Metzora: Stop Slandering G-d!
Metzora: Stop Slandering G-d!

The spiritual afflictions which befall a person, as spelled out in our parsha, "Metzora", and in last week's parsha, come about because of the sin of slander. In fact, our rabbis point out the play on words from the name of our parsha - Metzora - "Motzi shem ra" - defaming someone. Once one has spoken evil speech, it cannot be retracted, like an arrow - once shot in the air, it cannot be withdrawn. So great is the sin of slander that our rabbis have equated it as being equal to all the sins of the Torah.

The spiritual maladies which we find in our parsha, whether they afflict one's house, garment or body, were actually blessings. As soon as a person spoke "evil speech" the punishment would take hold of him, but after he repented he would be cleansed. Today, though, through our many sins this "report card' from G-d no longer exists; in our days, the this form of "spiritual leprosy" takes the shape of diseases and accidents.

It is no wonder that this sin of slander is so severe, for its roots go back to the beginning of time. Already at the time of Creation of the world, believe it or not, the very first conversation contained slander. The infamous snake in the Garden of Eden seduced Eve with the argument that if only she would eat from the forbidden fruit, she, too would be like G-d and would be able to create like He has created. In fact, argued the snake,   G-d Himself partook of the fruit, which enabled Him to create the world. This, of course, was slandering G-d, Who certainly did not eat the fruit, nor did He need to.

The sin of slandering G-d has, unfortunately, not stopped there in Gan Eden, but continued even in the time of the Second Temple era. The Jewish people were given permission by King Cyrus to return to their Land after being in the exile of Babylonia for the past 70 years. Still, the great majority did not heed the call and did not return. The great rabbis of the time, the businessmen, and men of importance all stayed in the golden land of Babylon. Why? Because they all reasoned that this is not the redemption, G-d will not redeem His people through a non-Jewish king. They were all waiting for another King David to come and redeem them. But this was not the way G-d was orchestrating the redemption. They would teach G-d, so to speak, how to redeem His people. They slandered G-d in His ability to redeem the Jewish people.

Unfortunately, slandering G-d countinues to this very day. So many of our brethren countinue to "teach" G-d how to redeem His people. Over the last hundred years G-d has brought about the return of His people to a desolate land, to such a point where almost half of world Jewry today are already living in the Land. All of this has been coming around in a natural way, house after house, stone after stone, until one looks back to see the redemption of the Land. But still, many do not come, many cry out: This is not the way, it could not come about through a decision of the U.N. We are the "waiters" waiting for a sign from heaven. Slandering the Almighty in His way He is redeeming His people.

Slandering, defaming, evil speech is a great sin, but greater yet is the slandering of the ways of G-d Himself. Let us not lie to ourselves any more, for there is nothing worse than living a life of lies and deception. It is time to see the truth: that the G-d of Israel is redeeming His people and bringing them home. We had best be part of it!