Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

He also diminishes his stature as a human being thereby [(by speaking lashon hara)] until he emerges "worse than a dog," as Chazal have said (Pesachim 118a): "One who speaks lashon hara … deserves to be thrown to the dogs, it being written (Shemoth 23:1): 'You shall not receive a false report,' which is read as you shall not spread, which is preceded by (Ibid. 22:30): '…to the dog shall you throw it.'" The rationale is obvious, as written by the Maharal of Prague: "For the dogs guarded themselves when necessary, from 'sharpening their tongues,' as it is written (Ibid. 11;7): 'And against all the children of Israel, a dog shall not sharpen its tongue' — and he [(a human being)], whom the L-rd accorded understanding and knowledge could not restrain his yetzer from this [(lashon hara)] — wherefore he is 'worse' than a dog."

It is stated in Arachin 15b: R. Chisda said in the name of Mar Ukva: "All who speak lashon hara deserve to be stoned, it being written in one place (Psalms 101:5): "Him [(the speaker of lashon hara)] shall I cut off," and, in another (Eichah 3:53): "They cut off my life in the pit, and threw a stone at me."

We also find in Arachin 15b: R. Yehoshua b. Levi said: "If one speaks lashon hara, his sins mount unto the heavens, viz. (Psalms 73:9): "They set their mouths in the heavens and [(i.e., when)] their tongues run on the earth." And it [lashon hara] is over and against the three grave sins, as mentioned above in Chapter IV. And just as it is over and against, so is its punishment, as we find in Yerushalmi Peah 1:5 and in Semag, that for four things punishment is exacted of a person in this world, and the principle is left for him for the world to come. They are: idolatry, illicit relations, and blood-spilling, and lashon hara over and against all. And, likewise, we have written above in Chapter VI in the name of Sefer Hakaneh that for the sin of lashon hara he is smitten with poverty. And we find also in Tanna d'bei Eliyahu 16: "Those who smite in secret 'i.e., speakers of lashon hara] and desecrators of the Name in the open and those who cheapen their friends with words, and those who instigate quarrels will, in the end, be like Korach [and his congregation] of whom it is written (Bamidbar 16:33): "And the earth covered them up."

And sometimes the punishment for the sin of lashon hara, the gravest sin of all, is askarah [diphtheria], the gravest death of all, as Chazal have said (Berachoth 8a): "Nine hundred and three types of death were created in the world … askarah is the gravest of all." A sign is given here for all who enter the world, that their punishment is indicative of their sin, as stated in Shabbath 33b: The Rabbis taught: "Why does this death (askarah) begin in the intestines and end in the mouth? R. Yehudah b. Ilai answered: "Though the kidneys counsel, the heart deliberates and the tongue formulates, it is the mouth which consummates [the lashon hara]."

And, more than this, we find in Midrash Aggadath Bereshith 20: "In time to come, all will be healed, but the serpent will not be healed. And just as there is no cure for the serpent, there is no cure in time to come for one who speaks lashon hara against his friend, as it is written (Koheleth 10:11): "If the serpent bites, [it is because] there is no charm [against him]; so, there is no advantage [i.e., cure] for the man of the tongue."

And we learn also in Pirkei d'R. Eliezer: "Anyone who speaks lashon hara against his friend in secret has no cure, as it is written (Psalms 101:5): 'He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I cut off [forever].' And it is stated elsewhere (Devarim 27:24): 'Cursed be he who smites his neighbor in secret.' Come and see [what happened to] the serpent. Because he spoke lashon hara between the Holy One Blessed be He and Adam and his wife, the Holy One Blessed be He cursed him (Bereshith 3:14): 'And dust shall you eat all the days of your life.'" (That is, just as it is written there "all the days of your life," the intent being that he not be cured even in the days of the Messiah, as stated in Berachoth 12b: "the days of your life" — this world; "all the days of your life" — to include the days of the Messiah" — so, here, he [the speaker of lashon hara] has no cure forever.) And I have seen also in the holy books that if one speaks lashon hara, his sustenance diminishes, like that of a serpent [i.e., "And dust shall you eat, etc."]

And it is obvious that if one habituates himself to this sin, his punishment for this (through poverty, penury, and the like) will also be constant, in lieu of the "confirmed leprosy" wherewith he should have been afflicted because of this, as explained in Chapter V.

From all of this, the severity of his punishment should be clear. For punishment is exacted of him in this world and he is punished with constant suffering and impoverishment, and sometimes also with death, G-d forbid.

And it is not enough that the speakers of lashon hara cause themselves to be smitten, but the whole world is smitten by their sin in this manner, that their sustenance is thereby diminished. As stated in Ta'anith 7b: R. Shimon b. Pazzi said: "The rains are withheld only because of the speakers of lashon hara, etc." And lashon hara also causes death, the sword and slaughter in the world, as we wrote above in Chapter II in the name of the holy Zohar.

Therefore, one who desires his own life and the life of the world should guard his tongue from evil. And he shall enjoy good both in this world and the next.