As this is a period of polishing our character and "personal vessel" in preparation for receiving the Torah in a few weeks, I thought I would share this brief food for thought...from Parsha Metzora.
Did you know the Torah speaks about tweeting??
A person who was on a sophistiated level spiritually and who spoke badly about others could become afflicted with a type of "disease" called "Tzara'ath" which would manifest, innitially on the walls of the gossipers home, then on his or her clothing and finally, if the gossiper is still unrepentant, on the skin.
One of the rituals necessary to get the affected person healed involved an offering that involved two birds, one that would be sacrificed and one that would be let free.
The first thing that I found amazing about this ritual is that two birds are used... to teach us that as dangerous as negative speech is, speech is very important, and often as bad as it can be to speak negatively, it is also bad not to speak up when the right words need to be said! There are times when keeping silent can be a grave error.... just as we need to watch ourselves from speeking badly, we must not neglect speeking up for what we believe in or to defend what we believe in when the sitiuation demands; even offering a comforting word to someone in need might make a critical difference, ...thus the second bird,.....who is set free!
The second point that I found fascinating is brought by the biblical commentator Rashi who explains why specifically birds are used in the rectification ritual..,"Because lesions of Tzara'ath come as a result of derogatory speech, which is done by chattering. Therefore for his cleansing, this person is required to bring birds, which twitter constantly with chirping sounds."
Such a great cautionary tale about using Twitter without due concideration!!
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