He shall take the live bird together with cedar wood,
crimson wool and hyssop…. And he shall
set the live bird free upon the open fields. (Leviticus 14:6, 7)
Rav Kook reads Metzorah as Motzi Shem Ra (to create a bad name for someone), a slanderer who defames others by his speech (lashon hara).
Therefore, he is banished from his community to live in
isolation and seclusion in the wild among animals and plants that speak no
evil.
Goldstone should be banished to the Amazon jungle for
defaming Israel with blatant lies as it defends itself against rocket
attacks.
Metzorah follows Shemini (kosher animals) to
teach that what comes out of our mouths can be far more detrimental than what
goes in. (Rabbi Yisrael Salanter)
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch explains that the mighty cedar and hyssop
weed with sheep wool and crimson bug dye symbolize all plant and animal life.
When banishment therapy has succeeded, cedar and hyssop are
bound with a red woolen thread to symbolize rising above amoral nature.
A bird flying free represents the potential to tweet
truthful words that confirm the metzorah's rehabilitation from crowing
hateful lies.
Our grandson Or Alexenberg photographed migrating birds
flying up from Lake Yeroham, a short bike ride from his Negev home.
This week, Or completed his service in Israel Defense Forces
as Metzorah Goldstone acknowledged his malicious slander against the
IDF.
Miriam was born and lived until she was 9 in Suriname (250
times the size of Israel) at the northern edge of the Amazon jungle.
The biodiversity of the Amazon jungle is unmatched. It is home to far more species of flora and
fauna than anyplace else on Planet Earth.
Goldstone would feel at home living with Amazon toucans, the
greatest big-mouth birds in the world.
