Lashon Hara Jewish religious term for derogatory speech

Some reflections on the
laws of Lashon Hara

Origins

The law of derogatory speech is contained in the Torah - the code of ethics and laws which, by tradition, was taught to the Jewish nation by the lawgiver Moses in the desert after they had come out of Egypt. This is about 1300 BCE (i.e. over 3,300 years ago)

Moses had received the laws from God on Mount Sinai, and acted as the conduit, conveying those laws to the people, and elucidating them.

Many prohibitions in the Torah concern speech — not to be a tale-bearer; not to taunt a stranger, not to spread a false story about a person (motzi shem ra), not to hurt the widow or the orphan, and to distance yourself from untruths. The flip-side is to use speech as a way to sanctify and elevate humankind recognising it to be a divine gift, and a privilege, rather than something to be misused and diminished. In the Torah's vision speech is a way to bring greater holiness and spirituality into the world, rather than to denigrate or vilify. The gift of speech is to be used for prayer, to foster unity, fellowship, and harmony in society. Lashon Hara needs to be seen in that context.

The obligation to not speak Lashon Hara predates the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. When the Jews were, by tradition, still in Egypt, they maintained their Jewish identity under conditions of backbreaking slavery and cruelty by holding on to a few vestiges of identity: and one of them was the prohibition on Lashon Hara. Even when most practices of Jewish life had been forgotten, Lashon Hara was retained. And it is no exaggeration to say that without that adherence, the Jewish people could have dissolved completely at the time of the slavery.

Lashon Hara as part of Jewish life

Lashon Hara is not a seasonal or fluctuating law. It is a solid and consistent part of traditional Jewish life wherever the Jews reside and under whatever circumstances. It is not an easy commandment to fulfil, as a person has to overcome a natural instinct to gossip/speak about others in a way that is derogatory.

Over the course of the centuries, the prohibition on Lashon Hara came to blend into the prohibition on informing to the governing authorities which is a separate prohibition. With Jews living for thousands of years in the 'diaspora' (i.e. scattered away from the land of Israel, and often severely persecuted and discriminated against) the law against informing to the governing authorities was taken extremely seriously - as informing could make the difference between life and death for individuals, families or whole communities.

And this meant that silence and refusal to speak about internal wrongdoing became the default position for Jewish communities, which relied upon internal mechanisms for righting wrongs.

However, once Jews started to become accepted by benevolent governments and nations (e.g. the UK and US in modern times) the prohibition on informing became carried over: secular authorities continued to be seen by some as antagonistic entities. It would therefore be an act of treachery in addition to being Lashon Hara to disclose anything about any individual to the authorities.

This self-censorship meant that the laws of Lashon Hara became both a means of securing social solidarity and mutual respect but also a means of denying or diminishing challenging or difficult realities from within traditional Jewish communities.

And this in my view is probably the biggest challenge of modernity to the way the laws of Lashon Hara are followed.

The role of the Chofetz Chaim

The Chofetz Chaim (which literally means 'the one who desires life') played a pivotal role in placing the laws of Lashon Hara at the centre of Jewish life. Entire foundations and centres of learning exist today to disseminate his teachings and build them into the fabric of Jewish life. His book 'Guard Your Tongue' re-popularised the laws and repackaged them in a user-friendly format, so that many more people gained access and understanding of them. (At various times, people had felt, for instance, that the laws of Lashon Hara were somehow for an elite of scholars and very pious people, and simply beyond the capacity of the person on the street to adhere to fully. But the Chofetz Chaim dispelled that, explaining the centrality of the laws in the life of the whole Jewish people).

Three modern challenges

I have already written about the challenge of being able to speak about wrongdoing and if necessary report that wrongdoing to external authorities. A key challenge is to create the mechanisms for that to take place. As a simple example. a few years ago a prominent Rabbinical figure was charged with abuse of various women. It emerged that the situation had been perpetuated for too long partly because certain members of the community did not wish to hear or act on what they were hearing, and because of fears that to speak negatively about the perpetrator could be Lashon Hara. Since that event, a confidential helpline was set up in the community.

A second challenge is to transpose the laws about proper speech to corporations and states, not individuals. What are the permissible bounds of speech in relation to e.g. unlawful action by a corporation, or crushing of human rights by a state?

And a third challenge is the permissions. in the Chofetz Chaim's codification, he sets out situations in which it is permitted and in some cases mandatory to express derogatory speech. The boundaries are very nuanced and need to be applied with great sensitivity. For example what speech is permitted when reviewing a job application; when acting as a 'matchmaker' via a dating website; or when reviewing the prospective tenants for a property?

Andrew White - 11 February 2021