עקידת יצחק — שתי צפרים חיות טהרות / עץ ארז ואזוב ושני תולעת

Q — Why purify the healed metzora with two birds, cedar, hyssop, and crimson thread? Why send one bird free? What do these disparate items together signify?

A — The purification enacts the cure of the sin that brought the nega — chiefly haughtiness and the misused tongue. The lofty cedar set beside the lowly hyssop teaches the proud man to lower himself; the birds, who chatter, answer to the chattering of lashon hara, one slaughtered and one set free to mark the death of the old speech and release into corrected speech. The ritual is a symbolic curriculum: every element directs the healed person to uproot the arrogance and loose talk that defiled him.