Loshon Hora The following are notes and verses are from a book I am reading: The ArtScroll Series; Chofetz Chaim “A Lesson A Day.” ______________ The concepts and laws of proper speech arranged for daily study. Based on his works, Sefer Chofetz Chaim and Sefer Shmiras Haloshon. By Rabbi Shimon Finkelman and Rabbi Yitzchyak Berkowitz Psa 34:13 Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit. Isa 43:21 this people I have formed for Myself, let them relate My praise. Thoughts exist in a separate, private sphere. Once articulated, the thought is no longer a privet matter. It becomes an item on the worlds agenda – something to be agreed with or argued; proven or disproven; attended to or ignored. The thought has no power to affect anything or anyone beyond the person thinking it. Yahweh designed the tongue to reflect its function, which is to reveal the hidden self – ones thoughts, ideas and personality. The tongue takes these hidden elements from within the person and, through words, brings them into the open. The Torahs laws reflect Yahwehs knowledge that much of the pain and anguish of life can be averted by restraining ourselves from sowing these seeds. It is actually a simple principle: If one removes negativity, gossip, slander and divisiveness from ones vocabulary, one automatically and dramatically improves ones own life and the lives of everyone in ones environment. (1) ______________ (1) There are times when loshon hara is permitted or even required, I.e. when warning a person about potential harm. On the other hand, secondhand information and baseless impressions have momentous implications. The question of when you are allowed or even required to speak loshon hora are complicated.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 22:27:55 +0000