Lessons

Sponsored as a zechus for

Binyomin Daniel ben Miriam

May he speedily find his zivug

Lesson #43c

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have in mind that you are studying this material as a merit for a specific
single and/or Jewish singles throughout the world.

Halachah

#1

Loshon horah about
property

1. I have a friend who owns a bicycle shop.  He told me that
   the bicycles sold by his Jewish competitor are of inferior quality.  Is
   that considered loshon horah?

1. It certainly is.  The prohibition of speaking loshon horah
   applies to speaking negatively about someone’s merchandise as well; as it may
   reflect poorly on the owner or cause him financial harm.

#2

Loshon horah told
by 2 people

1. If 2 people tell over the loshon horah, together, is that
   any better?

1. No.  As a matter of fact, it’s an even greater sin.  When
   2 people tell it together, it tends to be considered more credible.  People
   will more readily believe it, resulting in greater harm to the subject of
   the loshon horah.

Aggadah

This section is
formatted as a conversation between Oded and Menaseh.   Oded is encouraging his
friend Menaseh to be more careful in guarding his tongue from evil speech.  The
thoughts in this section are primarily based on the sefer, Shmiras Haloshon.

Menaseh:  You were explaining the passage of Gemora
which states that one who contaminates himself in this world will be
contaminated in the world to come.  You stated that when we get to the world to
come, external forced will clothe us in soiled garments which were created by
our own sins.  You were going to relate an illustration to help elucidate that
point.

Oded:  Here is the illustration.  Picture a groom who
is being escorted to his chupah.  Suddenly, he is accosted by a band of
hooligans who begin pelting him with trash and filth, until he is covered by it
from head to toe.  Those in attendance begin yelling at the hooligans: “Why are
you doing this? Where did you get all that trash from?”  The hooligans then
proceed to demonstrate that the groom is actually one of them and part of their
gang.  “As a matter of fact”, declare the hooligans, “he himself was the one
who prepared the dirt bomb”.

Menaseh:  Are you implying that the same is true
regarding our sins?

Oded:  Absolutely!  Our sins create soiled garments. 
When we arrive above, we are forced to don those garments.  We have no way of
objecting since they were created by us ourselves.

Menaseh:  I remember once learning in Navi about
Yehoshua ben Yehozadok the Cohen Gadol who was also wearing soiled garments.

Oded:  That’s correct.  The Navi Zechariah describes
a vision he had of Yehoshua ben Yehozadok standing before an Angel of Hashem
and to his right stood the soton in order to prosecute him.  The angel
commanded those who stood in front of him to remove the soiled garments from
Yehoshua ben Yehozadok.

Menaseh:  If soiled garments come from sins, why was
Yehoshua ben Yehozadok wearing them?  He was a righteous individual.

Oded:  He was righteous, but his sons weren’t. They
married non-Jewish women.  As a result of the desecration of Hashem’s name
which that caused, Yehoshua ben Yehozadok was compelled to don the soiled
garments.

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Sources

Halachah

1) Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 1 Chap. 5 Par.
7

2) Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 1 Chap. 5 Par. 8

Agaddah

Sefer Shmiras Haloshon Section 2 Chap. 2