This week’s parsha deals mainly with the spiritual disease known as Tzaras. The Gemara lists numerous reasons how a person can get Tzaras, the most famous being the speaking of Lashon Hara. Therefore, this week, I would like to share a thought on how we can learn to avoid Lashon Hara. I am going to share with you the secret to avoid all Lashon Hara: look at other people in a positive way. Judge others favorably. These are not my words, but are the words are the Chofetz Chaim. The reason is quite simple: if you look at another person in a positive light, you will never be able to speak negatively about them.

One day one of the people in my office started yelling about how someone cut him off on the road. I asked him if an ambulance cut him off on the road, would he be angry? Of course not. That is an emergency. I then said that maybe this car was also going to the hospital for an emergency. He didn’t follow it to see where it was going. It is certainly possible to say that the driver needed to take care of something very important.

I thought about this event after it happened and realized that this idea can help us avoid Lashon Hara. When we see someone perform an act that we do not think was proper, instead of thinking about the worst, think positively. Think that the person had a very good reason to do it. We cannot see what another person thinks. The other person probably had good intentions. If we look at other people in this way, we will certainly avoid most, if not all, of the Lashon Hara spoken today.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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