Continuing the Legacy of Rabbi Dovid Winiarz of blessed memory
By looking down on people, and not giving them the proper due as abundant wellsprings of potential, a person may have put an end to some of that potential, and the resulting vacuum attracts the impurity which manifests itself in their bodies as tzaraas.
In fact, the Gemara in Bava Metzia (107b) quotes Rav as saying the “source of all sickness” is ayin ra’ah, an evil or negative eye. He says he went to a cemetery and “99 people there died of ayin ra’ah and only 1 of natural causes.” But what does this mean?
It is true that optimism and positivity have shown to be beneficial to people’s good health. Those who bear grudges and see things in a negative life tend to live shorter, and certainly less productive lives. It’s possible that that Rav was telling us that many of those in the graveyard put themselves there prematurely by their pessimistic view of the world. As it says in Tehillim, “Who is the man who desires life? One who loves days to see good.”
However, he could also have been saying that by denigrating others, we may convince them that they are lowly, and they will never try to be great. Those lives will be ended before they ever began – and that is worse than murder.
