַּהֵר שְׁתֵּי צִפֳּרִים 
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"....and the person to be purified shall take two birds...." (14:4)

Note: The Kli Yakar's exposition on this verse alone is so long and poetically complex that I can't do it justice and there is a lot left out of this two-part post. If at all possible, you are warmly encouraged to learn it in the original.

One of the things that spurred me to read original Jewish sources (which also meant struggling through reading them in their original Hebrew) was noticing how much cultural mores entered into so many modern English-language Torah books and classes—even as so many of them are so inspiring and beneficial at the same time.

Furthermore, each generation has its own blind spots and idiosyncrasies.

And this doesn’t even begin to cover the personal blind spots and idiosyncrasies of the individual speaker or writer—flaws we all have.

Just to be clear, I never encountered an intentional mixing of Torah and cultural or generational or personal idiosyncrasies.

​I always had the impression that people who mix things up genuinely intend to help and feel that the method or idea they're promoting is of very real benefit. People genuinely don’t realize that they’re doing this and frankly, I don’t think it can be completely avoided.


(Which is why I strongly encourage people to read classical Jewish sources on their own as much as they are able.)


Anyway, a sizable chunk of the today's frum world strongly promotes the idea of maintaining some kind of direct connection with everyone, even the most difficult people.

​This is encouraged under the noble intention of loving our fellows and so forth.

When "Love" Hurts​

By innocently borrowing methods from the surrounding secular world, we are encouraged in a variety of either assertive or blasé responses like:

  • white-washing truly problematic behavior
 
  • responding from an unrealistically high level (like completely rising above the harmful behavior directed at us—after all, "it’s his problem not yours!"—and remaining totally unaffected by it, both physically and emotionally) even if we are just regular Joes (or Josephines) and even if we are terribly tired, overworked, sick, etc.
​(Many people who cannot maintain this level of "saintliness" end up artificially maintaining it through psychotropic medication.)

  • “working things out” with people who have no desire (or even awareness of the need) to change...or who are so blocked by toxic shame, they cannot even admit they might be wrong in any meaningful way (beyond acknowledging "nobody's perfect, so...oh, well...").
 
  • responding assertively (with "I" statements, etc.), but not aggressively ("You twit!")—excellent advice in some situations, but definitely not a one-size-fits-all method.  
 
  • writing a nice letter that tactfully expresses your hurt & confused feelings while offering them the benefit of the doubt
​
  • showering them with "love" by listening without talking except for short and agreeable responses, unreserved giving, constant capitulation (after all, they can't help it, so YOU need to be the "mature" one!), etc.

And while the above responses can prove very beneficial when dealing with a basically good-yet-flawed person, they do nothing to curb consistently & intensely problematic behavior.

In fact, utilizing these methods with a consistently problematic person often induces the other person to either make fun of you or become very angry with you.
 
Either way, things get worse—despite all the confidently proffered above advice.
 
And just like Rav Eliezer Papo predicts below in his 1824 masterpiece, Pele Yoetz, I saw very good people who knew better eventually start to manifest the same behaviors they found so hurtful.

So what happened to all that lovely patience and understanding they’d invested toward the problematic person?
 
Yet under the impression that this is an obligation and a mitzvah, many good and sincere people still strive to interact with these compulsively difficult people, despite the emotional toll and the negative personality changes these interactions eventually induce.
 
Then I found out (with some halachic exceptions) that this attitude is all a big misunderstanding.

What Judaism REALLY Says about Dealing with Difficult People

I discovered that the Sages’ words directly opposed what I was learning in modern-day books and classes.

For example, Orchot Tzaddikim's Gate of Love, says [emphasis mine]:
“And so, a friend who takes from you his need and who harms you a great harm for the sake of a small enjoyment — hurry and turn from him.”
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In the chapter on Friendship, The Pele Yoetz quotes Gemara Yevamot 63a (emphasis mine):
“Go up a [spiritual] level and choose an eminent person [to emulate]"….Yet one must choose good friends who are amenable to each other in halacha and willing to admit the truth.

This is not so when they aren’t good; they ‘gore’ each other with words of provocation, and great is the accusation and hatred and competition.

​In situations such as these, their absence is good.” 

The Pele Yoetz goes on to explain that it is impossible to avoid being influenced by a bad friend and that one will eventually come to imitate his actions—“if not voluntarily, then out of deference or shame.”

