"In the place where they slaughter the 'olah' (burnt offering), they should slaughter the guilt offering" (Vayikra 7:2)
The bad Mockery
One of the deceitful tactics deployed by the yetzer harah is to convince someone to doubt Jewish leadership, to twist their view of rabbis, rosh yeshivas and Rebbeim, to only see the negative and to use that distorted view as an excuse to not listen to their guidance.
Without the guidance of a Rabbi or Rebbe, a person's Yiddishkeit will be cooled off, they will feel lost and slowly allow their temptations to rule their decisions distancing themselves from Hashem, His Torah and mitzvos.
This is even more potent when individuals choose to mock the rabbinic leadership and the Torah scholars, as the sages taught us (Shir HaShirim Rabba 1:21), that one joke pushes away 100 words of guidance and mussar.
The impure bird
Chazal taught (Chulin 63b) that there is an impure bird called the 'ra'ah' that earned its name since it had extraordinary vision (ro'eh in Hebrew). In fact, explained the sages, the ra'ah could be in Babylonia and see a carcass in Eretz Yisroel. The commentators are puzzled by and ask why the sages used Babylonia and Eretz Yisroel as an analogy to demonstrate the bird's vision?
The Baal Shem Tov explained, that the word bavel – Babylonia – shares the same root as "bilbul" - confusion. Eretz Yisroel represents holiness and tzadikim. When someone is standing in Bavel, when their thoughts are confused and their priorities are skewed, it is because they see "a carcass in Eretz Yisroel" – they are looking at the negative in the righteous, in the rabbinic leaders.
Encourage good behavior
At times, when someone is feeling inspired and is growing in their Torah observance, their friends, neighbors and associates begin to mock them, to question their observance and to marginalize that person. They look for flaws and shortcomings trying to discredit the path the person is on, simply because of the path he might have been on in the past.
At other times, when someone is slipping into really bad patterns of behavior, the community doesn't turn away from him. In fact, they will look for the good and celebrate that.
The opposite should be the case. When someone is growing and working on themselves and their avodas Hashem, they need to be encouraged and supported. On the other hand, when someone begins down the wrong path in life, their sinful behaviors need to be despised, not celebrated.
This is why the mockery of idol worship is allowed despite mockery being an undesirable character trait, as Chazal taught (Megilah 25a). In fact, this is why the middah, the trait of mockery was created: to mock and recognize the ugliness of sin and, through that process of helping someone see the degradation associated with a life that is contrary to Hashem's Will, they will return back.
The good Mockery
There is a story told about the renowned Jerusalem magid, the genius Rabbi Shalom Shvadron z"l. Early in his career, a group of community leaders came to him to complain about the way he was giving his mussar schmooze. Unsure of the legitimacy of their criticism, the maggid decided to go see the Chazon Ish for advice. When he told the Chazon Ish what he was being told by his critics, the Chazon Ish asked him to show him how he delivers a mussar schmooze, to literally say a sermon right then and there.
The maggid gave a 20-minute sermon in his typical style, mocking sinful behaviors. At the end, the Chazon Ish told him, "This is exactly how you need to give a schmooze. Had we had more rabbonim like you during the enlightenment movement, we could have saved from Jews from being led astray."
Nowadays, there are many people who mock and ridicule the Orthodox communities. We need to use that same tactic, that same trait, that same cynicism to ridicule the emptiness of living a life without Torah and mitzvos, to ridicule sinful behaviors, and to help people realize the ridiculousness of their abandonment of Torah and mitzvos.
Slaughter sinful behaviors
This is possibly what is being alluded to here in our pasuk:
"In the place where they slaughter the olah (burnt offering)" The word olah can also mean "uplift." In place of "slaughtering" the person who is going through a time period of inspiration, you should slaughter the "guilt offering" – the sinful behaviors.
Use that middah, that trait of mockery to bring down the undesirable behaviors, and not those of the Jew who are choosing to grow in their Yiddishkeit.
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