From the 7th Aliyah
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because
of the Cushite woman he had married (Zipporah). They said, "Has the Lord only spoken
through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?" And the Lord
heard it. (Numbers 12:1-16)
The Torah commands us to remember
the story of Miriam to remind us of the evils of
loshon hora, "Remember
that which Adonai, your God, did to Miriam on the way when you were leaving
Egypt" (
Deuteronomy 24:9).
The Chofetz Chaim points out how
mild this case of
loshon hora was. Miriam spoke about her
brother, whom she loved and for whom she had risked her own life. She did not
say something derogatory about him. All she did was mistakenly equate Moses
with other prophets. Moreover, her words were not said in Moses' presence or in
public. And we know that Moses wasn't hurt by her words and that there was no
negative fallout. The Chofetz Chaim explains that this is precisely why the
Torah uses this incident to teach us the evils of
loshon hora.
Despite all these factors and Miriam's great personal merit, she was still
punished.
When one speaks
loshon hora,
one violates the commandment of "And you shall love your fellow as yourself"
(
Leviticus 19:18). It is obvious that if you
speak
loshon hora about someone:
1. You do not love the other person,
and
2. You are not treating the other
person as you would yourself.
We are well aware of our own
faults, yet we are very intent on concealing them from others. Even if someone
were to discover one of our faults, and would tell some of
our friends about it, we would hope that they would notbelieve him. This is because we really love ourselves, and we do not
want others to view us in a negative way.
This attitude is precisely what the Torah wants
us to apply to others. Just as we would be horrified to overhear other people
reviewing our faults, we should be equally horrified to participate in a
similar conversation about someone else. And just as we are so caring and
protective of our own egos, so must we be equally caring and protective of the
pride of others.
(Adapted from
A Daily Lesson from the Chofetz Chaim: A Daily
Companion. Mesorah Publications.)
