Charming

Today I was going about my business and there was a shiur on in the background. During the course of the shiur, the Rabbi said a terrible piece of lashon hara. I was greatly agitated. He then said to his listeners - "If you haven't heard this, you haven't opened up a newspaper in the last four months." I plead guilty to not being a fan of newspapers, certainly not to the type he reads and to not having heard the news.

I had a great day. Except for that. Put a damper on my spirits. Sweetest friends - loshon hara, Chazal say, kills three people [the one speaking, the one spoken about and the one listening].

In honor of Shavuos let us take upon ourselves to redouble our efforts to stay away from verbal homicide.

ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר - The Jews encamped opposite the mountain. We all know what Chazal say on this pasuk כאיש אחד בלב אחד - Like one man with one heart. If they would not have felt camaraderie then there would have been no kabbalas HaTorah and our lives would be empty. I often quote the Chassidic twist on the passuk. ויחן comes from the word "charm". חן. They were charming to one another.

One strategy to limiting lashon hara is to THINK positively about other people. All lashon hara begins with a negative thought. If we nip it in the bud there will be no more lashon hara:).