ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף ירמיהו 2:13

The second bird, before being released, must be dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed, to teach that the lesson how to employ speech has been learned. Unrestricted use of the power of speech is apt to kill, causes one to bloody oneself. The waiting period necessary after offering the sacrifice, before the victim may rejoin society, is to effect the moral and intellectual rehabilitation which follows physical rehabilitation. The latter was symbolised by the washing of the victim's clothing. The victim cannot appear before G'd at the entrance to the sanctuary until three more sacrifices, asham, chatat, and olah and the accompanying menachot have been offered. Sprinkling of the blood on the thumb and large toe, is symbolic of purifying the most mobile parts of the body. Hands symbolise action, feet symbolise motion. Both are usually involved in any sinful behaviour. The recipe presented by the spice merchant extends until the end of the quotation from Psalms 34, namely "keep away from evil, do good, seek peace and pursue it actively!" The latter advice is difficult to follow unless both hands and feet are involved. The reason that the Torah insists that blood be sprinkled on the right toe and right thumb, may be to remind us that until now the conduct of the metzora, had been foolish, like the people whom Solomon describes as having the seat of their intellect on their left side. (Kohelet 10,2) "The seat of a wise man's intellect is on his right side." Pouring oil on the toes, fingers, earlobe and head of the metzora, is symbolic of the imperative of our sages as expressesd in Kohelet 9,8, "at all times your clothing should be white, and oil should not be lacking on your head." A person's covering is symbolic of his good traits. After the atonement, donning clean garments and being anointed with oil on crucial parts of his body, demonstrates that from here on in, he is in possession of good character traits. The ear, i.e. the organ that receives the spoken word of the mouth that can cause tzora-at, must also undergo rehabilitation. The asham sacrifice removes the corrosive effect of the sin on the body; after that, when sin has been removed and atoned for,- as per chapter 14,18-19,- the olah sacrifice can bring the true purification, the positive finale of the atonement procedure.

In the first chapter of Tractate Ta'anit (5a), Rav Yitzchak asked: What is the meaning of that which is written (Jeremiah 2:13), "For My people have committed two evils"? Was it only two they did, when they had abandoned twenty-two? Rabbi Yochanan explained it thus: It is one evil that is equivalent to two. And what is it? Idolatry, as it is written (ibid.), "they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves broken cisterns," and it is also written (cf. ibid. 2:10-11), "For pass over to the isles of the Kittites and see, and send to Kedar and consider diligently… Has a nation ever changed its gods, even though they are no-gods? But My people have changed their Glory for that which does not profit." It was taught: The Kittites worship fire and the Kedarites worship water, and even though they know that water extinguishes fire, they have not changed their gods; yet "My people have changed their Glory for that which does not profit." The explanation of this matter is that a person chooses for himself a deity that he imagines is his proper portion. For there is a nation that considers itself to be of the portion of fire, and so every nation has chosen a deity according to what it perceives to be its portion. And even though they know that a more significant power exists which can overcome the power that is their own portion, they do not change it, since in their minds they belong to that particular power. But Israel, whose portion is the Lord, may He be blessed, as Scripture states in several places—and He, may He be blessed, rules over all—exchanged their Glory for that which does not profit, for things that are not Israel's portion. Herein lie the two evils: that they belong solely to the portion of the Lord, may He be blessed, and yet they exchanged Him for that which does not profit.

Among them, peace of mind, and trusting in G-d as a servant must trust in his master, because if one does not place his trust in G-d, he will place his trust in something else, and whoever trusts in something other than G-d, the Al-mighty will remove His providence from such a person, and leave him in the hands of the one he trusted, and he will be as it was written: "For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the spring of living waters, to dig for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that do not hold water" (Yirmiya 2:13), "They exchanged their Glory for the likeness of an ox eating grass" (Tehilim 106:20),"Blessed is the man who trusts in the L-ord; the L-ord shall be his refuge" (Yirmiya 17:7), "Praiseworthy is the man who made the L-ord his trust, and did not turn to the haughty and those who turn to falsehood." (Tehilim 40:5), "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes flesh his strength and whose heart turns away from the L-ord" (Yirmiya 17:5).