Alleyways To Torah

Judaism is a religion that remembers the past in order to create a better future. Many people can't even remember what they ate for breakfast this morning while we are constantly conscious of events that took place thousands of years ago. [The word for male - zachar, and remember - zachor, have the same root. I wonder what the connection is? Hey, women remember too.]

In this weeks parsha we read the story of how Miriam spoke lashon hara about Moshe and was afflicted with tzara'as. There is a mitzva to remember this event. How often must we do so?

Some say that once a year is enough. Others say that the mitzva must be fulfilled every day.

Let's say a person wants to be really sinful, how can he nullify this mitzva? Easy - by speaking lashon hara! [Minchas Chinuch]

Some books say that it is not enough to remember the fact that Miriam spoke lashon hara but one must also remember that she was punished with tzara'as. But in the pasuk printed in our siddurim [at the end of Shachris] that people customarily say after davening the tzara'as detail is omitted and in fact some say that it suffices to remember that she spoke lashon hara.

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