Bring Back Tzara'at!

How do you translate the word tzara'at?

If you're like most people, you probably are thinking leprosy.  Well, tzara'at is not leprosy.  (Although my Chumash with the English translation of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's German translation does translate the word as leprosy. Maybe something was lost in translation)

What is it?  Tzara'at is a spiritual or religious indicator that a person is not speaking properly.  The Torah teaches about a person who finds this strange patch of skin.  They show it to the Kohein.  If it is, indeed, tzara'at, the individual goes into seclusion, a religious "time out," to contemplate their actions.  If the individual successfully addresses the root cause of their transgression, the tzara'at will disappear, and it is back to everyday life - after an appropriate sacrificial atonement.

The Torah actually never states explicitly that speaking lashon ha-ra (negative speech) leads to tzara'at.  It is implied in the story of Miriam speaking ill about Moshe's wife and then be afflicted with tzara'at.  Tradition puts one and one together, and tzara'at and lashon ha-ra are forever linked at the hip.

So, we have a spiritual affliction whose goal is to remind people of the need to speak civilly.  Hmmm…

We need to bring tzara'at back.

Everywhere we turn, we hear loud, divisive, and outrageous statements being made.  There is so much noise.  Whether on the news or social media, more and more often statements are not made to bring people together.  Statements are made to shock or draw in the listener.  That's important for clicks, views, ratings, and advertisements.  With more time on our hands these days, it is easy to pay even more attention to these kinds of comments and as we flip through the channels and scroll through the news feed.

Whatever happened to the idea of: Before you speak ask yourself if what you are going to say is true, is kind, is necessary, is helpful. If the answer is no, maybe what you are about to say should be left unsaid.

Maybe if those who speak without measuring the meaning of their words has to worry about coming down with tzara'at, they would think twice before saying some of the things they say.  (I am sure that they would be more careful if they had to worry about getting leprosy from their statements.)

I understand people have different views.  There is right and left; Democrat and Republican.  But the decibel level and the tone are getting ugly.  There needs to be a better way to speak to each other than to shout and go for shock value.  I understand some of it is politics or for the cameras, but we need to find a way to think before speaking and try to only say what we really mean.  

I think the threat of tzara'at might help, but I am not sure we can count on it.

The Midrash Lekach Tov (Tazria 35b) quotes Rabbi Yochanan saying that we won't find tzara'at today because we no longer have capable judges.  Now, the Midrash doesn't put it this way, but I see it as teaching that, already over a thousand years ago, there was a problem of not having the right people to stop the scourge of incivility.  

Listening to what is said out there today, the problem has only gotten worse.  At the very least, we must tune out and call out those who make false, radical and, dangerous statements.  In a time when there is no tzara'at, the people must speak up.  Let's learn to speak more softly and seek out those voices which do the same.  During these times, we can use a lot more consideration of whether our words meet the standard of:

Is it true; is it necessary; is it kind?