This week’s parsha is about tzaras, a spiritual disease which used to come upon a person who spoke Lashon Hara (slander). Therefore, this week, I would like to discuss Lashon Hara.

Lashon Hara is an extremely hard mitzvah to keep. People wonder, “since I’m never going to avoid speaking Lashon Hara entirely, why should I even bother trying?” The Chofetz Chaim answered this question: a person (we’ll call him Chaim) was once walking on a seashore and saw hundreds of thousands of starfish were washed up on the shore. On the beach, was another person (we’ll call him Yehuda) who was picking up the starfish and throwing them into the ocean. Chaim started laughing when he saw Yehuda and said to him, “Why are you wasting your time? You’ll never possibly save all of the starfish.” Yehuda then picked up another starfish and as he thew it into the ocean he said, “That one is happy with what I’m doing.” He picked up another one, “This one too.”

Imagine the following – you make a decision to finally bring your children to Walt Disney World. You save up money for months and get ready for the big day. You are about to leave your house on the morning of the trip when your son says to you, “I just saw a map of the Magic Kingdom and I don’t want to go there. There are so many attractions that it is impossible to go to all of them. Therefore, we shouldn’t go there, because there’s just no way we can do everything. There are great things there, but if we can’t do everything, why should we bother going?

Would any child actually say that? No way! There are books and books on how to get on as many rides as possible at Disney but all of them that I have seen state the same idea: you will not get onto every ride. But that does not mean that you will not enjoy the park – there are so many great things to do that you will still have a magical day.

It might be very difficult not to speak Lashon Hara, but this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try. Even if we only avoid speaking Lashon Hara for 1 hour a day, that is great. The Chofetz Chaim quotes the GRA who states, “Every moment you do not speak Lashon Hara, you merit a hidden light that the Angels don’t understand.” We’re not talking about the baseball team, Los Angeles Angels – we mean the real thing. Every moment that Lashon Hara is avoided is a great moment.

This week we should work on improving our Shemiras HaLashon (guarding our tongue). Take a few minutes a day and learn a halacha about avoiding Lashon Hara. Do a Machson L’fi where you avoid speaking Lashon Hara for an hour or two hours a day. Don’t give up and say it’s not worth it. Every moment is precious!

Good Shabbos!
-y.e.s.
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