Parashas Bereishis - Loose Lips Sink Ships

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Woah! Sefer Bereshis - It's packed with a lot of fun stories and lessons. This is going to be my second year writing. I am very excited and again I want to thank you subscribers for giving me the drive to continue writing.

In this week's parasha, there's an extremely life-threatening lesson I hope we will be able to work on this year. It's something that doesn't pop up once a year, month, or week. It's something to be worked on everyday. It's something we can't run away from; rather, something we can prevent.

Anyone who knows me, knows what I am talking about: the power of speech.

When Hashem created Adam v'Chava, He told them they may help themselves to anything in the fields with the exception of one tree, The Eitz Hada'as. Hashem warned them, "...for on the day you eat from that tree, you shall surely die!"

Hashem gave the Snake the power of words and the ability to walk upright in order to serve mankind. [1] The problem is, those powers were used against us. The Nachash convinced Chava to eat from the Eitz Hada'as, and death was then introduced - for the first time - to this world.

You always hear exaggerations; lashon hara can cause so much harm! Destroy shidduchim, family, business... It can even kill. Unfortunately, this is NOT an exaggeration, and we have this week's parasha to prove it.

The question is always asked, "...but the Snake didn't really speak lashon hara, he just lied! Lashon hara is saying something negative which is also the truth. So really, lashon hara wasn't what brought death to this world."

In Sefer Chofetz Chaim [2], Rav Yisroel Meir writes, "It's forbidden to say something bad about a friend even if it's 100% true! The sin is called, Lashon Hara. An even worse prohibition is saying something false about someone. That is called Motzei Shem Rah - bringing out a bad name."

'Motzei shem rah' is under the category of Lashon Hara. There are lots of sub-categories such as: motzei shem rah, rechillus, api t'laseh, etc...

The Nachash enticed Chava to eat from the tree by telling her, "Hashem doesn't want you eating from this tree, because that's where He got all His power from. He doesn't want any competition and therefore prohibited you from eating it." Then the Nachash pushed Chava onto the tree making her touch it (after she claimed it was 'forbidden to touch'). The tree wasn't forbidden to touch, however - although that's what Adam told her in order to keep her away from the tree.

Obviously this tree isn't where Hashem got His powers from. The Nachash lied in order to convince Chava to err. So the truth is, death came to this world because of motzei shem rah; a form of Lashon Hara.

Perhaps we can try to prolong each other's lives by refraining from evil words. Let's be known as "Hashem's children"and bring life instead of death.

Have a wonderful Shabbos and Shana Tova,
Nisso

[1] Maharsha; Sinhedrin 59
[2] Hilchos Lashon Hara: Klal 1 Halacha 1