Lashon hara (or loshon horo, or loshon hora) (; "evil tongue") is the halakha term for speech about a person or persons that is negative or harmful to them, even though it is true.[Telushkin, Joseph. A Code of Jewish Ethics: Volume 1 - You Shall Be Holy. New York: Bell Tower, 2006. p. 332.]
Lashon hara differs from the more severe prohibition of hotzaat shem ra, "making a bad name," in that hotzaat shem ra consists of untrue statements.
Lashon hara is considered to be a very serious sin in the Judaism. The communicator of lashon hara (which is included in rechilut) violates the Torah prohibition of lo telech rachil b'ameicha,[לֹא-תֵלֵךְ רָכִיל בְּעַמֶּיךָ – ]
Definition
Speech is considered to be
lashon hara (detraction) if it says something negative about a person or party, is not seriously intended to correct or improve a negative situation, and is true. Statements that fit this description are considered to be
lashon hara, regardless of the method of communication that is used, whether it is through face-to-face conversation, a letter, telephone, or email, or even body language.
By contrast, hotzaat shem ra ("spreading a bad name") – also called hotzaat diba or motzi shem ra (lit. "putting out a bad name") – consists of , and is best translated as "slander" or "defamation" (calumny). Hotzaat shem ra is an even graver sin than lashon hara.
The act of is called rechilut, and is also forbidden by halakha.
Etymology
The phrase consists of the noun ("tongue"), the
definite article , and the adjective ("evil"). The Hebrew noun means "tongue" and – as in many languages – "speech" or "language". The phrase is generally translated as "evil speech". The term corresponds to the idea of an "evil tongue" in other cultures, such as the Latin mala lingua,
[ A Commentary on Catullus - page 19. Robinson Ellis - 2010. re the Virgilian motto: "baccare frontem cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro ... would seem to show that the notion of witchcraft was originally that of the evil tongue (mala lingua) rather than the evil eye."] the French mauvaise langue,
[John A. Lent -Third World mass media and their search for modernity Page 179 1977 "Lewis, writing about the features of West Indian society that make it more traditional than modern, delineated a number of interpersonal communications traits: Passion for intrigue; malicious gossip, the famous Trinidad mauvaise langue][Caroline Sweetman. Men and Masculinity - Page 50. 1997 "... to less acceptable but more aggressive methods of power enforcement such as spreading malicious rumours or mauvaise langue".] and the Spanish mala lengua.
[Cuban-American literature and art: negotiating identities - Page 24. Isabel Álvarez-Borland, Lynette M. F. Bosch - 2009 "The difference between the two organs is that whereas the diseased body is put in the care of medical specialists, responsibility for the ailing tongue, for la mala lengua, rests with the speaker alone. The only treatment available to ..."][Cassell's Spanish dictionary: Spanish-English, English-Spanish Edgar Allison Peers - 1968][ Speaking for themselves: Neomexicano cultural identity Doris Meyer - 1996 "An article entitled "La lengua" The, appearing about the same time in El Nuevo Mundo May, begins with the traditional equation between moral character and probity of speech. The image of a "mala lengua" evil"]
Sources
The term
lashon hara is not mentioned in the
Tanakh, but "keep thy tongue from evil" () occurs in
Psalm 34:14.
The
Torah contains a general injunction against
rekhilut (gossip): "Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbour: I am the ."
The Biblical curse on one who "strikes his fellow in secret"
is understood by the rabbis to refer to
lashon hara, as it is a form of harming a person without their knowledge.
[Rashi to Deuteronomy 27:24]
The Talmud lists lashon hara as one of the causes of the Biblical malady of tzaraath.[ Arakhin 15b] Elsewhere, it declares that habitual speakers of lashon hara are not tolerated in God's presence.[Sotah 42a] Similar strong denouncements can be found in various places in Jewish literature.
In Numbers chapter 12, Miriam gossips with her brother Aaron, questioning why Moses is more qualified to lead the Jewish people than anyone else. God hears and strikes her down with tzaraath. Miriam had to stay outside of the camp for a week due to the tzaraath. During this time, all of Israel waited for her.
Chofetz Chaim
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan wrote two major
halakha works on the evil tongue:
Chofetz Chaim ("Desirer of Life", ) and
Shmirat HaLashon ("Guarding the tongue"), both 1873. The
Chafetz Chaim lists 31 speech-related commandments mentioned in the Torah. An English adaptation,
Guard Your Tongue (2002), anthologizes the teachings of these two books.
[Zelig Pliskin, Guard Your Tongue. Bnay Yakov Publications (2002)]
Baalei lashon hara
The expression
baalei lashon hara literally means "masters of evil tongue", and it refers to habitual speakers of
lashon hara. The serious prohibition of communicating
lashon harah relates foremost to somebody who incidentally did so. Someone who makes it his habit to talk
lashon harah about others ("did you hear ...", "do you already know ...", etc.) is called a
ba'al lashon hara. By repeatedly communicating so, lashon hara became an integral part of this person, and his/her sins are far more severe, because this person regularly creates a
chillul hashem, a "desecration of the name of
HaShem" ().
Lashon hara,
rechilut and
motzi shem ra are not accepted social tools in Judaism, because such behavior cuts the person who does in this manner off from many good things in the world around them. It is often phrased that one should stay away from people who communicate
lashon hara, because any day, one will almost certainly become an object of derogatory communication by the same people.
Exceptions
Reporting abuse, especially if the abuse is illegal, is not Lashon hara, regardless of
hashkafa.
There are times when a person is permitted or even required to disclose information whether or not the information is disparaging. For instance, if a person's intent in sharing negative information is for a to'elet, a positive, constructive, and beneficial purpose that may serve as a warning to prevent harm or injustice, the prohibition against lashon hara does not apply. Hotzaat shem ra, spouting lies and spreading disinformation, is always prohibited. It is important to note that even with positive intentions, there are many important limitations regarding when it is permitted to speak lashon hara.
See also
External links
