The Chofetz Chaim enumerated 31 Torah Commandments which may be violated when a person speaks or listens to loshon hora. There are 17 prohibitions and 14 positive Commandments - a total of 31 Commandments.
Prohibition number 16: The posuk in Bamidbar 35:33 says:
"You shall not pollute the land wherein you are"
This posuk forbids us to flatter a wrongdoer. If you know that Reuven dislikes someone, the correct thing to do is to admonish Reuven for his hatred. By speaking loshon hora to Reuven about his enemy in order to find favor in his eyes, you violate this prohibition.
Prohibition number 17: The posuk in Vayikra 19:14 says:
"You shall not curse the deaf"
This verse forbids us to curse others with G-d's name. It applies even to a deaf person.
All the more so are we forbidden to curse someone able to hear. If you speak loshon hora about someone in anger, you are apt to curse him.
(Guard Your Tongue - Rabbi Zelig Pliskin)
A One Minute a Day Torah Thought !
When Basya, Pharoh's daughter, took in the baby she found on the river, she didn't know who she was saving. Did she consider the possibility that this was the savior of Israel, the father of all prophets, the deliverer of the Torah? We can only imagine what would have happened had she continued along, not bothering to retrieve the little basket she found floating on the river. How much would Am Yisrael have lost!
(Parshas Shemos - Sefer Torah Tavlin)
The Power of Prayer!
This is truly the unique power of Israel. Rashi says in Chumash Bamidbar: "Yitzchok gave to Yaakov as a blessing the power of words, as it says in Chumash Baraises: 'the voice is the voice of Yaakov' which means that we call out to HaShem and we are answered".
(Pathway to Prayer, Rabbi Meyer Birnbaum) |