Furthermore, in the very first chapter of Tehillim, David Hamelech exhorts us not to associate with 3 different types of problematic people as (defined by the Malbim):
​
  • Rasha—Sins intentionally against both Man and God
  • Choteh—An accidental sinner, one who is pulled by his desires
  • Letz—Not proactive either way, doesn’t do any evil, but doesn’t do any good, either. Just pursues wind and nothingness and frivolousness and jokes; doesn’t involve himself with Torah (others define letz as a mocker)

According to our Sages, the exception seems to be when we could influence such people to fulfill their true potential and improve their character and behavior—then yes, it’s okay to associate with them...with that particular goal in mind.

But regardless of whether we can influence others for the better or not, these same Sages also exhort us to be forgiving, patient, and forbearing when do find ourselves in difficult situations.

They constantly remind us that everything is from Hashem and that any person we meet is merely an agent of Hashem, whether for better or for worse.

When we do need to interact with difficult people, we need to be careful not to respond abusively to an abusive person and also not to shame people.
 
But at the same time, our Sages are clear across the board that we should avoid people who consistently behave dysfunctionally, as defined by the Sages themselves.
 
Yes, if we end up dealing with them involuntarily, then we should behave as well as we can.

But otherwise, we really aren't supposed to spend time with them.

Yet I thought that perhaps I was misunderstanding something.

​With so many well-meaning frum classes and books saying one thing, perhaps I was misunderstanding the classical texts?
 
Then I read a shocking Kli Yakar.

I'm Supposed to Do WHAT?

As we’ve seen, the Kli Yakar's commentary on the Torah focuses on love and seeing the good and beautiful in everything and in everybody.

Teshuvah is always possible, even for the most unforgivable sins.

In the Kli Yakar Universe, the cup is not only half-full, but it is made of glistening crystal and filled with sparkling water fresh from pure mountain springs—so to speak.

Sure, he writes strongly against those who speak 
lashon hara and also against dayanim who lack integrity.

​But he’s still got something good to say about everyone, 
even Achashverosh.

So imagine my shock when in Parshat Metzorah, I read his commentary on Shemot 33:8: "And they looked behind Moshe."
Meaning, people looked behind Moshe to see what faults he was hiding.
The Kli Yakar explains that was the source of the disease ra’atan [ראתן], which comes from the root ra'ah [ראה]—“see” or "look."

He says:
Because they are baalei ra'atan, who look and seek out the blemishes of human beings, thus they are struck with a kind of tzara’at called ra'atan.

​And they [the Sages] said, "Beware of them, not to associate with them to return them from their bad path to show them the path of teshuvah...."

What?

Is the Kli Yakar really saying that we cannot have any contact with fault-finders, not even to help them to teshuvah?

Why doesn’t he make this point with, say, thieves?

Or what about his whole commentary about the Three Terrible Sins committed by the Jews with the Erev Rav and how this shows us that we can always do teshuvah, no matter what?

​Are fault-finders really so irredeemable?

He continues:
....because of the opinion that one who has told about [others' blemishes] has no takanah [rectification]; therefore, there is no associating with them freely.

Okay, so it's not just fault-finders, but fault-finders who blab.

​They have no takanah?

I mean, he never said this about murderers, adulterers, thieves, occult-worshipers, or wearers of shaatnez.

Where is he getting this from?

The Gemara, apparently.

[Note: Needless to say, I’m not qualified to study Gemara. So I am only going to quote the Kli Yakar, which my husband helped me with. I don’t know how the mefarshim or anyone else interprets these passages.]

While the Kli Yakar considers fault-finding alone as a very bad trait, the people who then go around actually telling others about these faults (whether real or imagined) they supposedly pinpointed—these blabber-mouthed fault-finders are the really, truly problematic people...the true baalei ra'atan.
 
According to the Gemara, ra'atan consists of a tola’at on one’s brain. A tola’at can be translated as a worm or a bug.

Yes, that's right. Blabber-mouthed fault-finders suffer from a brain parasite.

​No joke.
 

Protecting Oneself from Ra'atan

​Ketubot 77b goes into a very interesting description of how to surgically remove the offending creepy-crawly from the affected brain, with the understanding that this isn’t a realistic option for most. (Especially when it was first written 2000 years ago.)

Surprisingly, the Sages considered this parasite airborne and highly contagious.  
​

As the Kli Yakar states:
And this is the opinion of Rebbi Zera and Rebbi Ami and Rebbi Assi who distanced themselves above and beyond with all kinds of segregation as described there [Ketubot 77].

For example:
  • Rebbi Zera never sat with a baal ra'atan in the same air current.
  • Rebbi Eliezer never entered a baal ra’atan’s tent.
  • Rebbi Ami and Rebbi Assi would not eat eggs that came from such a person’s alley.
 
Further along, the Kli Yakar explains how Rav Alexandri considers fault-finders curable [Avodah Zara 19], but only as long as they have not blabbed about the faults they supposedly found—meaning, only as long as they have not engaged in slander.
 
