{"id":80510,"date":"2020-09-29T16:37:15","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T13:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=80510"},"modified":"2020-09-29T16:37:15","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T13:37:15","slug":"holy-speech-vs-diabolical-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/holy-speech-vs-diabolical-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Speech Vs. Diabolical Speech"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"80510","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"579","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Leshon hara - not what you thought...\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.929.org.il\/lang\/en\/page\/573\/post\/80217\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As already noted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Se`adyah Gaon (882-942), in the introduction to his commentary on Psalms, stated that the cryptic notations that accompany many of the psalms (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">selah, almut, neginot<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) are either choral instructions or names of musical instruments that would accompany them. A <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>sh\u2019minit<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(12:1)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, arguably, would be either an eight-toned melody, or an eight-stringed instrument.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The outstanding theme of this psalm is speech\u2014proper and inappropriate. In the view of the psalmist, piety has been lost and people are no longer trustworthy (2). They speak falsehoods to one another, smooth talkers flatter one another, and their words are often at odds with their innermost intentions (3). While they mistakenly believe that their power of speech can overcome all restraints (5), it produces the sighs and cries of the needy and oppressed (6). In contrast, he extols the virtues of God\u2019s speech, which he described as pure as silver that has been refined sevenfold (7).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inappropriate speech is often called <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">leshon hara<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">`; I would like to seize the opportunity presented by this psalm to provide an insight into its real meaning. Notice, first, that there is no gender correspondence between the two words. Whereas <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lashon<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a feminine noun (cf. v.4), the adjective <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ra<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">` is masculine. Indeed, the reason the first word is vocalized <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">leshon<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (not <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lashon<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) is that it is a construct of two nouns (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">semikhut<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), signifying the tongue, or speech, of the evil one. I would submit that \u201cthe evil one\u201d here is Satan.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, its converse is <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">leshon hakodesh<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, usually understood as a euphemism for Hebrew. I would submit that this, too, is a misnomer. Here, too, there is no gender correspondence and here, too, the vocalization points to a construct: the tongue, or speech, of the holy one, who, I submit, is God Himself, who, in the typical Yemenite articulation of Hebrew is called <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">haKodesh barukh hu<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (rather than <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">haKadosh<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To speak properly is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">imitatio dei<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; to speak improperly or impiously is diabolical.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: No lashon hara sign, Jerusalem \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":80523,"id":80523,"title":"ps12-leshon hara","filename":"ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/holy-speech-vs-diabolical-speech\/ps12-leshon-hara\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps12-leshon-hara","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":80510,"date":"2020-09-29 13:36:06","modified":"2020-09-29 13:37:13","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":761,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara-300x285.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":285,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara-768x731.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":731,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":761,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":761,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":761,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":761,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara-442x420.jpg","home_baner-width":442,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Holy Speech Vs. Diabolical Speech","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Leshon hara - not what you thought...","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":80523,"id":80523,"title":"ps12-leshon hara","filename":"ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/holy-speech-vs-diabolical-speech\/ps12-leshon-hara\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps12-leshon-hara","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":80510,"date":"2020-09-29 13:36:06","modified":"2020-09-29 13:37:13","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":761,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara-300x285.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":285,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara-768x731.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":731,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":761,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":761,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":761,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":761,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps12-leshon-hara-442x420.jpg","home_baner-width":442,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80510"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80524,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80510\/revisions\/80524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}