The Medrash says that the designs that the snake has on its skin, is really tzaraas! This is because the snake spoke lashon hara when he told Adam and Chava that Hashem ate from the eitz hadas and that this was what gave Hashem the ability to create the world, cha”v. This was a form of motzei shem ra, and that’s why the snake got tzaraas.
The Rambam teaches that when one would say lashon hara, the walls of his house would get tzaraas. If he would do teshuva, it would go away. If not, he would have to knock down the house. Sometimes his leather couches and chairs would get tzaraas. If he would do teshuva, it would go away, and if not, he would have to burn them. Later, all his clothing would get tzaraas. If he would do teshuva, it would go away. If not, he would have to burn them. Finally, he would get tzaraas on his skin. He would then have to leave the city, so he can spend some time on his own, away from people, where he definitely can’t talk lashon hara!
Rav Chaim Berlin shared the following story about himself: “When I was living in Communist Russia, I would secretly do mitzvos, such as making brissim for Jewish kids. Even though I knew that I could be caught any day, and if I would I’d be in huge trouble, I kept it up.
And one day it happened. I heard banging on my front door and opened up, and there stood a couple of KGB officers, who grabbed me and threw me into prison!
There they interrogated me for hours, trying to find out from me the names of other Yidden who were engaging in religious things, but I wouldn’t open my mouth. When finally finished with the interrogation, the interrogator comes over to me and whispers to me, “I see that you know how to keep a secret. I will be waiting outside your house tomorrow. I want you to come do a bris for my child!” The KGB officer was a Jew!
The next morning, I secretly made the bris. I then asked the father, “You are a real Communist. Why did you want to make a bris for your son?”
The officer answered, “I truly believe in Communism, but maybe one day my son will want to return to Yiddishkeit. I want to leave him this option!”
Reb Chaim Berlin would say that this story teaches us that even if a Yid has gone far away, he is always connected to Hashem, and continues to have a desire in his heart to return from his ways.”
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 77.