This Shabbat:

Friday Candle Lighting: 7:17 pm
Shabbat Ends: 8:06 pm

Torah Message:

Foggy Spectacles

“When a leprous blemish will be in a person he shall be brought to the kohen” (13:9)

A well-known ba’al mussar (ethics master) once began a shiur thus:

“I was seventeen the first time I learned Orchot Tzadikim. The first two chapters of Orchot Tzadikim deal with the negative aspects of the character trait known as “pride”. I thought to myself, ‘Well, I don’t have that problem. I can skip to chapter three.’ It took me until I was twenty-three to realize what a true ba’al ga’avah (haughty person) I was.”

Truth be told, we are all legends in our own lunchtimes, so to speak. “The world is full of flawed individuals — but I’m not one of them. It’s true I’m not perfect, but there’s really nothing wrong with me.”

And it’s not because we are lying to ourselves. We genuinely believe that we’re okay. It’s just that our eyesight fails when turned inward. Thus, if we really want to know what’s wrong with us we have to trust constructive criticism from those who know and care for us.

“When a leprous blemish will be in a person, he shall be brought to the kohen.”

The verse doesn’t specify what kind of “person” we are referring to here. Meaning, when a leprous blemish will be in a person — even if that person himself is a kohen — it shall be brought to the kohen, for he himself will never see the blemish.

• Source: Talelei Orot