Lessons

Sponsored as a zechus for

Binyomin Daniel ben Miriam

May he speedily find his zivug

To sponsor a lesson Click
here

Lesson # 44c

Please verbalize or
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

Telling loshon
horah that was already told

1. I was telling over the shenanigans of a former classmate
   to a couple of friends.  When I was through, they informed me that they had
   already heard about it from another classmate.  I was wondering if I
   violated the prohibition of speaking loshon horah, since they already knew
   about it from another source.

1. It is still considered loshon horah for the following 2
   reasons.
1. It is prohibited to speak derogatorily about a fellow Jew,
   even if it will cause him no harm.
2. When people hear it from a second source, it lends more
   credibility to the story and therefore can cause more harm to the one who
   was spoken about.

#2

Loshon horah about
workmanship

1. The other day, a Jewish plumber did some work in my home. 
   I was not happy with his workmanship.  Would it be loshon horah if I told
   this to others?

1. Yes, it would be loshon horah, as it can cause great harm
   to his livelihood.  If there is a purpose in telling others about his poor
   workmanship, the law might be different.  We will discuss this in more
   detail, G-d willing, in future lessons.

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.

Oded:  On the flip side of what we were previously discussing,
the posuk tells us: “And you should make yourselves holy and you will be holy”.

Menaseh:  That seems kind of redundant.  Why does the
posuk need to say “and you will be holy”?  If you make yourself holy of course
you’ll be holy.

Oded:  The Gemora in Yoma explains that the posuk is
telling us that if a person makes himself holy a little, he will be made holy a
lot; if a person makes himself holy below, he will be made holy above; if a
person makes himself holy in this world, he will be made holy in the world to
come.

Menaseh:  That sounds very familiar.

Oded:  Yes; when we discussed the flip side, i.e. a
person who makes his self impure, the Gemora gave the same explanation.

Menaseh:  So if a person makes his self a little holy
he will actually be made more holy than he made himself?

Oded:  That’s correct!  When a person restrains his
evil inclination and leans towards the side of holiness; Hashem, who is the
source of all good and kindness, will radiate upon him an abundance of
holiness.

Menaseh:  But when we were discussing a person who
makes his self impure, you explained that passage differently!

Oded:  You’re right!  That’s because when a person
goes in the wrong direction Hashem will not push him further in that
direction.  Therefore, we were compelled to explain it either like Rashi, who
explains that Hashem removes the divine assistance from him, or like we
suggested, that his impure words contaminate his holy words.  But when a person
moves in the right direction, Hashem will eagerly push him further along in that
direction.  As our sages teach us, Hashem says: open for me an entrance the
size of a pinhole and I will open for you an entrance the size of a doorway
leading into a large ballroom.

If you have any
questions regarding these lessons, feel free to contact Rabbi Faivel Adelman clicking here.

If you know others
who would appreciate this program, please encourage them to join.  The more
people participating, the greater the zechus!  In addition, you will have a
share in the merit of anyone who improves their speech as a result of you
signing them onto this program!!

Click here to join                    Click here to invite a friend

Sources

Halachah

1) Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 1 Chap. 5
Be’er Mayim Chaim 11

2) Sefer Chofetz Chaim Sec. 1 Chap. 5 Par. 4

Agaddah

Sefer Shmiras Haloshon Section 2 Chap. 2