Lashon Hara

2 Cheshvan 5782

“Who may abide in Your tent, O Lord? … He who has no slander on his tongue, who has done his fellowman no evil” (Tehillim 15:1-3)

Lashon Hara is one of the most serious sins in the Torah. So much so that it can completely separate us from Hashem and prevent us from welcoming the Shechinah in the coming world. The Chofetz Chaim enumerates 17 positive and negative commandments in the Torah that are being violated each time a Jew speaks Lashon Hara. He goes even further to say that Lashon Hara was the underlying sin that caused the destruction of the Holy Temple and that it is also the underlying sin preventing it from being rebuilt.

“And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness, and he told his two brothers outside.” Rashi “Some of our Sages say: Canaan saw and told his father; therefore, he was mentioned regarding the matter, and he was cursed.” (Bereishit 9:22)

In our Parashah we again see an example of the destructive nature of Lashon Hara. Canaan reported on his grandfather’s shame and caused terrible acts to be committed. These ultimately led to the downfall of his own father and all generations of his progeny.

“G-d caused him to encounter this mitzvah of “warding [a fellow Jew] from [transgressing] a prohibition” in order to make him meritorious.” (Lessons in Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 25)

When we are sitting at a table and someone is in the process of being lulled by his yetzer hara into speaking Lashon Hara, we must know that we are there for one and only one reason: to prevent our fellow Jew from committing a grave sin with terrible ramifications for all of Israel. No matter how socially uncomfortable it is or how great the preceding conversation was, it is our G-d given duty to intervene. Just as if somebody is about to eat non-Kosher food, we must stop the act before it is committed, not give a gentle reminder after the fact.