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Shabbat Shalom!
Thank you for allowing me to speak on a Jewish topic that I deeply care about in front of all of you.
But first let me take a minute to congratulate the Verbeke's family on their simcha! MAZAL TOV!!!
Thank you Hayley for the beautiful torah chanting in honor of your brother's becoming barmitzvah that you graced us with.
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Lashon ha Ra - a drash by Laurence Furic Friday, May 11, 2012
Gossip: "Like the poison of a serpent" The Sages said: "A large number of people commit robbery, either directly or indirectly, a small number commit incest, but just EVERYONE is guilty of lashon hara, slander".
Everyone. Why is gossip like a three-pronged tongue? says the Talmud Because it kills three people: the person who says it the person who listens to it and the person about whom it is said
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Lashon ha Ra - a drash by Laurence Furic Friday, May 11, 2012
This is what Maimonides wrote about lashon hara in his code: Whoever tells tales about another person violates a prohibition, as it is said: "Do not go about as a talebearer among your fellows" (Leviticus 19:16)... Who is the talebearer? One who carries reports and goes about from one person to another and says, "Soand-so said this"; "I have heard such-and-such about so-and-so". Even if what he says or repeats may be true, the talebearer ruins the world. There is a still graver offense that comes within this prohibition, namely the evil tongue. This means talking disparagingly of anyone, even though what one says is true;
A person with an evil tongue is one who, sitting in company, says, "That person did such a thing"; "Soand-so's ancestors were so-and-so"; "I have heard this about him"; and then proceeds to talk scandal...
There are modes of speech that may be styled "dust of the evil tongue": such remarks as "Who would have thought that so-and-so would be as he is now"; or , "Be silent about so-and-so. I don't want to tell what happened", and so on... Equally reprehensible is the person who indulges in evil speech deceitfully, that is, speaks as though innocently, as if unaware that what he says is an evil utterance... Maimonides, Code, "Laws Concerning Moral dispositions and Ethical Conduct" - Chapter 7, section 1-4
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Lashon ha Ra - a drash by Laurence Furic Friday, May 11, 2012
WHY DO I CARE
This week's parshah is called "Emor" - = speak! Those who know me well know that this command suits me perfectly, doesn't it! I love to speak indeed, and I learnt to speak many languages. I also loved learning languages. But this is not why I care about this language of evil nature or good nature. It's because through my abilities to speak foreign language, or maybe through my own wiring, I perceived over the years how damaged I felt being exposed to lashon hara. It felt like the sun was retrieving from the sky, it feels like something disappears, hides behind the clouds and I wanted to understand that uneasy, unpleasant feeling.
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Lashon ha Ra - a drash by Laurence Furic Friday, May 11, 2012
An example of lashon hara in the Torah is Myriam starting to malign others, and especially her brother Moshe's marrying a Kushite (a non-hebrew woman). She gets sick and Moses uses the prayer "El nah refa nah la" (using his power of lashon hatov - the good speech - or good tongue - to heal her)
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Lashon ha Ra - a drash by Laurence Furic Friday, May 11, 2012
politics !!
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Lashon ha Ra - a drash by Laurence Furic Friday, May 11, 2012
So what can we actually do? There are actually ways, through either abstinence, or self-discipline. It takes work and time, but we can pay attention to how we relate to others, and above all, we can choose to deliver positive speech, in most of the circumstances.
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Lashon ha Ra - a drash by Laurence Furic Friday, May 11, 2012