Saturday, September 10, 2011

Lashon Ha-Ra The Destroying Tongue

One man spread a rumor about another. He later felt regret, and went to the rabbi to ask how to make amends. "Go to the store and buy a bag of seeds," said the rabbi, "then go to a big open field and scatter the seeds into the wind. Do so and report back to me in a week."
The man did as he was told, and came back the next week to find out what to do next. "Now," said the rabbi, "go back to the field and pick up all the seeds."
"But," protested the man, "those seeds have scattered far and wide! I'll never find them all. Many have even already taken root!"
"Exactly," explained the rabbi. "Now you understand. When we speak badly about another person, the effect is far and wide. And it is damage that can never be fully undone."

The first time I read this I was completely taken back by "pick up all the seeds" and "many have taken root". Wow.  That is how speech works, whether good or bad. It is said that when you speak badly about someone it hurts you, the person you are talking about and the person listening.  I understand how the first two but how does it hurt the person listening.  Because the person listening has the ability to stop the person and/or walk away.  But if the person engages then they have taken part of the destroying. 


I found this off of JewsandJoes.com that explains a little more clearer from a Hebrew mentality. Many have likely heard the phrase "Lashon Ha-Ra" in connection with "Gossip", vaguely defined as "Evil tongue" or "Evil speech". Lashon is generally the Hebrew word for "tongue" or "language", while "Ha-Ra" means "the-evil", but with the deeper Hebraic understanding of what "Ra" means, we would more accurately translate "Lashon Ha-Ra" to mean "the-destroying Tongue". So when a person gossips about another person, they are in a very real sense destroying that person or destroying that person's name and/or character. Frequently gossip wrongly destroys a person's character when the said person isn't present and unable to correct or refute the destructive attack on his/her character.  

That is why if you can't say something about someone with them right there in the crowd then it shouldn't be said. 

Blessings!

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