vort from the Rebbe on this week's parsha, Parshas Metzora. We know that even though usually the name of the parsha is because it's based on the first few words of the parsha, the beginning of the parsha, but also a name of something shows the contents of what we're talking about. So the name of the פרשה באמת also has to have contain the meaning of what the whole parsha is about. According to that, we don't understand, why is this parsha called Parshas Metzora? In the parsha, mainly it talks about טהרת המצורע, it talks about the cleansing of a מצורע. A מצורע is tamei and how to become tahor. So why would we call this פרשה מצורע when a lot of the parsha is against מצורע, showing how he becomes no more מצורע, he becomes clean from being a מצורע? So the Rebbe explains על פי חסידות, we know what the Rambam says, that צרעת was a אות ופלא היה בישראל, it was a wonder, it was not a natural thing, Eibershter made like a miracle by יידן, כדי להזהירם מלשון הרע, to make sure that they don't speak lashon hara. Because המספר לשון הרע, because if you speak lashon hara, then the Rambam explains how your skin changes and you become a מצורע. And what happens? You have to be separated from other people. And the purpose of being separated from other people is so you won't be able to talk lashon hara anymore to other people, and this will teach you how to stay away from lashon hara. So it comes out from the Rambam that the inyan of becoming a מצורע is not just a punishment on a person who spoke lashon hara, but it also has a positive thing in it: to get a person used to, to train a person to stay away, as the Rambam calls שיחת הרשעים, the talk of the evil people, and from speaking lashon hara. By being alone, this is the beginning of the person being trained how he has to change his spiritual level and eventually will come to the pure taharah. That's the purpose of becoming a מצורע, and therefore the parsha is called מצורע, even though the parsha talks about the curing of the מצורע. This teaches us, the Torah teaches us, that the טהרה of the מצורע, that the fact that the מצורע becomes טהור, is not just something separate from being a מצורע. This is a המשך, continuation, a direct continuation from the process that started when he became a מצורע. That means that he started to become a מצורע is in order this is a process of becoming clean from the עבירה of speaking lashon hara. This is the purpose of becoming a מצורע, and therefore the פרשה that talks about the טהרת מצורע is called מצורע, because to teach us that this is the purpose of מצורע. This

explanation also fits to last week's פרשה. Last week's פרשה was called Parshas Tazria, and we have a similar question there. Tazria means to give birth. אשה כי תזריע, if a woman will expecting child and then give birth to a child, and the Torah goes into some דינים. Giving birth to a child is the beginning of life. The whole פרשה talks about מצורע, how you become a מצורע. מצורע is the opposite of life. We know a מצורע, the Chazal tell us, מצורע חשוב כמת, a מצורע is considered like a dead person. So why would a פרשה that deals with becoming a מצורע be called Tazria, which means starting the beginning of life, when the whole פרשה talks about something that's the opposite of life? So the explanation is like we said before, that the whole purpose of being a מצורע is not just a punishment, but it is a beginning of the process of being healed and starting a new leaf in life. And that's why the פרשה is called Parshas Tazria, to teach us that the whole idea of מצורע is to become תזריע, to become new life and to continue a new life. And then it becomes even better than סתם a person, because we know that when a person does teshuvah, the real תשובה, זדונות נעשו לו כזכיות, the עבירות not only disappear, but they become the מצוות. Same thing with a מצורע, that מצורע the whole purpose is to become good, and that is what why the Torah uses the לשון תזריע. The name of the parsha is Tazria, and the name of the parsha is Metzora, to teach us that the whole purpose of becoming a metzora is a beginning of a new life and a beginning of a person becoming tahor and staying away from lashon hara, etc., etc., and learning how to speak properly.