613 Mitzvot
Negative Mitzvah 301
Not to speak derogatorily of others
613 Mitzvot
Negative Mitzvah 301
Not to speak derogatorily of others
Vayikra/Leviticus 19:16
Lo telech rachil be’amecha, lo ta’amod al-dam re’echa ani YHVH.
You shall not go up and down as a slanderer among your people; neither shall you stand against the life of your neighbor. I am YHVH.
The Hebrew
word for tale-bearer or slanderer is 
-rachil, from
rakal - go about merchandising, trafficking in scandals. There was a time when
people would buy things from peddlars. A merchant looks for goods to buy and
then sells for a profit. In the same way, a tale-bearer wants to hear the latest
scandals and is eager to share them with others. These peddlers bought wares
in one town and sold them in another. When they arrived in a town, they would
place their loaded carts in the village center and call out. Just as a peddler
buys from one and sells to another, a person who gossips, listens to one person
talking and then goes around telling others what he heard. "Did you hear what
she said?" "Just wait until I tell you what I heard him say!" "You're not going
to believe what they said!"
This is related to Lashon Hara - evil speech. There has been many books written on this subject, so I can only scratch the surface in such a short amount of time.
Tehillim/Psalms 15:1-3
1 Mizmor l’David YHVH mi-yagur b’aholecha mi-yishkon b’har kadshecha:
A psalm by David. Who may abide in Your tent, YHVH? Who may dwell on Your holy Mountain?
2 Holech tamim ufo’el tsedek v’dover emet bilvavo:
He who walks blamelessly, acts justly, and speaks truth in his heart;
3 Lo-ragal al-l’shono lo-asah l’re’ehu ra’a v’cherpah lo-nasa al-k’rovo:
who has no slander on his tongue, who has done his fellowman no evil, and who has brought no disgrace upon his relative;
It is such a serious thing, that it keep us away from YHVH.
Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 9:8
Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him.
Tehillim/Psalms 64:3
Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And aim their arrows, deadly words,
Evil talk is like an arrow. A person who unsheathes a sword can regret his intention and return it to its sheath. But the arrow cannot be retrieved. (Midrash Tehillim)
Words can wound, but they cannot be taken back. And the wounds can be fatal.
Said Rabbi Yitzchak: One who bears tales is a murderer, as it is written: "You shall not go about as a talebearer amongst your people; you shall not stand by your fellow’s blood" (Tosefta, Drech Eretz 6:3)
In addition, it can affect the listener as well.
Evil talk kills three people: the speaker, the listener, and the one who is spoken of. (Talmud, Erachin 15a)
The tongue is such a powerfully sharp tool. It can either be used as a weapon that kills or it can be used for planting a seed of life that produces good fruit.
But the tongue is very hard to control.
Ya'akov/James 3:7-8
For people have tamed and continue to tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures; but the tongue no one can tame—it is an unstable and evil thing, full of death-dealing poison!
To what may the tongue be compared? To a dog tied with an iron chain and locked in a room within a room within a room, yet when he barks the entire populace is terrified of him. Imagine if he were loose outside! So the tongue: it is secured behind the teeth and behind the lips, yet it does no end of damage. Imagine if it were outside! (Yalkut Shimoni)
The tongue is also like a wildfire.
Ya'akov/James 3:5-6
So too the tongue is a tiny part of the body, yet it boasts great things. See how a little fire sets a whole forest ablaze! Yes, the tongue is a fire, a world of wickedness. The tongue is so placed in our body that it defiles every part of it, setting ablaze the whole of our life; and it is set on fire by Gey-Hinnom itself.
The Psalmist compares slanderous talk to "Sharp arrows of the warrior, coals of broom" (Tehillim/Psalms 120:4). All other weapons smite from close quarters, while the arrow smites from the distance. So is it with slander: it is spoken in Rome and kills in Syria. All other coals, when extinguished, are extinguished without and within; but coals of broom are still burning within when they are extinguished without. So is it with words of slander: even after it seems that their effects have been put out, they continue to smolder within those who heard them. It once happened that a broom tree was set on fire and it burned eighteen months—winter, summer and winter. (Midrash Rabbah)
My great grandparents experienced a brush fire on their Nebraska homestead. It destroyed all their crops. In the same way, Lashon Hara destroys fruitfulness in people's lives.
Our words can either be clean or unclean.
Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov once instructed several of his disciples to embark on a journey. The Chassidic leader did not tell them where to go, nor did they ask; they allowed Divine Providence to direct their wagon where it may, confident that the destination and purpose of their trip would be revealed in due time.
After traveling for several hours, they stopped at a wayside inn to eat and rest. Now the Baal Shem Tov’s disciples were pious Jews who insisted on the highest standards of kashrut; when they learned that their host planned to serve them meat in their meal, they asked to see the shochet (ritual slaughterer) of the house, interrogated him as to his knowledge and piety and examined his knife for any possible blemishes. Their discussion of the kashrut standard of the food continued throughout the meal, as they inquired after the source of every ingredient in each dish set before them.
As they spoke and ate, a voice emerged from behind the oven, where an old beggar was resting amidst his bundles. "Dear Jews," it called out, "are you as careful with what comes out of your mouth as you are with what enters into it?"
The party of Chassidim concluded their meal in silence, climbed onto their wagon and turned it back toward Mezhibuzh. They now understood the purpose for which their Rebbe had dispatched them on their journey that morning.
This Chassidic story brings to mind what Yeshua said to the Pharisees: What makes a person unclean is not what goes into his mouth; rather, what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean!" Don’t you see that anything that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and passes out into the latrine? But what comes out of your mouth is actually coming from your heart, and that is what makes a person unclean. For out of the heart come forth wicked thoughts, murder, adultery and other kinds of sexual immorality, theft, lies, slanders.… These are what really make a person unclean, but eating without doing netilat-yadayim does not make a person unclean." (Mattityahu/Matthew 15:11,17-20)
Titus 3:2 to speak evil of no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all humility toward all men.
Who is someone who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking lies." (Tehillim/Psalms 34:12-13 HNV)
Let us see the good in people, rather than the negative. Let us speak the words that build up instead of destroy.
Ephesians 4:29
Let no harmful speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Shalom v'brakhot v'simcha,
Moreh Chizkiyah Shlomo (Carl)