Cover Your Ears
Understanding proper speech, according to Jewish tradition, is critical to one’s personal development. Proper speech does not refer to manners or etiquette, but rather to avoiding a broad…
Metzorah,Weekly Message,Tazria
Tazria-Metzora 5778-2018
“Looking at Tzara’at from a Different Perspective” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s double parshiyot, Tazria and Metzora, deal almost exclusively with the issue of the…
Shah! The Evil Eye!
“Oh, what a beautiful baby!” a woman says to another. “Kayn ayin harah,” the mother replies, “There shouldn’t be an evil eye!” What a strange reaction this is! Wouldn’t “thank you” be…
Tazria 5763-2003
"Tzaraat--The Spiritual Dermatological Disease" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This coming week's parasha, parashat Tazria, as well as parashat Metzorah that follows, are among the most…
Metzorah 5776-2016
“G-d Has Pity on the Property of Israel” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Metzorah, opens with a detailed description of the purification ritual for the…
Weekly Message,Metzorah,Tazria
Tazria-Metzorah 5766-2006
"The Torah's Home Security System" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In parashat Metzorah, the second of this week's double parashiot, we learn how the disease tzara'at (sometimes incorrectly…
Metzorah 5774-2014
“The Peddler and Evil Speech” by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week’s parasha, parashat Metzorah, again addresses the Biblical affliction Tzara’at, צָּרַעַת. Parashat Metzorah teaches…
Metzorah,Weekly Message,Tazria
Tazria-Metzorah 5777-2017
“Insights to be Gleaned from the Metzorah, the Person Stricken with the Tzaraat Disease" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald In this week’s double parasha, Tazria-Metzorah, we learn of the…
Oh Evil Tongue
“Come and see how great the power of an evil tongue is! Whence do we know [its power]? From the spies: for if it happens thus to those who bring up an evil report against wood and stones,…
The Cedar and the Hyssop: A Lesson In Humility
One of the most challenging categories of Jewish law is the one associated with lashon harah (which literally means ‘evil speech’ and refers to gossip and slander). What is assumed…