APRIL 11 • 2024 | 53

Partly this has deep roots in 
the Jewish understanding 
of God and the human 
condition. Judaism is less 
a religion of holy people 
and holy places than it is a 
religion of holy words.
God created the universe 
by words: “And God said, 
Let there be … and there 
was.” God reveals himself 
in words. He spoke to the 
patriarchs and the prophets 
and at Mount Sinai to the 
whole nation. Our very 
humanity has to do with our 
ability to use language. The 
creation of homo sapiens is 
described in the Torah thus: 
“Then the Lord God formed 
man from the dust of the 
ground and breathed into 
his nostrils the breath of life, 
and the man became a living 
being.” Gen. 2:7
The Targum renders the 
last phrase as “and the man 
became a speaking being.” 
Language is life. Words are 
creative but also destructive. 
If good words are holy, then 
evil words are a desecration.
One sign of how seriously 
Judaism takes this is the 
prayer we say at the end of 
every Amidah, at least three 
times a day: “My God, guard 
my tongue from evil and my 
lips from deceitful speech. To 
those who curse me let my 
soul be silent; may my soul 
be to all like the dust.” 
Having prayed to God at 
the beginning to “Open my 
lips so that my mouth may 
declare Your praise,” we pray 
to Him at the end to help us 
close our lips so that we do 
not speak badly about others, 
nor react when others speak 
badly about us.
Despite everything, 
however — despite the 
Torah’s prohibition of 
gossip, despite its stories 

about Joseph, Moses, 
Miriam and the spies, 
despite the unparalleled 
strictures against evil speech 
by the Sages — lashon 
hara remained a problem 
throughout Jewish history 
and still does today. Every 
leader is subject to it. The 
Sages said that when Moses 
left his tent early in the 
morning, people would say, 
“You see, he has had a row 
with his wife.” If he left 
late they would say, “He is 
plotting against us.” 

THE PRICE OF 
LASHON HARA
Anyone from CEO to parent 
to friend who seeks to be a 
leader has to confront the 
issue of lashon hara. Firstly, 
he or she may have to put 
up with it as the price of 
any kind of achievement. 
Some people are envious. 
They gossip. They build 
themselves up by putting 
other people down. If you 
are in any kind of leadership 
position, you may have to 
live with the fact that behind 
your back — or even before 
your face — people will be 
critical, malicious, disdainful, 
vilifying and sometimes 
downright dishonest. 
This can be hard to bear. 
Having known many leaders 
in many fields, I can testify 
to the fact that not all people 
in the public eye have a 
thick skin. Many of them are 
very sensitive and can find 
constant, unjust criticism 
deeply draining.
If you should ever suffer 
this, the best advice is given 
by Maimonides: “If a person 
is scrupulous in his conduct, 
gentle in his conversation, 
pleasant toward his fellow 
creatures, affable in manner 
when receiving them, not 

responding even when 
affronted, but showing 
courtesy to all, even to 
those who treat him with 
disdain … such a person has 
sanctified God and about 
him Scripture says, ‘You are 
my servant, Israel, in whom 
I will be glorified (Isaiah 
49:3).’”
That is in relation 
to lashon hara directed 
against yourself. As for the 
group as a whole, however, 
you should practice zero 
tolerance toward lashon hara. 
Allowing people to speak 
badly about one another 
will eventually destroy the 
integrity of the group. Evil 
speech generates negative 
energies. Within the group, 
it sows the seeds of distrust 
and envy. Directed outside 
the group it can lead to 
arrogance, self-righteousness, 
racism and prejudice, all of 
which are fatal to the moral 
credibility of any team. 
Whether or not you are the 
leader of such a group you 
must politely make it clear 
that you will have nothing to 
do with this kind of speech 
and that it has no place in 
your conversations.

WORDS CAN 
AND DO HURT
Cyber-bullying is the latest 
manifestation of lashon hara. 
In general, the internet is the 
most effective distributor of 
hate-speech ever invented. 
Not only does it make 
targeted communication so 
easy, but it also bypasses the 
face-to-face encounter that 
can sometimes induce shame, 
sensitivity and self-control. 
Greek myth told the story 
of Gyges’ ring that had the 
magical property of making 
whoever wore it invisible, so 
that he or she could get away 

with anything. Social media 
that enable people to post 
anonymous comments or 
adopt false identities are as 
near as anyone has yet come 
to inventing a Gyges’ ring. 
That is what is so dangerous 
about it.
The story of Hannah Smith 
and other teenage suicides 
is a tragic reminder of how 
right the Sages were to reject 
the idea that “words can 
never harm me,” and insist to 
the contrary that evil speech 
kills. Free speech is not 
speech that costs nothing. 
It is speech that respects 
the freedom and dignity 
of others. Forget this and 
free speech becomes very 
expensive indeed.
All of which helps us to 
understand the biblical idea 
of tsara’at. The peculiar 
property of tsara’at — 
whether as a skin disease, a 
discoloration of garments or 
mold on the walls of a house 
— is that it was immediately 
and conspicuously visible. 
People engage in lashon 
hara because, like wearers 
of Gyges’ ring, they think 
they can get away with it. 
“It wasn’t me. I never said 
it. I didn’t mean it. I was 
misunderstood.” The Torah is 
here telling us that malicious 
speech uttered in private is 
to be stigmatized in public 
and those who engage in it 
are to be openly shamed.
To put it at its simplest: as 
we behave to others so God 
behaves to us. Do not expect 
God to be kind to those who 
are unkind to their fellow 
humans. 

The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks 

served as the chief rabbi of the 

United Hebrew Congregations of the 

Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His teach-

ings have been made available to all 

at rabbisacks.org. 

