{"id":47175,"date":"2019-01-08T23:01:14","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T21:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=47175"},"modified":"2022-08-02T11:58:32","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T08:58:32","slug":"lashon-ha-ra-evil-speech-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/lashon-ha-ra-evil-speech-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Lashon Ha-Ra (Evil Speech) \u2013 Then and Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[805,363],"acf":{"old_id":"47175","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"129","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Why did Moses\u2019 siblings speak against his wife - and against his relationship with God?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the beginning of our chapter, Miriam and Aaron, the sister and brother of Moses, speak derogatively about Moses\u2019 Cushite wife and also complain that the Lord had spoken through them as well as through Moses. Here Scripture inserts a very significant comment about the character of Moses: \u201cNow Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth\u201d (Numbers 12:3). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Miriam, Aaron and Moses are summoned by God to the Tent of Meeting. God appears, angry at Miriam and Aaron for speaking against Moses. As our Chapter continues, Miriam is punished with leprosy (<em>tzara\u2019at<\/em>) and banished from the Israelite camp for seven days. But, at the behest of Aaron and in answer to the prayer of Moses, the entire people of Israel waits for her to be healed and to return to the camp before moving on. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Rabbinic Sages employed this biblical narrative to teach that the divine punishment for <em>lashon ha-ra<\/em> (literally \u201cbad tongue\u201d, i.e. \u201cbad-mouthing\u201d, denigrating another person) is leprosy, based on a play on words <em>metzorah<\/em> (\u201cleper\u201d) \u2013 <em>motzi shem ra<\/em> (\u201cone who casts an evil name\u201d, i.e. casts aspersions) (see Babylonian Talmud, Arachin 15b). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the Midrash (Sifre Numbers to Numbers 12), Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses for having ceased marital relations with his wife, Zipporah. Miriam noticed that Zipporah had stopped adorning herself like other married women. And when asked, Zipporah explained that Moses had desisted from having sexual relations, because he needed to constantly hold himself in readiness to answer the call of God. Suppressing his desire for Zipporah was indeed a great sacrifice on the part of Moses, because Zipporah, Moses\u2019 Cushite (i.e. dark-skinned) wife, was exceptionally beautiful \u2013 more than all other women. Her remarkable attractiveness is reflected in her name: Zipporah \u2013 Tzfu Ur\u2019uh (literally \u201cgaze and behold\u201d). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps the primary sin of Miriam and Aaron was their challenge to his leadership: \u201cThey said, \u2018Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?\u2019\u201d (Numbers 12:2). Indeed, to this day, we find that those who seek to undermine and usurp legitimate authority, often do so by employing undeserved deprecating speech \u2013 the traditional sin of <em>lashon ha-ra<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":60185,"id":60185,"title":"2sam9-gossip","filename":"2sam9-gossip.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/david-rejects-slander\/2sam9-gossip\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam9-gossip","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60178,"date":"2019-07-28 08:15:03","modified":"2022-08-02 08:58:30","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":400,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","medium_large-width":400,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","1536x1536-width":400,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","2048x2048-width":400,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","post_full_size-width":400,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","home_baner-width":400,"home_baner-height":300}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Lashon Ha-Ra (Evil Speech) \u2013 Then and Now","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Why did Moses\u2019 siblings speak against his wife - 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