Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

In these parashiyoth, the Torah wrote at length about the greatness of the uncleanliness of the metzora [one afflicted with tzara'ath (leprosy)] and of his cleansing. And the Gemara in Arachin is well known, that tzara'ath afflicts one who speaks lashon hara, as stated there (Arachin 15b): "If one speaks lashon hara, he is afflicted with plague-spots, viz. (Psalms 101:5): 'He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him atzmith,' and (Vayikra 25:30): 'latzmituth,' which the Targum renders 'lachalutin'; [that is, that he be a metzora muchlat], concerning which we learned: 'The only difference between a quarantined leper and a confirmed [muchlat (similar to 'lachalutin')] leper is disheveling of the hair and rending of the clothes" [(these obtaining with the second, but not with the first)]. As to (Arachin 16a): "Plague-spots come for seven things, etc.", the Maharsha writes that there, it is possible that tzara'ath atones for him, for he is subject to quarantine — as opposed to the sin of lashon hara, where he is a metzora muchlat.

See the greatness of the uncleanliness of a metzora. For one who enters his tent, as soon as his head and most of his body enter, he is unclean. And this is so even if the metzorah is sitting under a tree and a clean person passes under it.

There are three types of uncleanliness: dead-body uncleanliness, zivah [genital discharge] uncleanliness, and metzora uncleanliness. The [one affected with the] first is sent only outside the camp of the Shechinah; the second, outside two camps, and the third, the metzorah, outside [all] three camps, as it is written (Vayikra 13:46): "Solitary shall he sit; outside the camp in his dwelling." That is, even the other unclean ones may not sit with him. And our sages of blessed memory have said. What is different about the metzorah that he sits alone? He [by his lashon hara] separated a man from his wife, a man from his neighbor — "Solitary shall he sit."

And it is written further in the Torah (Ibid. 95); "His clothes shall be rent and his hair shall grow long." The reason may be that lashon hara stems primarily from pride, one's fancying himself a distinguished man among men, whereby his heart prompts him to demean his friend. For if he recognized his own shortcomings, he would not seek another's blemishes. This is attested to by Scripture's writing concerning his cleansing (Ibid. 14:4), that he is to take cedar-wood, hyssop, and a tongue [lit. worm] of wool [dyed] scarlet. Rashi explains: "If he has grown proud as a cedar, let him lower himself as a worm and as hyssop and it will be forgiven him." Therefore, Scripture writes that his clothes shall be rent and his hair shall grow long, in order to abase him, that he appear to all as despised, and his heart not grow proud to speak against others.

It would also seem, according to what is known, that through the mitzvoth there are created precious vestments to clothe one's soul when it ascends, as we find n the holy Zohar (and as the GRA explains Koheleth 6:8: "At all times let your clothes be white.") And it is also known that through lashon hara the spirit of uncleanliness is drawn down on all the words of holiness that he utters afterwards, and they do not accrue to him, as we find in the holy Zohar, Pekudei 263:

"And from this evil spirit there issue forth other 'arousers of din,' which are appointed to seize upon the evil or filthy speech that a man utters with his mouth, after which he utters holy words. Woe unto them [such men]! Woe unto their lives! Woe unto them in this world! Woe unto them in the world to come! For those spirits of uncleanliness take that unclean word, and when he thereafter utters holy words, those spirits of uncleanliness come forward with that unclean word and defile [with it] the holy speech [that follows], and it does not accrue to him. If so, if one speaks lashon hara and then fulfils the positive commandment of reciting the Shema or of praying or of reciting grace after meals, or other blessings of the one hundred daily blessings, which certainly create vestments for the soul — when the unclean words draw down upon them the spirit of uncleanliness, they are immediately sullied and defiled and no longer fit to clothe the soul, wherefore the Torah writes (Vayikra 13:46): 'His clothes shall be rent,' intimating the vestments of his soul."

(Ibid. 45): "And [the hair of] his lips shall he cover": Because he certainly said in the beginning (Psalms 12:5): "Our tongues shall we strengthen. Our lips are with us. Who is master over us?", the L-rd commanded that now he be covered over his lips.

(Ibid.): "And 'Unclean! Unclean!' shall he cry" to keep people away from him. Because it was his way in the beginning to reveal the shame of his friend before others, therefore, he is now compelled to reveal his own shame before others.

