Love your neighbor like yourself. No? Then like what?

 

"where you are!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbuikoUmwI8

 

Test: THE CHANT!

Review: THE SHVAH!

Choose -

Puddin cake -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSPP5mH5lxs

Schnitzel-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp1m9iuKYUk

Red velvet truffles-   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa2mP2ok14g

Do not go about as a tale-bearer among your people- do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor!- Leviticus 19:16

. לֹא-תֵלֵךְ רָכִיל בְּעַמֶּיךָ, לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל-דַּם רֵעֶךָ!

 

 Maimonides on Negative Speech, from Hilkhot Deot (Jewish Ethics and Thought), 7:1-4

A.   Rechilut,  or, “Life and death are in the hand of the tongue- Proverbs 18:21”

Whoever tells tales about another person violates a prohibition from the Torah, as it is said, ‘Do not go about as a rachil/tale-bearer among your neighbors’ (see below.)  Who is a tale-bearer?  One who carries reports and goes about from one person to another and says, ‘So-and-so said this;’ ‘I have heard such-and-such about so-and-so.’  Even if what the person repeats is true, the talebearer ruins the world.

There is a still more grave offense that comes with this prohibition, namely lashon ha’rah /evil speech [literally ‘the evil tongue.]  This means talking disparagingly of anyone, even though what one says is true.

A person with an evil tongue is one who, while sitting in company, says, ‘That person did such and such a thing;’ ‘So-and-so’s ancestors were so-and-so;’ ‘I have heard this about them;’ and then proceeds to talk scandal.

B. What Is Lashon Harah?

As a rule, most people seem to think that there is nothing morally wrong in spreading negative information about others as long as the information is true.  Jewish law takes a very different view.  Perhaps that is why the Hebrew term lashon ha-ra has no precise equivalent in English.  For unlike slander, which is universally condemned as immoral because it is false, lashon ha-ra is by definition true.  It is the dissemination of accurate information that will lower the status of the person to whom it refers.

Since lashon ha-ra is considered anything that lowers another person’s status, it  is irrelevant whether one uses a nonverbal technique to commit it, such as texts or social media. 

 

C.  What Is Motzi Shem Ra? The most grievous violation of ethical speech is slander, the spreading of roumors or gossip known to be false what Jewish law calls motzi shem ra, “giving another a bad name,” or in English, slander.

 Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), “The Gossips,” 1948. Painting for “The Saturday Evening Post” cover, March 6, 1948. Oil on canvas. 

 

 

Once there was a town gossip  who spread every rumor and story. Sometimes the stories were true, and sometimes the stories were not true.    The town became full of gossip and lies, and began to become a terrible place to live. The Rabbi then called the gossip to his house.  "Why do like to share these rumors and stories?" the Rabbi asked.  "It's only talk," replied the gossip. "I can always take it back."

"Perhaps you are right," said the Rabbi, and he began to talk of other things. As the gossip was ready to leave, the Rabbi asked, "I wonder if you would do something for me."  "Of course," said the gossip.  The Rabbi took a pillow from the couch and handed it to the gossip. "This will sound strange, but do me this favor. Take a  pillow to the town square. When you get there, cut it open, and shake out the feathers. Then come back."

The gossip was puzzled, but agreed to do what the Rabbi said. He got a pillow and took it to the town square and cut it open. The breeze scattered the feathers across the sky, down every street and into the air in every direction, quickly vanishing.  The gossip returned to the Rabbi's house and told him what he had done.

The Rabbi seemed pleased. He handed the Gossip a basket and said, "Now please go back to the square, and gather the feathers up again."  The gossip gasped, "But that's impossible!"  "You are right," said the Rabbi. "Just as it is impossible to take back all the untrue things you said about others. Be careful with the words you spread. Once spoken and sent on their way, they cannot be gathered again."

 

At least a pillow contains a finite number of feathers.  An email, on the other hand, can be ad infinitum (without limit)---- Rabbi Michael Fessler