A thought on the end of the Parsha about being Over an Aveira B’heter - Emor 5781

 Another thought on the end of the Parsha. As you know, the end of the Parsha is the Parsha of the 

וַּיִקֹּב בֶׁן-הָאִ שָ ה הַּיִשְ רְ אֵּ לִית ) 24:11 in says it as Hashem Sheim the Nokeiv was who one the of ,Mekaleil

לֵּלַּּקְיַּו ,ם ֵּשַּה-ת ֶׁא(. Moshe Rabbeinu says put him in jail because I don’t know what to do with this 

וַּיְדַּ בֵּר מֹּׁשֶׁ ה, אֶׁ ל-בְ נֵּי יִשְ רָ אֵּ ל, וַּיֹוצִ יאּו אֶׁ ת-הַּמְ קַּּלֵּל ) him tells H”HKB Parsha the of end the at then and man

וְ רָ גְ מּו ) congregation whole the by death to stoned be should he That .)אֶׁ ל-מִ חּוץ לַּמַּ חֲנֶׁה, וַּיִרְ גְ מּו אֹּתֹו אָ בֶׁן

 .(אֹּתֹו, כָל-הָעֵּדָ ה 

In the same Parsha Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu other Mitzvos. He says 24:17 ( -לָכ הֶׁכַּי י ִכ ,שׁי ִא ְו

ּומַּ כֵּה נֶׁפֶׁׁש -בְ הֵּמָ ה, יְׁשַּ ּלְמֶׁ נָה--נֶׁפֶׁׁש, תַּ חַּת ) 24:18 .dies somebody kills who Someone .)נֶׁ פֶׁׁש אָ דָ ם--מֹות, יּומָ ת

שֶׁׁפָנ(. Someone who kills an animal has to pay. Someone who injures a person has to pay. Someone 

who injures an animal has to pay. It goes through the whole Parsha and then ( יֵּנ ְב-ל ֶׁא ,ה ֶׁשֹּׁמ רֵּב ַּדְיַּו

 end whole The .order of out totally is it ,belong t’doesn It .)יִשְ רָ אֵּ ל, וַּיֹוצִ יאּו אֶׁ ת-הַּמְ קַּּלֵּל אֶׁ ל-מִ חּוץ לַּמַּ חֲנֶׁה

of the Parsha doesn’t work. We are in middle of the story of the Mekaleil and then Moshe is told 

to take him out and kill him which starts in Posuk Yud Aleph and then in Posuk Chaf Gimmel they 

took him out and killed him and in between from Yud Zayin to Chaf Beis there are a bunch of 

other Halachos that don’t belong here. Tzorech Biur!

The answer lies in a big Yesod that it says in many places but I saw in the Chofetz Chaim by the 

Parsha of Ir Hanidachas. By the Parsha of the Ir Hanidachas the whole city is put to death. Then it 

 Chofetz the Zagt .you on mercy have will Hashem that) וְ נָתַּ ן-לְָך רַּ חֲמִ ים וְ רִ חַּמְ ָך) 13:18 Devarim in says

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Chaim there is a danger. When Klal Yisrael has to Rachmana Litzlon has to put a city to death it 

makes death much more acceptable to people. It weakens a person’s sense of Rachmanus. ( ךְָל-ן ַּתָנ ְו

ךָ ְמַּח ִר ְו ים ִמֲח ַּר(. Hashem says it is going to damage you. If you are going to put a city to death, you 

have to do it because it is a Chiyuv and a Mitzvah but be careful. It is going to do damage. So 

 Chofetz the in believe I is That .Rachamim you give will I .)וְ נָתַּ ן-לְ ָך רַּ חֲמִ ים וְ רִ חַּמְ ָך) promised Hashem

Chaim Al Hatorah. The same thing here. Hashem told Klal Yisrael take him out and kill him. It is 

a danger, it is going to weaken the feeling of Klal Yisrael towards the horror of killing somebody. 

HKB”H says at the same time tell Klal Yisrael if you kill somebody you are Chayuv Misah, if you 

kill animals there are consequences. Not only kill, if you injure a person there are consequences. 

Not only injure a person, if you injure an animal there are consequences. Warn Klal Yisrael so that 

they should have Chizuk. 

Any time a person is in a situation where a Mitzvah gives him an opportunity that would otherwise 

be an Aveira it is a danger that it is going to weaken the person. For example, if you say Lashon 

Hora L’toeles when there is a situation that you have a Heter to say Lashon Hora, and you say it. 

Be careful, it is going to weaken the wall that you have in front of you, the barrier you have, the 

Siyag you have not to speak Lashon Hora. So be careful. You have to strengthen yourself. If it 

comes to a situation like that you have to strengthen yourself.

If you are in a situation when you are a Rebbi and you have to punish a Talmid, be careful. 

Punishing, it is a terrible thing to inflict hurt on somebody. You have to strengthen yourself 

afterwards, you have to be Mechazeik yourself afterwards because even when you do it B’heter 

you have to be careful. That is the lesson at the end of the Parsha. 

