This week we read about the Metzorah, who was afflicted with a spiritual type of leprosy. Our Sages teach that a person got this disease because of the sin of lashon hora, gossiping.
What is so harmful about a bit of gossip, that a person got a punishment requiring that he leave the camp and wait to be cured?
To understand this, we must appreciate the power of speech, and what a tremendous gift it is. Most of what sets us apart from animals requires language in order to be shared. Hashem stopped the construction of the Tower of Babel by dividing people into languages, preventing them from communicating and working together. It is truly one of our greatest gifts.
Hashem told us to use this gift for good purposes, and even for mundane ones. He wanted language to lift us up, not be misused to tear us down. And so there are terms and conditions, as it were, on this present given to us.
Lashon Hora, then, is to deny the profound nature of this gift, by violating the terms! Hashem says, “I gave you something so powerful, so incredible that it can move the entire world, and said not to misuse it in this way, and this is how you use it?”
Let us always remember that words can build, and also destroy, and be sure that we use the power of language in the right way, as intended.
