tazria metzora

The posuk says ובשר כי יהיה בו בערו שחין ונרפא if there will be an inflammation on the skin & it will have healed. והיה במקום השחין שאת לבנה או בהרת לבנה אדמדמת and in the place of the inflammation there will be a white or reddish white affliction. ונראה אל הכהן it shall be shown to the Kohen. Why does there have to be a regular wound there first that heals & only then can the Tzarras take effect? Answers רבי משה דוד ואלי, one of the students of the רמח"ל, that 'ה, in his infinite mercy would not initially allow the forces of impurity to come onto a person, so He sends a natural wound as a wake up call to the person. If the person ignores it & says it's natural & doesn't fix his ways, then 'ה allows the forces of impurity to take over & sends a Tzarras affliction in the same spot to show that this is why you got hurt in the first place, now that you ignored it you have full blown Tzarras. However there is still hope & that's why the end of the posuk says ונראה אל הכהן. The Kohen is the one who is there to teach us the ways of 'ה, so when we show it to the Kohen he can tell us what we have to fix in order for it to go away. What about nowadays? Do we have a Kohen we could go to to tell us what we need to fix? How do we know what to rectify when something goes wrong? ר אלכסנדר משה לפידות says that what we could do nowadays is go to the greatest Kohen, the purest tzadik the Chafetz Chaim, & learn his sefarim on how to act when it comes to lashon hara. The Chafetz Chaim writes, it's the way of people to go looking for a segula or going to get a beracha in order to be successful either in health or business etc. In reality, it won't help at all if one isn't careful to stay away from the sin of lashon hara, for the Torah explicitly states ארור מכה רעהו בסתר cursed is the one who hits his friend in secret, which Rashi says is talking about lashon hara. That curse was said with the whole nation gathered around & answering Amen, whereas right before that there was a beracha given to one who doesn't speak lashon hara, which the whole nation also answered Amen to, continues the Chafetz Chaim. If one listens to my words & keeps away from this sin then certainly one will be blessed more than any segula could help. Parenthetically the גר"א זצ"ל says that the main thing to merit the next world is watching ones mouth. This is greater than even Torah & good deeds, and if one wants forgiveness for sins rather than fasting & afflicting oneself, just watch what comes out of your mouth & with that you will be forgiven for all your sins. So it comes out, says the אוצרות התורה, that each & every one of us has the opportunity to have all good in this world & in the next, just as long as we watch our mouths from sinful speech. One who doesn't is compared to someone who's standing at the doorway to paradise & just won't enter as is exemplified by this story. One Purim in Radin one of the boys got drunk & went into the Chafetz Chaim & said I want a guarantee that I will be with the Rav in גן עדן. The Chafetz Chaim said who knows if I'll even have גן עדן? How can I promise you? But the boy was undeterred and for over two hours they went back & forth with neither one relenting. The time for the seuda came & the people that were with the Chafetz Chaim asked him to just give in to the boy being that he wouldn't go away, but the Chafetz Chaim kept repeating who knows if I even have.... As it got later the Chafetz Chaim turned to the boy & said "if I will have גן עדן or not I don't know. However, there is one reason I think I might have & that is that since I can remember I have not spoken or heard lashon hara. If you will guarantee me that from now on you will not speak or listen to lashon hara then I will guarantee you a place next to me in גן עדן ..." When the boy wouldn't commit the Chafetz Chaim turned away and said, one who's standing at the doorway to paradise & just won't enter, take him away from here. The Chafetz Chaim felt that had the boy committed to do it then perhaps he could have, but not to even try..... We could all learn from here to realize that when seemingly natural things happen to us that perhaps aren't good, to at least commit to trying to better ourselves, to be more cognizant of our speech & with a lot of effort we could succeed & will be zoche to all the berachos that come straight from 'ה!