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.
Positive Commandment number 4: The posuk in Vayikra 25:35 says:
"If your brother be waxen poor and his means fail him when he is with you, then you shall uphold him"
The Torah obligates us to give financial aid to a fellow Jew in order to prevent his becoming poor. This could be in the form of a grant, a loan, or a source of income. If you relate loshon hora and as a consequence the subject loses his job or income, you have violated this commandment.
Positive Commandment number 5: The posuk in Vayikra 19:17 says:
"You shall rebuke your neighbor"
If someone begins to tell you loshon hora, and instead of rebuking him you assist him by listening to his narrative, you violate this commandment.
Do not wait until the other person finishes speaking. Every single word of loshon hora is a separate transgression, and it is your obligation to stop the other person from sinning.
(Guard Your Tongue - Rabbi Zelig Pliskin)
A One Minute a Day Torah Thought !
"On many occasions, activists who make the rounds of kings and ministers on a regular basis, are required to sit at their host's table for meals and spend long hours in conversation with them. The problem is that the food at the meals is not kosher and the discussions often degenerate into profanity and slander. Thus, Moshe tried to excuse himself from going to Pharoh by saying I am heavy of mouth. Because the food will be unworthy to put in my mouth, and heavy of tongue the talk will be unholy for my lips to speak."
(Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Brunroth ZT"L - Sefer Torah Tavlin)
50 Suggestions for Concentrating during Prayer!
(3) The Gemara in Brochos 28b: Rabbi Eleazor said, "When you pray know before Whom you are standing.". Rashi explains: this is so that you will pray with fear and concentration.
(Pathway to Prayer, Rabbi Meyer Birnbaum) |
