Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

There is a general way to rescue oneself from this bitter sin and its punishment. And this is what we are taught by the Blessed L-rd in Parshath Tetze (Devarim 24:8): "Guard yourself against the plague-spot of leprosy, to take great care and to do according to all that the Cohanim teach you, etc.", followed by (Ibid. 9): "Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam on the way when you went out of Egypt." And we learned in Sifrei: "Remember what the L-rd your G-d did" — I might think, [remember] in your heart, but 'Guard yourself against the plague-spot of leprosy to take care and to do' already speaks of the guarding of the heart (For the Sifrei understands "Guard yourself in [lit.], the plague-spot of leprosy" as "from the plague-spot of leprosy"; that is, that we not divert our heart from guarding against the sin [lashon hara], which leads to it). How, then, am I to fulfill 'Remember'? Mention it with your mouth." The will of the Torah, then, is that we remember the greatness of the punishment of this bitter sin both in the heart and by the mouth in order to avail our souls by this. As Ramban wrote in Mitzvah 7 of his Mitzvoth: "We have been commanded to remember by the mouth and return it to our heart, what the exalted L-rd did to Miriam when she spoke against her brother, though she was a prophetess, in order to distance ourselves from lashon hara and not be one of those of whom it is said (Psalms 50:20): "You sit and speak against your brother; against your mother's son you utter slander." For, in truth, the remembrance of the issur and the greatness of its punishment lead to guarding against it, just as the remembrance of the positive commandments leads to their fulfillment, as it is written (Bamidbar 15:40): "And you shall remember all the mitzvoth of the L-rd and you shall do them."

And let one not wonder that we actually see people who after the saying of "Remember," and, sometimes, even at the time of its saying, speak lashon hara. Where, then, is the assurance of the Torah? But, in truth, is it not written of words of Torah (Devarim 32:47): "For it is not an empty thing from you" — If it is empty, it is from you [i.e., because of you] that it is empty. And there has been fulfilled in us, in our many sins, the words of Isaiah the prophet, may peace be upon him (Isaiah 29:13): "Because this people has drawn near. With its mouth and its lips it has honored Me, but its heart is far from Me." For we say "Remember" only with our mouths, but we do not remember at the time of doing. And if a man brought it up to his heart to fulfill the remembrance as the Blessed L-rd has commanded us, it would certainly be of great avail in rescuing us from this sin.

We shall explain in detail this verse ["Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam on the way when you went out of Egypt"], so that every man of intelligence can see that our words are correct. The holy Torah noted for us in the mitzvah of remembering, four things: 1) "Remember what, etc."; that is, what was done. 2) To whom did He did it? To Miriam. 3) In what place did He do it? On the way. 4) When did this occur? When you went out of Egypt. Why does the Torah mention these four specifically? What difference does it make to us that the punishment was tzara'ath [leprosy] and not any other punishment? Or whether this happened in the house or on the way? Or whether it happened at some other time and not at the exodus from Egypt? But the truth is that these four details are essential for "remembering" and there is great benefit in reflecting upon them. And for this reason it is written "Remember what He did." That is, one should remember and reflect upon the greatness of the punishment inflicted upon her because of her speaking against Moses, our teacher, may peace be upon him. And that punishment was tzar'ath, an extremely severe punishment, which [illness] it is impossible to cure unless the Holy One Blessed be He conduct himself with him [the leper] above the bounds of nature. As we find in Midrash Rabbah Vayikra 16 on (Vayikra 14:5): "And the Cohein shall command and he shall slaughter the one bird" — Why does he slaughter one and release the other? To teach us that just as it is impossible for the slaughtered bird to return, so is it impossible [within the bounds of nature] for the plague-spots to return [there being no possible cure in the interim]." And [the degree of] his uncleanliness is extremely severe. For he must sit outside the three camps, as opposed to all the other unclean ones. And he also renders unclean all who enter his tent as mentioned in the verse [(an intimation that all those who keep company with the slandered become unclean, as he is)]. And he is also considered like a dead man, as Chazal have said (Nedarim 64b). This explains "Remember what He did, etc." And to whom did He do it? To Miriam, who was a great tzadeketh, in whose merit the well rose [for Israel], and also a prophetess, as it is written (Shemoth 15:20): "And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron took, etc." And she spoke only against her brother, whom she loved as herself, having risked her life to save him from the water. And she did not speak demeaningly of him, but only likened him to the other prophets (as Rambam writes at the end of Hilchoth Tumath Tzara'ath). And she did not speak to his face to shame him, and not in public, but only to her holy brother, in private, her intent being only the betterment of society. And he [Moses] was indifferent to all of these things, as it is written (Bamidbar 12:3): "And the man, Moses, was extremely humble, etc." And in spite of all this, all of her good deeds did not avail her, and she was punished with tzara'ath because of this. And in which place was this punishment inflicted upon her? "On the way," her merits not sufficing her to suspend her judgment until they came to camp in some place, where it would not have been so conspicuous. But now that she was punished immediately on the way, as they were walking, as it is written (Bamidbar 12:15): "And the people did not journey until Miriam had been gathered in," the greatness of her shame was revealed to all, as it is written (Ibid. 14): "Will she not be shamed, etc.?" And when did this happen? When they went out of Egypt, in the beginning of the second year of the exodus, when the greatness of its punishment was not yet known. (As to its being written in respect to Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, [that his hand became leprous (viz. Shemoth 4:6)], it [the leprosy] was immediately removed from him, as it is written (Ibid. 4:7): "And, behold, it had resumed its fleshy appearance" — as opposed to what happened afterwards, when they had to enter Eretz Yisrael and this was aborted through the lashon hara of the spies. For in this instance the sin was far greater, their having witnessed the punishment of Miriam and not having taken mussar [reproof] — wherefore the parshah of Shelach was juxtaposed with that of Miriam (See Rashi there).

And from all this one can deduce upon reflection, a fortiori, that today when we are all like "the hyssop of the wall" compared to Miriam, the prophetess, and when the greatness of the punishment for lashon hara is known to all from the episode of Miriam and of the spies — if one does not guard himself against lashon hara, even if it be of the [attenuated] type of Miriam (How much more so if he speaks the lashon hara with the intent of demeaning his friend and shaming him), he certainly will not be clean of the great punishment of tzara'ath or other punishments like it, and he will not be granted a suspension of time. And one who hears, and who fulfills "remembrance" always, in this manner, will certainly be saved from this sin.

As a matter of course, it follows from this that a Jew must know the details of the laws of lashon hara, in order to know what to guard against. For lacking this, how will remembering the episode of Miriam avail him if the yetzer seduces him [into believing] that this speaking [of his] is not in the category of lashon hara or that the Torah did not proscribe the speaking of lashon hara against a man like this!