The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
In Vayikra 13:52, the Torah states - וְרָאָ֨ה הַכֹּהֵ֜ן אַֽחֲרֵ֣י | הֻכַּבֵּ֣ס אֶת־הַנֶּ֗גַע וְ֠הִנֵּ֠ה לֹֽא־הָפַ֨ךְ הַנֶּ֤גַע אֶת־עֵינוֹ֙ וְהַנֶּ֣גַע לֹֽא־פָשָׂ֔ה טָמֵ֣א ה֔וּא. Translated literally, the Pasuk is telling us that since the Nega has not changed its appearance, it is Tamei.
But the Chiddushei HaRim explains that עֵינוֹ֙ can refer to the eye of the person. There is a Mesorah that Tzaraas comes as a result of speaking Lashon Hara and while Tehillim 34:13-14 tells us that one who wants life should נְצֹ֣ר לְשֽׁוֹנְךָ֣ מֵרָ֑ע וּ֜שְׂפָתֶ֗יךָ מִדַּבֵּ֥ר מִרְמָֽה, Lashon Hara does not begin with the tongue. Instead, its results from the person's view about another. He may feel haughty and want to show his superiority, or he may feel jealous and want to belittle the other person to make himself feel important, but Lashon Hara is spoken because a person has negative views about the other person.
R' Frand quoted R' Weinberg (and also noted that R' Shlomo Kluger said the same thought) who explains that we learn about Lashon Hara from the Meraglim. The punishment for the Meraglim was that the Jews would spend 40 years in the desert as equivalent to the 40 days they were in the land of Israel. But they did not speak Lashon Hara for 40 days - it probably took only a few minutes! They were only in the land for 40 days.
He explains that they were punished one year for one day because when they walked around the land they viewed the land negatively. Chazal tell us that they had a negative view and said אֶ֣רֶץ אֹכֶ֤לֶת יֽוֹשְׁבֶ֨יהָ֙ הִ֔וא (Bamidbar 13:32) based on all the funerals they saw. However they could have looked at the positive - because the people of the land were so preoccupied with the funerals, they did not see the Meraglim.
Thus the sin of Lashon Hara began with the eye - the way that they viewed the land. It was only at the very end that they spoke the words that had been in their minds.
The message of the Tzaraas is that because this person has not changed his eye, he is Tamei because he will perpetuate the Lashon Hara.
R' Frand also noted that the word Nega and Oneg have the same letters, the only difference is where the Ayin is placed. If the Ayin is moved to the front so that a person has a positive outlook, he will not be Tamei.
R' Frand also observed that if a person can refrain from speaking Lashon Hara he can live a happier life. R' Frand quoted the a story in the gemara about a peddler. The peddler would announce that he was selling the elixir of life and that anyone who wanted the elixir of life should come to him. The peddler was approached by R' Yannai who asked to buy the elixir. The peddler responded to R' Yannai - you are a tzadik, you don't need this. However, R' Yannai persisted. Finally the seller said to him - look in the book of Tehillim - it is written in 34:12-13 -מִֽי־הָ֖אִישׁ הֶֽחָפֵ֣ץ חַיִּ֑ים אֹ֘הֵ֥ב יָ֜מִ֗ים לִרְא֥וֹת טֽוֹב. נְצֹ֣ר לְשֽׁוֹנְךָ֣ מֵרָ֑ע וּ֜שְׂפָתֶ֗יךָ מִדַּבֵּ֥ר מִרְמָֽה.
Following this conversation, R' Yannai was heard to say, all my life I would say these pesukim, but I never understood this until now.
R' Frand asked the obvious question - what was it that the peddler was able to teach R' Yannai about the pesukim in Tehillim which he did not know previously?
He answered that R' Yannai always knew that not speaking Lashon Hara would be a key to getting Olam Haba. What the peddler taught him is that by not speaking Lashon Hara he could also enjoy this world as well.
R' Frand closed with a story about R Lazer Silver who served as a chaplain in the US Army after WWII. He was successful in organizing a room in a DP camp where people could make a minyan. One day they were short one man for the minyan and R' Silver sent someone out to ask a man who was outside to join them. The messenger returned and said that the man had refused and said that he does not want to see a siddur, or a shul or another frum Jew. R' Silver then went out and asked personally and received the same response. He asked - why do you feel that way? The man responded that when he was in the camps, there was a frum Jew who had a siddur which he used to daven before the men went out to work every day. But the man did not only use the siddur, he "rented" it out to others in exchange for half their daily ration of bread. The man was disgusted by this and did not want to see another siddur, or shul or frum Jew.
When the man had finished explaining himself, R' Silver said to him - but why don't you look at all the Jews who were willing to give up half their meager rations just so that they could daven with a siddur. The man accepted this and joined them.
Thirty years later, a man spoke at a conference of major Jewish leaders and told that story. He said that he was the man who had refused to join the minyan before speaking to R' Laizer Silver. His name is Simon Wiesenthal.
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