Lashon Hora: Our hardest tikkun?

Just stating facts. I love being Jewish and love the Jewish people, but we have a problem that we have to fix in order to see the Beis HaMikdash.

Hillel Hazaken said, “What is hateful unto you, do not do to another. This is the whole Torah. All the rest is commentary.”

There is a reason for mitzvot, of course, they make us grateful to our Maker who gives us everything. But if the whole Torah is bein adam l’chavero, isn’t lashon hora a number one criteria for redemption?

I know we are trying to change this by becoming more and more aware of it and as mentioned I love our nation, I just think we have one more step to overcome before we see redemption.

I want to reiterate that every part of our Torah is holy and meant to make us holy, but that according to many of our Torah sources and our holidays is the concept of the removal of sinas chinam. During Pesach, we ask that we be rid of our enemies. During Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur we ask that we be forgiven by our enemies. When we sleep at night, we say we will forgive everyone who has hurt us. Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed because of cruelty. In the morning, we pray not to be hurt by anyone. In Psalms, we read about enemies and ask Hashem to protect us. On Yom Kippur we read the story of Jonah, where he had to remind the people of Ninveh to be kind to one another. In Shavuot, we read about an exemplary relationship between Ruth and her mother-in-law. During the Omer, we learn about Rabbi Akiva’s students who didn’t respect one another. During the Av, we learn about the destruction of the Second Temple due to sinas chinam. Purim, when camaraderie is at its best, is an example of the future redemption. Am I missing something or are most of the holidays related to teaching us how to behave bein adam Lchavero? I think that when the Torah talks about enemies, we see that as other nations, when in fact they can be people in our lives or personal enemies.

There’s nothing new under the sun. All in the Torah. It’s just that since Hashem is shalom, mahlokes destroys individually and collectively. I have seen it in many places, even in the news. It’s not a matter of restricting our freedom to speak as we choose, but simply to make it a daily conscious decision with the awareness that every word counts.

1. Ayn Torah b’goyim. Yesh chochma b’goyim – Positive speech brings prosperity?

2. The face of the generation of Moshiach will be like dogs–Our Sages compare speakers of lashon hora to dogs.

3. On a regular year, Tzaria and Metzora are read together–are they connected to choosing life?

From the introduction of the Chofetz Chaim:

“Our Sages state that that taking on the observance of this mitzvah and strengthening it throughout klal Israel is the most effective means of laying the foundation of the Beis HaMikdash.”

“What more is there to say about this sin (lashon hora) which is the severest of all sins? Man’s ULTIMATE task is to not sin with his mouth. The Sages say that one’s good deeds and Torah knowledge cannot offset the damage that one does with speech…”(Excerpts from a letter by the Vilna Gaon).

Not a troll, just hoping for Geula.

http://www.aish.com/tp/i/gl/Insights-of-Rashi-Lashon-Hara.html

Shmot(Exodus 1:1-6:1)

The commentaries note a number of problems with this Midrash.2 The Chofetz Chaim focuses on the issue of why it was the sin of lashon hara in particular that brought about such severe suffering on the Jewish people; he points out that the Jewish people were guilty of idol worship and yet that was not the cause.3

The sin of lashon hara is different because it involves speech. Therefore, the Angel created by it receives the power of speech. This gives it the ability to verbally express the nature of the lashon hara that the person perpetrated; but the Chofetz Chaim goes further and says that this Angel also enumerates all the hitherto unmentioned sins that the person committed. Thus speaking lashon hara opens the floodgates for punishment of numerous other sins.

This explains why the fact that the Jewish people spoke lashon hara resulted in the tremendous suffering they endured in Egypt. Without this flaw they would have been spared punishment for their other sins such as idol worship, but once it became clear to Moshe that they stumbled in this area he understood the severity of this exile.

(more proof to come)