Rashi (14:4) writes, "Tzaraas comes from lashon hara, an act of chattering (דברים פטפוטי מעשה). Birds are needed for the purification because birds are always chatting and whistling...." Why then were two birds necessary for the atonement and purification of the metzorah? Why was one chattering, whistling bird not enough to teach this lesson? What does the second bird represent?
To answer this question, Rebbe Yehoshua of Belz zt'l (Leket Imrei Kodesh p.51) tells us to study the following line from the Zohar (Tazria 46:): מלה בגין עונשיה כך בישא מלה בגין נש בר דהאי דעונשא כמה מליל ולא למללא ויכיל לידיה דקאתי טבא, "Just as one is punished for speaking lashon hara, so is one punished for the good words that he had the opportunity to say, and he refrained."
Rebbe Yehoshua of Belz explains that the bird that is shechted – and thereby silenced – alludes to the atonement needed for speaking lashon hara. The other bird, dipped into the water and blood mixture and then sprinkled on the metzora, was set free. This bird continues chirping and singing, reminding us to speak many kind words to help our fellow man.
The Ketzos in his sefer Shev Shmatsa (Hakdamah 3) explains the Gemara (Shabbos 151b) נפל לא תרי אבי אריה, "A lion doesn't attack two people." So why does it occur at times that a lion will attack a group of people? It must be that the lion failed to realize that they were people. They appeared to be animals, not human beings.
The Shev Shmatsa explains that the translation of the Zohar's words, תרי אבי אריה נפל לא, isn’t that a lion won't attack two people, because we see that it does. Rather, the Zohar refers to someone thinking about how to help others. He is one person and he is called תרי אבי, "two" because he always has other people in his thoughts. Caring for others is the attribute of a human being. The lion considers this person a human being, and therefore, the lion won't attack him.
This is as the Zohar (Bereishis, Hakdamah p.13b) states on the pasuk (Bereishis 1:26) ֵ נוַּלְמבְּצ ָםָדא ֶהֲׂשנַע ֵ נוּכִּדְמוּת, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." The Zohar says that when one has rachmanus on the poor and brokenhearted, to help them, about them it states ָםָדא ֶהֲׂשנַע – he is a human being. But when one doesn't have compassion for others, he is like an animal, and a wild lion won't refrain from attacking him.
Simchas HaRegel adds that this is the meaning of the pasuk (Tehillim 41:2) ְכִּילַׂשמ ֵיְׁרַשא 'ה ֵ הוַּלְּטיְמ ָהָער בְּיוֹם דָּל ֶלא, "Praiseworthy is he who contemplates the needy. On a bad day, Hashem will deliver him." When one thinks about the needs of others, and the needs of those who are poor and broken, he carries the image of an אדם, of a human being (the roshei teivos of דָּל ֶלא ְכִּילַׂשמ spell ם"אד), and he will be protected and saved from all troubles.
Sefer Chasidim (553) states that a person should feel the pain and agony of others. Otherwise, how is he better than animals? About him it states (Koheles 3:19) ִןמ ָםָדָאה ַרוּמוֹת ָיִןא ָהֵמַבְּהה, "Man has no superiority over beast."
The Aruch HaShulchan (and many other sefarim) writes that on the days of sefiras ha’omer, we elevate ourselves from being like animals to becoming humans. The hint is that on the first day of sefiras ha'omer (the second day of Pesach), we bring a korban omer made from barley, which is animal food. On Shavuos, we bring the korban shtei halechem, two breads made from wheat, a product consumed by humans. This indicates that on these days, we elevate ourselves from being like animals to being human. As we are explaining, one attains this elevation when he thinks and cares about the needs of others.
