Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

The Torah expanded greatly on the episode of Joseph and his brothers, which resulted in our descent to Egypt and had many other awesome consequences, so that everyone should take mussar from this on how to guard his mouth and his tongue.

In Avoth 1:13 we find that Hillel used to say: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me, etc." This apothegm is highly comprehensive. Its plain meaning relates to zeal in the service of the L-rd, saying: "If a man himself does not bestir himself while he is yet alive and while he still has strength, who can help him?" As Scripture states (Koheleth 9:10): "All that your hand finds to do, in your strength do it" — "in your strength," specifically. We have already expatiated upon this elsewhere. For a man can depend but very little upon his sons, and his principal (task) is to prepare "provender for his destined abode." And it is in this regard that Hillel says plainly: If a man himself does not benefit his soul, who can do it for him?

But he also alludes hereby to an awesome phenomenon. And that is: If a man does not do evil to himself, who can do evil to him? For the truth is that everything that happens to a man in this world, both for the good or for the bad, is brought about by the man himself. As it relates to our subject, the descent to Egypt, its first cause was Abraham's saying [to the Holy One Blessed be He] (Genesis 15:8): "How do I know that I will inherit it?" and His responding (Ibid. 13): "You will surely know, for your seed will be a stranger in the land [Egypt], etc." And Chazal have said (Shabbath 89b): "Jacob should have gone down to Egypt in iron chains, but his merit availed him to be honored by being brought honorifically to his son who reigned in Egypt.

And the reason that Joseph reigned and his other sons humbled themselves to him stemmed from Jacob our father himself. Because he became angry with Rachel upon her saying to him (Bereshith 30:1): "Give me sons," he was told by G-d (as related in the Midrash, Bereshith Rabbah 71:10): "Is this the way to answer those who are oppressed? Upon your life, your sons will stand before her son [Joseph]!"

In sum, one must be extremely careful in his words, for he thereby affects his fate, whether for the good or for the bad, G-d forbid.

(Ibid. 37:2): "And Joseph brought evil report of them (the sons of Leah) to their father": He told him that they called their brothers [the sons of the concubines] "servants," and that they were suspect of illicit relations, and of eiver min hachai [(eating a limb torn from a living animal)]. The verse tells us that he told no one else but their father, and this, only in order that he reprove them — in spite of which he should not have done so, for he should first have reproved them himself; for the din of reproof applies even from a disciple to his teacher, and he should not have revealed it to his father. [(And perhaps he did reprove them first and they admitted to him that they should not have called them servants. For, in truth, before Jacob had married them, he had freed them and taken them as wives, as the verse states in respect to them (Ibid.): "the wives of his father." Or perhaps they had contested the suspicion itself saying that it was not true, i.e., that they had not called them servants. As to his suspecting them of illicit relations, this was an error on Joseph's part, for by means of the Sefer Yetzirah they had created a golem in the form of a woman.)]

And Chazal say concerning this in the Midrash (Midrash Rabbah): "(Mishlei 16:11): 'A scale and just balances are the L-rd's' — for all of them he was punished measure for measure. For 'they call their brothers servants' — Jacob was sold as a servant. For 'they are suspect of illicit relations' — all of Egypt suspected him with the wife of Potiphar. For 'they are suspect of eiver min hachai' because he did not see them perform shechitah — this was a mistake, and Scripture thus apprises us (Bereshith 37:3): 'And they slaughtered a kid of goats' (after having sold him) and did not eat it live."

(Bereshith 37:3): "And Israel loved Joseph more than all of his sons, for he was the son of his old age.": Scripture hereby apprises us that Jacob did not accept the lashon hara that Joseph brought to him, and loved him only because he was the son of his old age.

(Ibid. 5): "And Joseph dreamed a dream… (8) …Will you reign over us?": Scripture expatiates upon the dreams to rationalize somewhat the extreme hatred of the brothers to Joseph to the point of wanting to remove him from the world: They assumed that he desired to reign over them, for which reason he had brought "evil report" of them to their father, so that he should remove them from his presence [as Rashi explains (Ibid.): "for his dreams and for his words" — "for the evil report that he had brought to their father." And the robe that his father made him served as "supporting evidence" that he had accepted his report], and that perhaps, G-d forbid, he would agree with Joseph, so that he [Joseph] would be a "master" over them, as in Isaac's blessing to Jacob (Ibid. 27:29): "Be a master to you brothers, and your mother's sons will bow down to you." Or, [they thought,] G-d forbid, that he [Jacob] would banish them altogether, as Noach said (Ibid. 9:25): "Cursed is Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers." Therefore, they took counsel on how to rid themselves of him.