The Kli Yakar also exposes a blabber-mouthed fault-finder's hypocrisy, particularly when blabbing about the supposed faults of a wise and honorable person.
And this fool who casts suspicion on kosher people knows within himself that this same flaw and blemish that he presumes of his fellow also exists within him and that he, too, lacks the same thing.

Therefore, it says to everyone that he is a fool who projects on to others the same foolishness that he knows he actually possesses.

​And he initially concludes that because he does something, then everyone else does it, too. 

But despite ra’atan’s level of contagion and near incurability, Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi dared to attach himself to baalei ra'atan and learned Torah with them.

In the merit of learning Torah, he did not become infected with ra’atan.

But the Kli Yakar emphasizes that only Torah learning and only specifically being a talmid chacham can enable one to sit among baalei ra’atan without being harmed.

The Kli Yakar also has the following to say about slanderous fault-finders (don’t read it while eating) from Ketubot 77b:  
Rebbi Yochanan declared, “Beware of the flies from those afflicted with ra’atan!”

And it is a type of tzaraat.

And it explains there that Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi attached himself to them and studied Torah, etc.

And it is difficult to understand why Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi saw fit to rely freely on a miracle.

And it seems to imply that the flies symbolize habitual speakers of lashon hara [baalei lashon hara], who behave as flies in that they rest on every pure place of the body and when they find some putrid place or a fresh wound, they crouch there over that place of abscess.

Likewise, if habitual speakers of lashon hara see any person full of wisdom and glory, they will never relate his positive attributes.

​Instead, they look after the blemishes of a person because there is no person on earth who is so tzaddik that he has not sinned in some minor folly.
Picture
Interestingly, the Kli Yakar does not deny the truth of a tzaddik’s defects or faults. He apparently considers it irrelevant, seeing as nobody can ever be perfect.

(This is in stark contrast to the black-or-white attitude common today, in which many people feel that a great rabbi is either a fair target for copious slander OR a perfect human being who possesses no faults.)

The Kli Yakar then surmises that the seemingly airborne contagion actually symbolizes the lie-filled arrows shot far and wide by a slippery tongue.

Ra'atan: The Key Points

  • While seeking out the faults and blemishes in others is very bad, the actual telling over of these flaws to others provides the seal of doom.

  • Ra’atan afflicts either those who seek out the faults and blemishes of others AND tells of them to others, OR it afflicts those who come within proximity of baalei ra’atan.
 
  • Ra’atan is highly contagious—and seemingly airborne.
 
  • The only inoculation against ra’atan is to be a talmid chacham learning Torah at the moment of association with baalei ra’atan—but even phenomenal Sages like Rebbis Zera, Ami, Assi, and Eliezer didn’t risk it.
 
  • It seems that ra’atan is more of a mental illness (or a soul-illness) than a physical illness, although it possesses aspects of both.
 
  • It is not possible for regular people to help those infected with ra’atan do teshuvah. (Although we’ll see in Part II that you still have an obligation to inform them of the need and efficacy of doing teshuvah—from a distance.)
 
  • Ra’atan is pretty much incurable—unless you are either a tremendous sage or a brain surgeon. 
​
  • Yet you can cure yourself! (We’ll see how in Part II…) 

The Traits of People to Avoid

Putting it all together (the Kli Yakar, the Pele Yoetz, David Hamelech, Orchot Tzaddikim), you should avoid such people (unless you clearly have a good chance of helping them do teshuvah or are a tremendous talmid chacham or a brain surgeon) who consistently display the following behaviors:
​
  • fault-finding
  • blabbing about others' faults and blemishes (AKA slander)
  • attacking ("goring") each other
  • provocations
  • hate
  • accusations
  • competition
  • causing great harm just to bring themselves minor benefit or enjoyment
  • intentional sinning
  • meaningless pastimes and conversation
  • people who can't control themselves

While any of us can exhibit the above behaviors at times, it's good to avoid people who exhibit these behaviors on a regular basis.

​(Part II will discuss how to have a positive relationship with such people without actually hanging out with them.)

Positive Actions Conducive to Spiritual Growth Regarding Others

To protect ourselves, our Sages advise us the following:
​
  • Avoid problematic people as described above; for unless you are on an extremely high spiritual level, associating with such problematic people will cause you to become like them.
 
  • Associate with people on a higher level than yourself.
​
  • If there aren't spiritually evolved people around, then become your own best friend (or, in the words of the Pele Yoetz: “…he must be a friend unto himself…”) and associate with Hashem. 

