Monday, March 27, 2006

OrTorah: Vote No to Slander - by Rabbi S. Weiss

Vote No to Slander - by Rabbi S. Weiss
by EduPlanet Rectorate (daniEl I. Ginerman) - Monday, 27 March 2006, 04:12 PM
 
tora

Vote No to Slander
by 








From all things we must learn, say the sages, and often the world around us can teach us a thing or two about Jewish values.

And so, I call your attention to a little-known town in Colombia, a place called Icononzo, 40 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota. Fed up with local residents being targeted by false rumors and turning up dead or wrongfully arrested, the mayor of Iconozo has made gossip a crime, punishable by up to four years in prison and a six-figure fine.

On more than one occasion, malicious gossip in the city has had disastrous consequences. In one instance, a man was killed because somebody claimed, erroneously, that he belonged to a leftist insurgent group. On another occasion, a rumor ­ later proved to be unfounded - that an armed gang was on its way to terrorize the town kept residents locked inside their homes for 48 hours, too afraid to go to work or send their kids to school.

Finally, the town council decided to take drastic action. "Human beings must be aware and recognize that having a tongue and using it to do bad is the same as having dynamite in their mouths," said Mayor Jesus Ignacio Jimenez. Knowing that drug-ridden Colombia is no stranger to violence, and that deadly weapons are readily available, local officials decided to clamp down on gossipmongers. "It's definitely had an impact since it went into effect," said one citizen, "now people think twice about what they say before they say it."

Of course, Judaism is no stranger to the evils of lashon hara. The Torah prohibits gossip, slander and tale-bearing, and the rabbis characterize the tongue as a snake with a vicious bite that must be kept behind two gates ­ the teeth and the lips ­ to prevent it from striking too easily and spreading its venom. One who uses the power of speech to embarrass another is considered to have shed blood, the evidence of his crime indicated by the red blush of his victim.

In Jewish thought, the principal problem with malicious gossip ­ even when it is true and accurate ­ is that it tends to focus on only a tiny portion of the whole person. It takes a snapshot of a particular fault or feature, and blows it up into a pervasive, larger-than-life photograph of the victim. It is a sinister sound bite that can devour whole another's reputation or name, based upon a fraction of that person's behavior.

That is why the Torah's punishment for slander is tzara'at, a disease of the skin that comes from too much gossip. A small lesion that ultimately renders the whole body impure, tzara'at repays, measure for measure, the gossiper, who would use one unflattering incident to paint his victim with a wide brush. Once diagnosed as afflicted, the slanderer must be quarantined, kept outside the mainstream, just as he attempted to isolate and ostracize his neighbor.

All this seems most topical on the eve of Israeli elections. Watching the various parties' ads, it is clear that the main focus is not what is right about their programs or platforms, but what is wrong with their competition. Kadima's spot shows picture after picture of Binyamin Netanyahu in unflattering poses, questioning his honesty and integrity. Likud warns that Ehud Olmert is "dangerous for the nation." Meretz and Shinui blast the Hareidim for ruining their lives, with Shinui's slogan being, "We're not Shas!" And virtually all the parties let us know what an inexperienced, untested non-cosmopolitan boor Amir Peretz is.

Missing from this cavalcade of lashon hara is the clear statement of what each party stands for and what it will do to secure our future. What solid ideas does it offer for improving the economy, stopping road deaths, ending violence in schools and homes, kicking corrupt officials out of government, increasing immigration and bringing the nation together? Does it have a plan, a vision, of where Israel can and should be in five years, ten years, fifty years from now?

Is t here a positive reason that you, Mr. or Mrs. Candidate, should be elected, or should I vote for you just because - so you tell me - the other guy is worse?

Imagine what a Colombian-like ban on gossip in this election campaign would do to transform the shape of our politicking. It would force the candidates to actually focus on their own qualifications, to impress us with their own unique wisdom, creativity and personal charisma. It would turn the spotlight directly on them, highlighting both their past performance and their future potential. It would make them tell us why they believe that they are the person best equipped to direct this nation.

And maybe, just maybe, it would help to create the kind of leader we so desperately need, but cannot seem to find.


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