And the diseased man in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and the hair of his head shall grow long, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. (Vayikra 13:45)

And the diseased man in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and the hair of his head shall grow long, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. (Vayikra 13:45)

I remember when I was a bochur, I heard about people who would come to The Steipler Gaon to ask him to pray for them. The Steipler would lament that these people never updated him as to their situation, and so he would continue to pray for people who had already recovered, or chalila for people who had even passed away! This highlights a lack of sensitivity of those who came to ask of him a chesed. But why is it that his visitors did not update The Steipler about their situation, and knowing this, why did the Steipler Gaon continue to pray for them?

I would like to answer based on an idea that is explained by Rav Shimshon Pincus. Is it the duty of every Jew to pray for other Jews who are in difficult situations? The answer is yes. In fact, not only is there an obligation, it seems to me that this would also be one’s natural reaction. Who would not stop to help if they saw someone fall in the street and bang their head? The problem is that as time goes by people become insensitive. Many times, it takes a herculean effort by people to remain as conscientious as they were when they began praying for others. In truth, I find that people tend to also slack off even regarding their own situations. When people go to the doctor and are told that they must go on a salt-free or fat-free diet, how many of them have the “stick to-it-ness” that is necessary? We often respond to something sensational, but because we are creatures of habit it is usually difficult to “stay the course” of an altered routine.

Chazal tell us in Brochos (12:) that a person who sees someone who needs help is called a sinner (choteh) if he does not help him! This is no different than missing shacharis. However, when people help others, they tend to think that they are going the extra mile.

I would like to add that those who usually do not speak lashon hara, many times think that they are extraordinarily righteous people. They do not view themselves as just following the halacha, and therefore they sometimes allow themselves to be “normal” and speak “just a little” lashon hara.

The Metzora needs to continually request the help of others in order to get them to go beyond what they think is their basic civic obligation. This can be therapeutic in getting the Metzora to understand that it is not something special to care about others, rather it is demanded that he care about others – just as others will care about him. This will hopefully deter him from disparaging speech in the future.

As the pandemic is BE”H winding down, I would like to mention a limud zechus, which can serve as a wakeup call to many people. Often in shul after davening people are asked to say tehillim for those who are sick. They do it, but sometimes begrudgingly, assuming that it is not their obligation to stay and daven for this person. In this pandemic, people were asked to pray for their own welfare, and here too there was a callousness on the part of the congregation. I have no question that they have emunah that prayer will help. Instead, I think they just got used to the situation and they thought that this is life now.

It is demanded of each person to be conscientious! You do not have to be The Steipler Gaon to execute your obligation of caring for yourself and others. But one becomes like The Steipler when he has the fortitude to follow through.

Kayitz Bari – have a healthy summer – all of us.