At the end of the Parsha we are told (לֵּלַּּק ְמַּה- ת ֶׁא אֵּוצֹה (and then Posuk 17 – 22 that tells us Moshe 

Rabbeinu you have to kill the Mekaleil and tell Klal Yisrael these Halachos and then that is what 

they did. Then they took him out. The lesson being that the situations where you are allowed to do 

it needs a Chizuk

Anybody who is in Hatzolah will tell you that even when it is a Mitzvah to be Mechaleil Shabbos 

but anybody who is in that situation where it is a Mitzvah and he is Mechaleil Shabbos many times 

needs Chizuk in Kavod Shabbos. It is that way. Even when a person does the Mitzvah you have to 

be Mechazeik yourself. And so two lessons from the end of the Parsha. 

The consequences of speaking Lashon Hora - Emor 5781

Let us start with a thought at the end of the Parsha a few 

 who person A .)וְ אִ יׁש, כִ י-יִתֵּ ן מּום בַּעֲמִ יתֹו--כַּאֲׁשֶׁ ר עָשָ ה, כֵּן יֵּעָשֶׁ ה ּלֹו) 24:19 in says It .end the from Pesukim

ׁשֶׁ בֶׁר, תַּ חַּת ׁשֶׁ בֶׁר, עַּיִן תַּ חַּת עַּיִן, ׁשֵּ ן תַּ חַּת ) him to done be shall so did he as ,friend his on wound a inflicts

 .(ׁשֵּ ן--כַּאֲׁשֶׁ ר יִתֵּ ן מּום בָאָ דָ ם, כֵּן יִנָתֶׁ ן בֹו

In the Talelai Oros he brings that from here a Remez to something that is mentioned in the Chovos 

Halevavos and the Chofetz Chaim brings in the Sefer Shemiras Halashon. Specifically, the Chofetz 

Chaim in Sefer Shemiras Halashon in the Shaar Hazechira, Perek Zayin, brings an incredible thing. 

That when someone talks Lashon Hora about someone else the Mitzvos of the speaker of Lashon 

Hora go to the one who the Lashon Hora is spoken about. So that he gets a windfall of Mitzvos. It 

is a mistake when people say it is “All” the Mitzvos as that is not true. It does not say all the 

Mitzvos, it says the Mitzvos. If you look at the source in the Chovos Halevavos

 ( החסידים כן אחד ואמר

הרבה בני אדם יבואו ליום החשבון וכשמראים להם מעשיהם ימצאו בספר זכיותם זכיות שלא עשו אותם ויאמרו לא 

עשינו אותם ויאמר להם עשה אותם אשר דבר בכם וספר בגנותכם. וכן כשיחסרו מספר זכיות המספרים בגנותם יבקשו 

 .Mitzvos the of some is it that see will you) אותו בעת ההיא ויאמר להם אבדו מכם בעת שדברתם בפלוני ופלוני

Some of the Mitzvos of a person who speaks Lashon Hora go and switch to the recipient and that 

is the person who was hurt by his words. It switches over. 

Somewhere else in Shemiras Halashon the Chofetz Chaim writes that this may be the reason that 

at the end of Elokai Netzor there is a Minhag to say a Posuk that has to do with the person’s name. 

Why say a Posuk that has to do with a person’s name? He says because there is a concept that 

L’asid Lavo on the Yom Hadin people will come to the Yom Hadin with a Behala and they will 

not remember their name. What that means exactly is hard to understand but Balei Kabala write 

such an idea that people will not remember their names. 

Zagt the Chofetz Chaim that on the Yom Hadin on the scales a person will see either Mitzvos that 

he didn’t do that are suddenly on the scale or Mitzvos that he did do but are not there. There will 

be a Behala, there will be a question, am I the right person? Somehow that is related to the idea 

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that a person has to stick his name into into a Mitzvah, into Shemoneh Esrei. Whatever that means, 

the Yesod of the Shemiras Halashon that a person who speaks Lashon Hora Rachmana Litzlon 

 if ,)וְ אִ יׁש, כִ י-יִתֵּ ן מּום בַּעֲמִ יתֹו) .Posuk this in Merumaz is Yesod that ,person other the to Mitzvos loses

 over go ,)כֵּן יֵּעָשֶׁ ה ּלֹו) done have you that Mitzvos the) כַּאֲׁשֶׁ ר עָשָ ה ) ,else someone damaged have you

to the other person. This idea is brought in the Chovos Halevavos in the Shaar Hachani’a (הכניעה(, 

Perek Zayin and this is the idea that is brought down. 

Now of course this idea needs an explanation. You suddenly get a windfall, a bonanza. It is your 

lucky day, someone spoke Lashon Hora about you and you get Zechusim that you don’t deserve. 

It is very difficult to understand the concept. 

In the Michtav Eliyahu he explains it as follows. He says that when Reuven speaks Lashon Hora 

about Shimon, how damaging is it? Well it depends. It depends on how much of a respected person 

Reuven is. If the person speaking the Lashon Hora is a Tzaddik, obviously he is doing something 

that is not Tzidkus now but he is otherwise a righteous person, a Talmid Chochom, a Chashuve 

person, then when he speaks bad about someone else it causes greater damage. If he is less than 

that, then it causes less damage. Zagt the Michtav Eliyahu, to the extent that your Mitzvos do 

damage to the other person that because you did Mitzvos you are respected and does damage to 

the other person, then it is like you are using the Mitzvos to hurt him, so Rachmana Litzlon you 

lose the Mitzvos and it comes to him. In other words, the damage, the hurt that he got is 

compensated by the cause of the damage. However, that works, it is obviously an extraordinary 

type of a punishment for someone who speaks Lashon Hora and hopefully it is something that will 

motivate us to do better.