Now when we come to assess the greatness of the sin of lashon hara, the damage one can do with his tongue, we find ourselves powerless to do so. For it permeates all of Torah, Prophets, Writings, and the apothegms of our sages of blessed memory. And, in general, one knows that he undermines thereby [the processes of] the upper worlds, [strengthening thereby the Sitra Achara (the "Adversary") and giving it power to incriminate the entire world.] And, below, he spoils the entire creation and himself, [for he thereby draws down the spirit of uncleanliness on all the fibers of his soul, as we find in the holy Zohar, Metzora.] And he harms others, as our sages of blessed memory have said (Arachin 15b): "The third tongue [i.e., the tongue of the talebearer, which is the third between a man and his neighbor, to reveal secrets to him] kills three: the speaker [of lashon hara], the accepter, and the object." And, in general, they said (Ibid.): "All who speak lashon hara magnify sin until the heavens, as it is written (Psalms 73:9): 'They set their mouths in the heavens when their tongues walk the earth.'" The plain explanation is that they thereby arouse the great Prosecutor against Israel, and bring death, sword, and slaughter to the world, as we find in the holy Zohar (see Chapter III).

And we can say that apparently "All who speak lashon hara" applies to one who is habituated to it and does not take it upon himself to guard himself against it. And there is always someone who finds someone to speak about every day. And even if we do not reckon many words, but only four or five a day, that is, about thirty words a week, and, in the course of a year, about fifteen hundred words, even if we consider lashon hara only one negative commandment, [he violates] fifteen hundred negative commandments a year! For certainly, just as in words of holiness, every word in itself is [fulfillment of] a positive commandment, so, in forbidden speech, every word is an issur in itself. And if he conducts himself in this manner his whole life, he accumulates about eighty thousand or more. And it is known that from every transgression a "prosecutor" is created, as we find in Avoth 4:11: "Anyone who commits one transgression acquires for himself one prosecutor" [How much turmoil must grip one's heart when he reflects that he has massed against himself a great army of such prosecutors!] All this, by a reckoning of four or five words a day, which are common to many men. How much more will there be found, among the notorious speakers of lashon hara, more than two hundred [such] words a day. This is the intent of "All who speak lashon hara magnify sin until the heavens."

And let one not think: "Do I not say every day: 'Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned'?" This would avail if one considered this [lashon hara] a sin and took it upon himself to guard himself against it. For penance requires, at least, absolute regret [for the past] and also acceptance [for the future]. And, in our many sins, one who is habituated to lashon hara does not consider it a sin at all. And even on Yom Kippur, when one says: [Forgive us] "for the sin that we have sinned before you with lashon hara," he does not accept upon himself 'guarding' for the future. And even if we say that he does, is this not among the sins between man and his neighbor, for which Yom Kippur does not atone until he conciliates his neighbor? (see Yoma 85b). And, a man like this — has he not certainly harmed several tens of men with his tongue? He has hurt this man by verbal wronging, and that one with lashon hara, and the other, with "whitening of the face" and the like. About such a one our sages of blessed memory have rightly said that a man by his lashon hara magnifies sin until the heavens. Therefore, a man must set his heart and his mind to this, that he not be "entrapped" above in this sin. They have also said "If one speaks lashon hara, he and I cannot live [together] in the world, as it is written (Psalms 10:15): 'He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I cut down… him will I not abide.' Read it not: 'him will I not abide,' but 'with him' will I not abide."

And see further that in all places we find that we must be solicitous of men's honor and not reveal their shame; but they were not solicitous at all of the honor of a person like this [(an inveterate lashon-hara speaker.)] To the contrary, they saw to it that the name of this man should be publicized, and all, so that he be humbled and receive atonement. For in the past, when one had to bring libations for the offerings, he had to go with his money to the keeper of the seals (Shekalim 5) and tell him for which offering he required libations [(for the cost of the libations was not the same for all offerings.)] He would give him the seal, with which he would go to the keeper of the libations, who would give him what he needed. On the seals there was written: "calf," "male," "goat," "sinner" [i.e., "metzora"], so that he would know how many libations he needed to take. We see, then, that they were not solicitous of the honor of the metzora at all and wrote "sinner" on his seal, so that he would know how many libations he required for his offerings.

And see further that from his cleansing we can reflect upon the greatness of his sin. For Scripture required the Cohein to place what remained of the oil on his palm or on the head of the one to be cleansed, something that we find in no other place. And this, because he must also have sinned in the acceptance of lashon hara. And the issur of the acceptance of lashon hara stems from his believing the lashon hara absolutely in his mind, whereby he transgresses the negative commandment of (Shemoth 23a): "You shall not bear a false report," as we explained in Chafetz Chaim, in the name of the Rishonim. If so, his mind is full of blemishes and faults vis-à-vis many men, wherefore the Torah required him to cleanse his head, so that henceforward he will follow this path no more and will judge every man in the scales of merit.