Tazria-Metzora 5773

The leper is considered a dead person. Rashi in Bamidbar says that just as a dead person makes a house and whatever inside it impure so too does a leper when he enters a house. He also sits outside the community just as cemeteries are placed on the outskirts of a town. What causes someone to be inflicted with leprosy? This is because of speaking lashon harah. By comparing the leper to a dead person, the Torah is telling us of the severity of speaking lashon harah.