Jewish Moral Teaching Against Gossip #1: "Lashon Hora"

Lashon Hora

Some people have opposed gossip on practical grounds. Others have spoken against it for religious reasons, none more strenuously than the Jews.¹ Judaism has a rich tradition of moral teaching on the subject of the “evil tongue,” in Hebrew, “Lashon Hora.”

This body of teaching stretches back, of course, to the Old Testament, which we have explored at length in chapter two of this project. But it has developed over the centuries and taken some surprising turns.

The richest vein of this teaching stems from a Hebrew book entitled Chofetz Chaim “Lover of Life” by a nineteenth century Lithuanian rabbi, Israel Meir Hacohen Kagan.² “The Hofetz Haim is a compendium of all the legal sources in the Jewish tradition that deal with forbidden speech. It became so famous that Rabbi Kagan received the highest honor accorded an author in traditional Jewish life–the title of the book became his nickname.”³

Many of Chofetz Chaim’s thoughts are distilled for us in English in three popular works by modern day Jews, Gossip: The Power of the Word by Stephen M. Wylen, Gossip: Ten Pathways to Eliminate It from Your Life and Transform Your Soul by Lori Palatnik, and Words that Hurt, Words that Heal: How to Choose Words Wisely and Well by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin.⁴ These three books, while being very different from each other in style, generally teach the same things.

Chofetz Chaim’s teachings are, in many ways, consistent with what we learned in chapter two of this project. Gossip is dangerous; it comes from a wicked heart; it is not just telling lies but also telling shameful truths about someone not present; it often stems from a judgmental spirit; it is wrong even to listen to gossip; it is gossip to reveal secrets, etc. Writers in Chaim’s tradition also recognize that there are times to speak out about someone, including issuing a warning to keep someone else from harm.

And yet, this Jewish teaching against gossip diverges significantly from Christian teaching (at least, as I understand it) in three different ways. First, the Jewish tradition places an inordinate emphasis on rule-keeping. Second, the Jewish tradition’s understanding of the rules becomes casuistic and borders, at times, on nonsense. Third, the Jewish tradition has very little notion of grace because of a faulty understanding of atonement.

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Tomorrow, we will consider the first two differences and, on Monday, the third.  

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¹Roman Catholicism has also consistently preached against gossip. For pertinent quotes, see Joseph M. Esper, Saintly Solutions to Life’s Common Problems: From Anger, Boredom, and Temptation to Gluttony, Gossip, and Greed (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2001). Sadly, while many of the suggestions of the “saints” in this volume are good, Esper believes that the “saints” themselves can currently solve common problems. “We, of course, are in no position to imitate these particular saints, but their prayers, and those of the entire heavenly court, can certainly help us overcome a tendency toward gossip, if we desire to do so.” (ibid., 157).

²The title refers to Psalm 34. “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies” (Ps 34:12-13).

³Stephen M. Wylen, Gossip: The Power of the Word (Hoboken: KTAV Publishing House, 1993), 10.

⁴Stephen M. Wylen, Gossip: The Power of the Word (Hoboken: KTAV Publishing House, 1993); Lori Palatnik with Bob Burg, Gossip: Ten Pathways to Eliminate It from Your Life and Transform Your Soul (Deerfield Beach: Simcha Press, 2002); Joseph Telushkin, Words that Hurt, Words that Heal: How to Choose Words Wisely and Well (New York: Quill, 1996).