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.