“Totty,” asked Yitzy. “Would you please be able to learn these Mishnayos with me? I’m having trouble understanding them.”
Totty looked up from the paper he was looking at. “Sure, Yitzy. Just give me a few minutes. I need to finish making sure we have everything we need on our Pesach shopping list.”
“Totty, Yitzy!” exclaimed an out-of-breath Shimmy, running into the room. “An ambulance and Hatzolah car just pulled up in front of the Bergstein’s across the street!”
“Whoa! What happened?” asked Yitzy.
“I don’t know, but I heard them saying that they need a CPA! We should go get Mr. Risnik next door - he works as a CPA.”
“A CPA?” Yitzy asked, confused. “Why would paramedics need an accountant? Maybe they said CPR?”
“Another am-ba-lance is coming!” said little Yaeli, who was looking out the window.
The two boys ran outside to see what was going on. A few minutes later they came back and started delivering the full report to Totty.
“The Bergstein’s bubby had fallen down in the kitchen,” said Shimmy. “And then she hit her head and that gave her a heart attack or a stroke. And my friend Moishy who was there said he heard that she also had a seizure which gave her laryngitis and an ingrown toenail. And they think she might also have insomnia, chas veshalom.”
Yitzy frowned. “Wait, that doesn’t sound right.”
“That’s what Moishy told me,” Shimmy insisted.
“Totty, do you want to come outside with us and see what’s going on?” asked Yitzy.
Totty didn’t answer right away. The boys noticed that he was holding a siddur and was saying Tehillim, so they waited respectfully for him to finish.
“They should stop making am-ba-lances,” said little Yaeli. “This way people won’t hafta go to the hospatal.”
Shimmy smiled. “Yaeli,” he said. “Ambulances help people who need to go to the hospital. If there were no ambulances then chas veshalom people wouldn’t get to the hospital in time.”
Totty closed the Tehillim and smiled at the boys. “You both know what this week’s parsha is, right?” he asked.
“Of course, it’s Tazria,” answered Shimmy. “Oh, do you think the Bergstein’s bubby also has tzora’as?”
“There is no tzora’as anymore,” said Yitzy.
“Boruch Hashem,” said Shimmy. “One less thing to worry about.”
“Now wait just a second,” Totty said. “What you just said is basically the same thing that Yaeli said about ambulances. You think tzora’as didn’t have a purpose? Tzora’as was Hashem’s way of sending us a message to warn us about the aveirah of loshon hora.”
“My morah said loshon hora is bad,” little Yaeli answered solemnly.
“Indeed it is,” agreed Totty. “The loss of tzora’as meant that we lost a valuable opportunity to hear a message from Hashem. But just like getting rid of ambulances won’t cure sick people, getting rid of tzora’as doesn’t mean there isn’t a life-threatening danger of talking loshon hora.
“Tzora’as turned the ba’al loshon hora into a safety spokesperson. He would yell out ‘tamei, tamei!’ And everyone would hear and be reminded to watch their mouths and ears from speaking or listening to loshon hora. And more than that, people would be inspired to daven for him that he should have a refuah sheleima from his tzora’as.”
“Wait, is that why you were saying Tehillim?” asked Yitzy.
“Yes,” answered Totty. “I learned long ago from Rabbi Miller that whenever we hear an ambulance, the first thing we should do is daven. We should say to Hashem ‘if that is a Yid in the ambulance, he or she should have a refuah shleima. And that is why, every time I hear an ambulance, I stop what I’m doing and say a few kapitlach Tehillim.”
“But aren’t you curious as to what’s going on?” asked Shimmy.
“I have concern for my fellow Yidden,” Totty said. “But how is rushing out to watch the commotion and listen to rumors going to help anyone? The best thing we can do for the Bergstein’s bubby is to daven for her that she should get well soon. Now, Yitzy, are you ready to chazer those Mishnayos with me?”
“Sure” said Yitzy. “And then I’m going to say some Tehillim for the Bergstein’s bubby.”
Have a Wonderful Shabbos!
Let’s review:
- How are we missing out by not having tzora’as nowadays?
- What should we do the next time we hear an ambulance siren?
