Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

(Devarim 22:13): "If a man takes a wife and he comes upon her, and he hates her, (19): and he libels her and gives out about her an evil name, and he says: 'I took this woman and I drew near to her, and I did not find virginity in her'… (22:18): and the elders of the city shall take the man and they shall chastise him." Our sages of blessed memory have said that he receives stripes, having transgressed "You shall not go talebearing."

(Devarim 22:19): "And they shall fine him a hundred (shekels of) silver… for he has given out an evil name about a virgin of Israel." (Arachin 15a, Mishnah): "We find that one who speaks [(lashon hara)] with his mouth is worse than one who commits the act." [For one who ravishes or seduces must give only fifty shekels and, also, is not liable to stripes, as opposed to one who gives out an evil name (motzi shem ra).] And this may be the intent of (Amos 4:13): "For He forms the mountains and creates the wind and tells a man what his converse is." That is, a man, when he reflects sometimes about his affairs, thinks only of his deeds, and not at all of his words, saying to himself: "What harm can my words do? Are they not insubstantial?" But, in truth, it is not so. For the effect of his words on high can be much worse than that of his deeds. And this is the intent of "He tells a man what his converse is." That is, at the time of judgment they will set out before him and show him to his eyes [(as it is written (Psalms 50:21): "I will reprove you and set it out before your eyes")] what damage he had done with his converse. It is not written "what his speech is," but "what his converse is," "converse" connoting light, simple talk. As our sages of blessed memory have said (Chagigah 5a): "Even slight converse between a man and his wife is related to him at the time of judgment." Not even one word is lost that is not written down, as Scripture states (Koheleth 10:20): "For the bird of heaven will carry the voice, and the winged one will tell the thing." As it is known, "the winged one" is the angel Gavriel, who proclaims above, everything that is done in this world. As to "will carry the voice," this is as the naturalists write, that every article of speech — the voice, with every letter that issues from his mouth — is found in the air, not even one letter being lost. And this is what happens when a man speaks with his friend. The voice and all of its letters reach the ears of his friend. And along these lines they said (Bava Metzia 58b): "R. Yochanan said in the name of R. Shimon b. Yochai 'More severe is verbal wronging than monetary wronging (i.e., cheating)' [even though monetary wronging is by deed and verbal wronging only by speech]; for of the latter it is written (Vayikra 25:17): 'And you shall fear your G-d,' and of the former it is not written 'And you shall fear your G-d.'" R. Elazar said: "This [(verbal wronging)] is with his body; the other is [only] with his money." R. Shmuel b. Nachmani said: "This [(monetary wronging)] is subject to restitution; that [(verbal wronging)' is not subject to restitution." And if he caused his face to "whiten" [with shame] thereby, his sin is too great to bear. As we find there: "If one causes his friend's face to whiten in public, it is as if he has spilled blood."

(Devarim 23:14): "And a peg shall there be for you al azenecha": Bar Kappara expounded: Read it not "al azenecha" ["among your implements"], but "al aznecha" ["upon your ears"]. If one hears something unseemly, let him place his fingers in his ears? [That is, if he understands that they are going to speak of such things, or if he does not want to hear anymore.] This is as R. Elazar said: "Why are a man's fingers like pegs? So that if he hears something unseemly, he can place his fingers in his ears." It was taught in the school of R. Yishmael: "Why is the ear itself stiff, and the lobe soft? So that if one hears something unseemly, he can place his lobe in his ear." The Rabbis taught: "Let one not permit his ears to hear idle talk, for they are the first to be 'burnt' of all the organs."

(Ibid. 24:8): "Be heedful of the plague-spot of leprosy, to take great care, and to do according to all that the Cohanim, the Levites, teach you… (9): Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam on the way when you went out of Egypt." And, in Sifrei, "Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam on the way, etc.": "I might think: [Remember] in your heart. But this is already stated. How, then, am I to understand "Remember"? That you should say it with your mouth." It is clear, then, that they understood "Be heedful, etc." as be heedful not to contract [leprosy], and, [if you do,] "to do all that the Cohanim, etc."

"Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam" — "Mention it with your mouth always" [Ramban]. And he writes there that this is an explicit positive commandment, just as (Shemoth 20:8): "Remember the day of Sabbath to sanctify it," (Ibid. 13:3): "Remember this day that you went out of Egypt, etc." And this, too, just as the former, is a positive commandment, to mention the great punishment that the L-rd brought upon the tzadeketh, the prophetess, who spoke only of her brother, the "redeemed of her soul," whom she loved as her soul, and who did not speak thus to his face, to embarrass him, and not in public, but only in private, to her holy brother [Aaron] — and all of this did not avail [to save her from leprosy.] You, too, if 'you sit and speak against your brother; if you slander your mother's son,' (Psalms 50:20), you will not be saved."