Lashon haRa, literally meaning “the evil tongue,” refers to gossip. But the literal translation does get to the root of it… speech full stop holds immense power. And this extends to words we write as well (or include in Instagram infographics). Do yo know where I’m going with this? During the most recent conflict in Israel, while our brothers and sisters in the east were hiding in their bomb shelters, we were sitting in America arguing with acquaintances in the Facebook comment section. Social media became a *figurative* battle ground. Celebrities with millions of followers were sharing genuine lies — calling Israel an apartheid state, a colonizer, and an ethnic cleanser… even so if you now scroll Twitter, there are thousands of people with anti-Israel Twitter display names and even more anti-Israel Tweets.
The most harmful lies are ones that contain some semblance of truth, or at least wears the costume of truth. More on that later.
We learn a bit about that kind of evil speech in this week’s parsha, Shelach. This comes right after an event that happened in las week’s parsha, Behaalotecha, where Miriam is afflicted with the spiritual malady, tzaraat, which appears when one commits a certain transgression, including (you guessed it) - Lashon HaRa.
Miriam’s punishment (which we’ll get to) seems harsh (and I still feel like it is), but the Midrash gives us some context. Miriam noticed that Tzipporah, Moshe’s (Moses) wife, wasn’t living with him. In order to speak with G-d, one had to be ritually pure. Because Moshe was always “on call” to speak with G-d, he had to remain spiritually pure always, meaning he kinda neglected his wife. Miriam expresses sympathy for Tzipporah and goes to Aharon (Aaron) to discuss the matter. She also thinks it’s not good precedent to set, that the leader of the Jewish people doesn’t spend quality time with his wife. Miriam and Aharon are also prophets, and yet they live with their spouses! So Miriam brings this issue to Aharon, seemingly with very pure intentions. It’s not like she goes out and announces this concern to all the people… alas Hashem becomes very angry, viewing this speech as speech against Moshe. Yes Miriam and Aharon are prophets like Moshe, but they are not to the high level of prophecy that Moshe is, who is constantly speaking to G-d and must be constantly pure.
So Miriam is struck with tzaraat and then has to quarantine outside the camp for 7 days. Seems harsh for such a great tzadekus like Miriam… Miriam who is said to have told her parents to have another child because she prophesized that Moshe would be the one to redeem the Jewish people, Miriam who ensured that Moshe could lead the people by making sure he found a home after being placed in the Nile, Miriam on whose great faith and merit we had water in the desert… you get the point. But I read an interpretation that her rebuke was harsh because of how great she, in fact, was. I don’t know… I think she meant well, but I suppose the message is that offhand speech, even when it seems innocent can be dangerous. Or perhaps making any judgement about a life that is not our own is something that shouldn’t happen? I am going to continue thinking about this.
Cont’d…
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