29 Mar LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO TALK
Parashat Tazria – as well as the majority of the following parashah, Parashat Metzora – discuss the laws of tzara’at (leprosy), a skin condition which would befall a person mainly as punishment for sins involving speech.
When the Torah describes the creation of Adam in Parashat Bereshit, it says םייח†תמשנ†≠ויפאב†חפיו† – Hashem blew within Adam “a soul of life.” Targum Onkelos, the famous Aramaic translation of the Torah, explains this to mean that Hashem implanted within the human being אללממ†חור† – “a spirit that speaks.”
What exactly does אללממ†חור† mean, and what does this tell us about the uniqueness of the human being’s speech?
The word “speech” can refer to two vastly different things. One is mindless talking. A three-year-old, for example, will babble nonsense, repeating things he or she has heard, without investing too much thought into what he or she is saying. Many adults, too, speak freely and mindlessly, without paying too much attention to what is coming out of their mouths.
Another type of talking is putting into words a person’s knowledge, experience, thoughts, perceptions, and understanding of things. This is what חור†אללממ† means. As opposed to animals, who just make noise, the human being is to use his faculty of speech to express his “spirit,” to express himself meaningfully.
After a metzora (person stricken with tzara’at) is cured from his condition, he must†undergo†a†special†process†of†purifi cation, which involves two birds. He is shown that he was punished because instead of speaking with his אללממ†חור , he was chirping like a bird. He was just making noise, speaking recklessly, without much thought.
There is a relatively new phenomenon of modern-day “chirping” – people expressing views, opinions and ideas online without really knowing what they’re talking about. In the past, only veteran journalists, who had been researching and covering major news stories for decades, were able to broadcast to audiences. But nowadays, with social media, anybody with a smartphone can say whatever they want and attract an audience. Part of what made the Covid-19 pandemic so confusing for all of us was that everybody was giving their opinion. People were just mindlessly “chirping,” saying what they felt should be done and should not be done. We were receiving “guidance” not only from credentialed experts, but from anyone with an account on a social media platform who decided to weigh in.
The Gemara in Masechet Ta’anit teaches that Torah is compared to water, because†just†as†water†flows†downward¨† to the lowest point it can get to, Torah knowledge is amassed by those who are lowly and humble. The prerequisite to becoming smart is humbly acknowledging that one has much more to learn, so much more knowledge to gain. And thus the Gemara comments in Masechet Berachot that Hashem “gives wisdom only to the wise.” This means that only those smart enough to know how much they do not know can become smart. If we think we are already smart and know enough, then we’ll never become smart…
We must ensure to listen only to those people who know how to really talk, who speak with a אללממ†חור , from knowledge and experience. If we are interested in hearing about a pressing issue in the community, we should be listening to those who have studied and dealt with that issue or similar issues for many years, not to somebody who happened to decide to start talking about it. The faculty†of†speech†is†sacred¨†one†of†the†defin ing characteristics of the divine image with which we were created. Let us use it wisely, and speak meaningfully and constructively. And, let us ensure to pay attention to those who speak meaningfully and constructively, who bring to the table valuable knowledge and experience from which we can learn.