Associate with the following types of people:
(Nobody is perfect, but desirable people strive for the following....)
  • Truth-seekers
  • Honest people
  • People who care about what halacha says
  • People who seek out the good in others

​(You can find more about the traits of desirable friends in the chapter on Friendship in Pele Yoetz and Gate of Love in Orchot Tzaddikim.

Don't Despair!

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Now, to be completely forthright, reading about ra'atan and all the rest possibly causes most of us a twinge of uncomfortable recognition.

I mean, what should we do—avoid associating with ourselves?

How many of us truly never relished a juicy piece of gossip—particularly about someone we really resented? How many of us have never, ever slandered someone?

Haven’t most of us—at least once—sought out someone’s faults and then related those faults to others, feeling perfectly justified all the while? Or smug? Or maybe not even giving it a second thought?

And here, we’ve just learned that such people are practically irredeemable.

Except that they’re not.

For hope, teshuvah, rectification, and a cure, please see Part II!

Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
This is my own translation and any errors are also mine.
 
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The Kli Yakar - Parshat Tazria

6/4/2016

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Note: All text in block quotes (like this sentence, for example) are the Kli Yakar's actual words in translation. Words in block parentheses [like this!] are my additions for clarity or to provide the original Hebrew term used by the Kli Yakar.
 אָדָם כִּי יִהְיֶה בְעוֹר בְּשָׂרוֹ שְׂאֵת אוֹ סַפַּחַת אוֹ בַהֶרֶת וְהָיָה בְעוֹר בְּשָׂרוֹ לְנֶגַע צָרָעַת וְהוּבָא אֶל אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן אוֹ אֶל אַחַד מִבָּנָיו הַכֹּהֲנִים

"If a man has a se'et, a sapachat, or a baheret on the skin of his flesh, and it forms a lesion of tzara'at on the skin of his flesh, and he shall be brought to Aaron the Kohen, or to one of his sons, the kohanim." (13:2)
 
The Kli Yakar states that this parsha hints at three things:
  1. Lashon hara (forbidden speech)
  2. Haughtiness (which he terms gasut haruach)
  3. Envy (which he terms tzarut ayin)

He then explains that haughtiness and envy come from the same place, and both lead to coveting money and outright stealing.
​
According to the Kli Yakar, these three traits are actually hinted at by the very names of the different types of tzara'at:


Se'et
Se'et (שאת) is from the same root as mitnaseh (מתנשא): lase'et (לשאת)
Se'et always means gavoah [high, above, tall] and this kind of tzara'at comes because of haughtiness, which "towers [mitnaseh] over every head"....
Sapachat
Sapachat always means "externally attached" [tefelah] and it comes because of coveting the acquirement of money, which attaches to a person from the outside. And it isn't internalized within a person at all like the rest of the character traits.

And thus writes the Rambam in Shemoneh Prakim L'Rambam, that all the assets--
like wisdom, strength, and virtuous traits--all of them become internalized by the person and adheres within him except for wealth, because that is attached to a person from the outside and does not adhere to him at all....
Baheret
Baheret means "white spots."  And this kind comes because of one who speaks lashon hara and whitens the face of his friend [by causing "the blood to drain from his face" in shame]. And this causes white spots....

And a person with any of these forms of tzara'at are then brought to a kohen.
 
Why is a kohen the perfect agent to heal tzara'at?

 The Kli Yakar explains:

Anyone who is from the seed of Aharon possesses within himself three good traits that are the opposite of those [the above-mentioned]:
 
1) Because the sin of the tongue causes strife and every plague, and will divide brothers, therefore, Aharon shall come—who held the trait of peace—and shall heal it—because he loved peace and pursued peace.
 
2) And likewise, the sin of haughtiness is worthy to be rectified through him [Aharon Hakohen] because he was the most humble as is written in Cholin 89a....

3) And likewise, the sin of coveting money was also not within Aharon because the kohanim did not have a portion and an inheritance in the Land, and they did not have more than they merited from the High Table [Shulchan Gavoah, i.e., the Mizbe'ach]. And so they were complete regarding the trait of being satisfied with whatever one has [histapkut] and they possessed no envy because their entire inner goal was to gather and to bring together.
 
Therefore, it is only fitting that these three types of tzara'at could not be purified by means of anyone but a kohen.


Picture
Needless to say, the more one maintains a state of emuna—the knowledge that literally everything is from Hashem and that everything one has right now is exactly what one needs and is for his or her best (whether it's material possessions or one's personal strengths and weaknesses)—the less that person will have any basic desire to denigrate someone else, feel superior to anyone else, or to covet anything anyone else has.
 
(For a powerful example of Aharon Hakohen as this ideal, please see the second section within Parshat Shemini.)

Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
This is my own translation and any errors are also mine.
 
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