Timeline of the Miraglim
This Parsha opens up with the story of the Miraglim. Rashi notes that the
previous Parsha ended with the story of Miriam getting Tzaras and being sent
out of the camp because she spoke Loshon Harah about Moshe. These two events
did not happen in chronological proximity. The events of Korach were
sandwiched in between.
Rashi explains that the Torah took these two events and juxtaposed them to
teach us a lesson: Had these Miraglim not been so wicked, they would have
learned from what happened to Miriam, and that would have prevented them
from saying their negative report about the land. However, “These wicked
people saw what happened and didn’t learn from it.”
The Miraglim’s sin wasn’t Loshon Harah
The problem with this Rashi is that the Miraglim’s sin had nothing to do
with Loshon Horah – it emanated from a lack of trust in HASHEM. When they
entered the land, they saw giants occupying fortified cities. They witnessed
people dying left, right, and center. In their minds, if the Jewish Nation
attempted to conquer this land, they would be slaughtered wholesale – man
woman, and child.
Clearly, they were lacking in Bitachon. Their faith in HASHEM was deficient.
But they weren’t guilty of speaking Loshon Harah. First off, there is no
prohibition against speaking Loshon Harah about land. Land is inanimate. We
are forbidden from derogatory speech about people – not rocks.
Of even greater significance, once the Miragalim made their mistake and
concluded that HASHEM wasn’t powerful enough to bring us into the land, what
they then spoke wasn’t Loshon Horah at all. In their calculation, they were
saving the Jewish people from utter destruction; in which case it wasn’t
forbidden speech; it was a mitzvah.
Why does the Torah forbid Loshon Harah?
The answer to this question stems from understanding why the Torah forbids
Loshon Harah. The Rambam defines Loshon Harah as words that hurt; words that
damage. Whether they cause a person embarrassment, loss of income, or sully
his reputation, the very definition of Loshon Harah is: words that cause
harm. That is the reason the Torah forbids us to speak it – not because the
Torah is so strict – but because words can have such a harmful effect.
To appreciate the damage that words can cause, imagine that I discover a
cloak of invisibility. When I put this cape on, I can walk around freely
without anyone seeing me. Imagine for a moment that after I find this cloak,
I decide to have some fun. As I walk around the Bais Medrash, I take a sefer
from one fellow and turn it upside down. Oh, his reaction when he sees it!
Then I walk over to another fellow and close his Gemarah. “Hey! What
happened?” Next, I see a pair of charvusahs who are standing up for a
moment. I walk over and put both of their Gemarahs back on the shelf. “What
the --?”
I am having a jolly time!
After a while, I get a bit bolder. As someone is walking by, I leave my foot
in the aisle. “Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” he yells as he falls to the floor with a
crash.
“This is fun,” I think to myself. And now I really start to get into it. As
a fellow walks by, I give him a punch in the stomach, “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!” The
next guy, I smash in the back, “Agggggh!” And before you know it, there are
guys falling, getting smashed, and really getting hurt. The joke is no
longer funny.
The Chofetz Chaim points out to us that the Torah reserves a curse for one
who “Hits his neighbor while hiding.” Chazal explain that this refers to
someone who speaks Loshon Harah about his friend. Why am I so cavalier about
what I say about him? Because he isn’t here. If he were standing right
nearby, I would never say what I said. I say it only because he isn’t
around. And in that sense I am hitting him while hiding.
One of the reasons that we have difficulty controlling our speech is that we
don’t see it as truly damaging. “What is the big deal if I tell an
interesting story or two?” we say. While I would never dream of physically
harming you, when it comes to ruining your reputation, damaging your
business, or causing you harm in the way that people perceive you – then I
am much less concerned. The Torah is teaching us that Loshon Harah is
forbidden because of the power of the words and the damage they can cause.
That is why they are forbidden.
The power of speech
The answer to this question on the Miraglim seems to be that they should
have seen what happened to Miriam and learned one lesson from it – the power
of speech. They should have thought to themselves, “If such a Tzadekess said
something only slightly questionable about her brother, whom she loved and
revered, and had to be sent out of the encampment for 7 days to suffer
embarrassment and public humiliation; what does that tell us about the
impact of her words? Why did HASHEM act so harshly with her? It must be that
what she did was far more egregious than we realized. It must be that her
words – while merely speech – are a powerful force and therefore forbidden.
Had the Miraglim learned this lesson, they would have been far more careful
in their speech. They would have thought many times about the consequences
of their words, and that would have made them stop and think to themselves,
“Before we bring back this report, are we sure? Are we a hundred percent
certain that the Jewish people will die trying to conquer this land? Didn’t
HASHEM bring us out of Mitzraim? Didn’t HASHEM split the sea for us?”
Understanding the power of speech would have caused them to think about the
consequences, and the results might well have been very different.
This concept has great relevance in our lives. Most of the damage that we do
through speech isn’t malicious or with bad intent. We speak without thinking
about the consequences, without contemplating the results. The Torah is
teaching us the power of those words and how careful we have to be with what
we say, not because the Torah is machmir when it comes to sins of speech,
but because of the effect that speech has to help or to harm – because of
the power of the spoken word.
This issue is sponsored: l'ilui
nishmas Chana bas R' Yosef
For more on this topic please listen to Shmuz
#139- The Power of Speech