(Ibid. 14): "And he [Jacob] sent him [Joseph] from Emek Chevron" — "from the deep [(alluded to by "Emek")] counsel of that tzaddik [Abraham] buried in Chevron, in fulfillment of what was stated (Ibid. 15:13): 'for your seed will be a stranger in a land that is not theirs.'" The meaning here (in my humble opinion) is that Egypt was the "nakedness of the land," an extremely impure place, for which reason it was ordained in the beginning that one of the sons of Jacob would come to publicize there [in Egypt] belief in the Divine providence, as it is written (Ibid. 41:25): "What G-d is to do He has shown to Pharaoh." For a similar reason Joseph commanded afterwards that they [the Egyptians] circumcise themselves — all to weaken the power of impurity, so that it would be fit afterwards for Israel to sojourn there.

(Ibid. 37:15): "And a man found him, and, behold, he was straying in the field, etc." Scripture expatiated on this so that one not ask: How could this great calamity have been brought about through "the embassy of a mitzvah," Joseph having gone there to fulfill the bidding of his father! Also, how could all of this have been initiated through our father Jacob? Therefore, Scripture tells us that the embassy was completed in Shechem, and his going farther was of his own volition.

(Ibid. 17): "For I heard them [the brothers] saying: 'Let us go to Dothan [nelchah dotainah],' which Rashi interprets: 'to seek against you nichlei datoth [legal devices (suggested by 'nelchah dothainah')] to kill you with." The explanation: It was decided by them that Joseph was a man of lashon hara, who provoked their father to hate them. And who knows how much contention he would stir up among them? They, therefore, sought some pretext to rid themselves of him in a way which would not make them "murderers" legally. As far as his being killed indirectly through them, this did not concern them. And as to their saying (Ibid. 60): "Let us go and kill him," this was meant in the same indirect sense. As stated in the well known Gemara, Makkoth 23a): "If one speaks lashon hara, he is fit to be cast to the dogs, it being written (Shemoth 23:1): 'You shall not bear a false report,' preceded by (Ibid. 22:39): 'To the dog shall you cast it.'" And we find in the Gemara (Bava Kamma 24b): "If one sicked a dog against someone, he is not guilty [of murder]." And even though by the law of Heaven, he is certainly liable for "indirection," too, they thought that in this instance they would not be liable by the law of Heaven because Joseph was a man of lashon hara and contention.

(Ibid. 22): "Throw him into this pit in the desert. …in order to rescue him from their hand, to return him to his father": His [Reuven's] counsel proved to be to Joseph's benefit (for it rescued him from their hand), but, in any event, casting him there was dangerous; for there were snakes and scorpions there. (He [Reuven] did not know about this, however, for if he did, this would be actual "murder," it being stated in Yevamoth 121b): "If one fell into a pit full of snakes and scorpions, it may be testified about him that he is dead." (Below we shall explain the "measure for measure" in this.)

(Ibid. 25): "And they sat down to eat bread": Scripture here apprises us that they wronged him in this. For even the greatest sin, which incurs the death penalty, requires abeyance of judgment, it being incumbent upon them that night to deliberate upon the judgment itself and not to preoccupy themselves with eating. We shall explain below the suffering they experienced because of this, "measure for measure."

(Ibid.): "…and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites …going down to take it to Egypt": Scripture hereby apprises us that by the same means with which one wishes to harm his neighbor the blessed L-rd contrives to benefit him. And here, when he was sold to the Ishmaelites, he was brought to Egypt to the house of Potiphar, where he underwent and withstood the trial [with the wife of Potiphar], in the merit of which he ascended to greatness.

(Ibid. 26): "And Judah said to his brothers: 'What profit if we kill our brother? (27): Let us go and sell him to the Ishmaelites.'": On the one hand this resulted in great benefit to Joseph, his being saved from death; and, on the other, in great harm, their agreeing to sell him as a slave. (Ibid. 28): "And they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver… (34): And Jacob rent his garments … and he mourned his son many days."

From here on, Scripture begins to relate the punishments and the mortifications that they suffered for this, all "measure for measure." First of all, Judah was punished, who was the immediate cause of the sale. He became a mourner over his sons, and certainly also rent his garments over them, according to the din. And his brothers, too, were not exempt from the punishment of "rending" [k'riyah], for they, too, rent their garments on their day of woe [viz. Ibid. 44:13]. And because he [Jacob] mourned his son "many days," therefore, (Ibid. 38:12): "And after 'many days,' the daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died." And because he deceived his father with a kid of goats, dipping Joseph's robe in its blood, they deceived him, too, with a kid of goats, as we find in the Midrash. And because they said (Ibid. 37:32): "Recognize, now," he, too, was punished through Tamar with (Ibid. 38:25): "Recognize, now, whose are this signet and cloak and staff? Who can imagine the greatness of the shame and the mortification that he suffered then!

