Illustration Credit: Rivka Tsinman
Prayer in the Parashah תְּפִלָּה
Perhaps the most famous case of צָרַעַת (tzara’at) is Miriam’s. She gets tzara’at right after she speaks about Moshe and Moshe’s wife behind their backs. Based on this story, tzara’at is often considered a punishment for לָשׁוֹן הָרַע (lashon hara, gossip and slander).
We know that we’re not supposed to use our mouths to say bad things about other people. But what should we use our mouths for?
The Magen Avraham (Poland, 350 years ago) says that there’s a specific spot in daily tefillah when we’re supposed to think about the right way to use speech. This is during the paragraph אַהֲבָה רַבָּה (Ahavah Rabbah), which we say just before שְׁמַע (Shema) during Shaharit.
אִיתָא בַּכַּוָּנוֹת... "לְהוֹדוֹת לְךָ"—הַפֶּה לֹא נִבְרָא רַק לְהוֹדוֹת, וְלֹא לְדַבֵּר לָשׁוֹן הָרַע. וְזֶהוּ זְכִירַת מַעֲשֵׂה מִרְיָם.
In a kabbalistic text, it says that… when we say the phrase “lehodot lekha” (“to thank You”) in Ahavah Rabbah, we should be thinking about how the mouth was created only to give thanks—and not for lashon hara. We’re supposed to remember what happened to Miriam while we say this prayer.
- How might thinking about what happened to Miriam help us be careful about what we say?
- Try it! When you’re saying these words in Ahavah Rabbah, think about some ways to use your mouth for the reason it was created: to give thanks to God. Can you think of some things that you should be more thankful for? What’s it like to say “thank you” for those things?
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