Before You Speak
In Parshat Tazriya, we learn about the skin disease of
leprosy. If one gets this disease, he or she must be isolated outside the
Israelite camp until they have recovered. The rabbis inform us that someone
gets leprosy because he or she has gossiped about or slandered someone. Really?
Could this be true?
We must always remember that the rabbis have deep lessons to
teach us. Here is the lesson: When you gossip or slander, you are trying to
hurt the person you are talking about and giving them “cooties” by saying bad
things about them. Then your friends will not want to be friends with the kids
with “cooties.” You have isolated this person, as if they have leprosy.
Remember, what goes around comes around. If you say bad things about someone,
they might say bad things about you, and then you will be the one to be
isolated. And that wouldn’t be any fun at all.
Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah — One Mitzvah Creates Another!
It’s time to plant your mitzvah garden. Create a patch in
your garden at home or at school and designate it “The Mitzvah Garden.” Plant
flower seeds or bulbs; water and care for them. In about eight weeks, when your
flowers have bloomed, clip them and take them as gifts to a hospital or an
old-age home. What a beautiful spring gift!
Three Cheers
Congratulations to Simone Schriger, 10, of Brentwood  and  Danielle
Landau, 11, of Tarzana  for answering this question:
What do Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, Truman, Washington, Lincoln
 and Jefferson have in common?
Answer: Their names all end with an “N.”
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