In any event, we can see [from here] the greatness of the lovingkindness of the Blessed L-rd. for as soon as he said (Ibid. 38:26): "She is right [Tzadkah], [She is with child] by me," and he accepted the din upon himself, a Heavenly voice came forth and said: "Tzadkah, from Me came forth secret things!" The essential idea is that the entire episode is Divine Providence (see Rashi there). As we find in the Midrash, the angel appointed over lust invested him at that time — whence it is seen that from this very shame decreed upon him, much good shone upon him, Tamar conceiving two righteous sons, from which the kingdom of the house of David emerged.

We find the same with respect to Na'ami. 'It is written (Ruth 1:19): "And the entire city was astir over her. And they said: 'Is this Na'ami?'" Rashi comments that all had gone out to bury the wife of Boaz, and all of them said: "See what happened to her because she left Eretz Yisrael!" Indeed, why did it happen? The truth is that it is "measure for measure." For certainly when she and her husband left Beth Lechem at the time of the famine because of [all] of the paupers who had converged [upon them for food], undoubtedly all cried out, saying: "Who will support us now in the time of the famine?" And because of this it was decreed upon her that when she returned to Beth Lechem all the city would be astir and would say: "See what happened to her!" — until she herself accepted the din upon her by saying (Ibid. 20): "Do not call me Na'ami ("sweet"), call me Mara ("bitter") for the Almighty has sorely embittered me."

But if we reflect further, we see the greatness of the goodness of the Holy One Blessed be He, that the punishment itself results in great good. For a place was prepared for her to restore her tranquility and to sustain her old age. For in the death of the wife of Boaz, it was ordained by Heaven that he marry Ruth, as it is written (Mishlei 19:14): "And from the L-rd, an understanding wife." And through this Oved was born to her, who, as it is known, was Machlon, as the Kabbalists wrote, wherefore it is written (Ruth 4:17): "A son was born to Na'ami" [(and not "to Ruth," Machlon having been the son of Na'ami [viz. Ibid. 1:2])]. In sum, a man must believe that "from the mouth of the Almighty evil does not emerge, and if suffering does result we must know that good lies in it.

And now we shall speak about what transpired with Joseph. First of all, the Torah apprises us that even though it was decreed upon him that he be a slave for having said about his brothers that they called their brothers servants, still, the mercies of Heaven were upon him, that his success grew there, his being appointed the overseer of Potiphar's house.

(Bereshith 39:6): "And Joseph was beautiful in from and in appearance": As Rashi explains it, once he saw himself elevated, he began preening his hair, at which the Holy One Blessed be He said to him: "Your father is in mourning and you preen your hair! I will incite the 'bear' against you," whereupon (Ibid. 7): "And it was, after these things, that the wife of his master, etc." and Heaven contrived to have him placed in the prison house.

It is known, according to our sages of blessed memory that he worked in the house of Potiphar only one year, and that he sat in the prison house for twelve years, [for he was driven out of his father's house when he was seventeen years old and he stood before Pharaoh when he was thirty], and we find in Shemoth Rabbah 3 that he had to sit in the prison house for ten years for having spoken lashon hara about his ten brothers, and because he said to the chief butler (Bereshith 40:13): "For if you remember me … and you remember me," it was decreed upon him [that he sit there] another two years — but when the time was completed, he did not remain there an extra moment, as it is written (Ibid. 41:14): "And they 'hastened' him out of the pit," and not "And they took him out of the pit," for then he would have remained there a few superfluous moments.

From all this, we see the gravity of the issur of lashon hara, twelve months for each man having been decreed upon him, corresponding to the [time of] the judgment in Gehinnom. And while he sat there all of Egypt spoke about his being suspect [with Potiphar's wife], as Rashi explains on the verse (Ibid. 40:1): "And it was after these things that there sinned, etc.", and this [(his being suspected)] was because he had suspected his brothers. But after his punishment was completed, the Holy One Blessed be He remembered his righteousness and raised him higher and higher until he was publicized throughout the land of Egypt in glory and renown as a holy man of G-d, as it is written (Ibid. 41:38): "Can there be found such a one! a man invested with the spirit of G-d?"