Weekly Post and Thought

Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, ל"ז, The Chofets Chaim
1839-1933

Another week is drawing quickly to its conclusion.  We had a great time welcoming and celebrating Shavuot together on Saturday evening.  If you missed it...well, you missed it.

Shabbat approaches again, and we're back to our 'normal' schedule:

- Friday evening at the Southport Community Centre, Room F5, at 6.30PM.  Service to welcome Shabbat, followed by an Oneg featuring your culinary offerings.  $15 per person requested donation and bring a dish to share.

- Saturday at the Levy home.  11.00AM Service followed by lunch provided by Clara.  Then, after lunch a bit of Pirkei Avot.  $15 per person requested donation.

Speaking of donations, I need to provide the periodic reminder of how to donate but also, to inform you that there is a new way.

Jewish Journeys now have EFTPOS facility for accepting debit and credit cards for your donations when you take advantage of our Services and Classes.  I will have the EFTPOS machine available at all functions.  You can also e-mail or phone me (number below) with your card details if you want to use this method for payment other than in person.  Finally, the 'old' methods still work:  cash, cheque (to 'Jewish Journeys'), or bank transfer.  For the last, here are the details:

Jewish Journeys Ltd

Westpac The Ridge

BSB 034142 Acc't 148110

If you pay that way, a quick e-mail to Mavis at treasurer@jewishjourneys.com.au to explain the purpose(s) of the payment would be appreciated! 

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To continue the daily thoughts would be a bit much, but based on your feedback I decided to continue adding a thought to my weekly e-mail with the conclusion of the Omer.  I am going to turn away for a time from Spirituality and into Ethics.  The truth is that the to are inextricably linked.  How can one claim to be 'Spiritual' without working hard to live ethically?  So really, I'm talking about a change in Emphasis.

One way that almost every person I know is challenged to live ethically - and I definitely include myself! - is in the area of Shemirat Lashon, literally 'Guarding the Tongue' but referring to the vast body of Jewish law concerning forbidden communications via speech or writing of any kind.

As you may know, I believe with all my heart that this is THE problem in the Jewish community today, and its pervasiveness makes a mockery of all our efforts to practice Jewish religion.  The essence of the laws is that we are forbidden to convey any adverse information about someone else except in very limited circumstances.  And those allowable circumstances are so limited that they only occur in very rare circumstances.

I have personally been irreparably and seriously damaged by the propensity in the community here (the Gold Coast, but Queensland as a whole, to engage in what our Tradition calls Lashon Hara, 'Evilspeak.'  But I am in good company.  I know of few people who have not been hurt at some point by this cancer.  Individuals and, sadly, leaders of Jewish institutions and even the institutions themselves - synagogues and other communal organs - are blatantly guilty, day after day, of perpetrating this awful crime.

Next week, I'm going to start presenting the thoughts of Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan (1839-1933).  Kagan, an influential Rabbi of the Mussar ('Ethics') Movement of the Vilna school, is usually known by the title of his magnum opus, called Chofets Chaim, meaning 'Desirer of Life.'  This phrase comes from the 34th Psalm:  (מי האיש החפץ חיים אוהב ימים לראות טוב - Who is the one who desires life, who loves days to see goodness? - נצור לשונך מירע ושפתיך מדבר מרמא - Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceitfully)  Kagan eventually established a veshiva in Vilna, which he called Yeshivat Chofets Chaim.  

Whilst I don't wish to oversimplify the laws of Shemirat Halashon, their basis is this:  You cannot convey information that might be considered adverse about someone, unless the consequences of your refraining from same will be likely to result in severe injury of some sort to a vulnerable person.  Let me give you a couple of examples of adverse speech that would be allowed:  If someone you knew was considering hiring a child-minder who was a convicted sex offender, you would be obligated - not just 'allowed' - to inform the person of what you knew.  Or if you knew a woman who was planning to marry a man who had represented himself as never been married, but you knew for a fact that he had been married before.  These are obviously very severe cases, but I have deliberately used severe cases to emphasise that one does not convey adverse information lightly.

Let me give an example of an adverse communication that is not permitted, and this is from my actual experience, an incident where I very painfully fought the urge to speak.  A friend was looking for a Hebrew teacher for a serious course of study to be able to read the Torah.  In expressing his frustration, he suggested that he might approach a rabbinic colleague of mine who lives in his town and whom I know well, and offer to pay him for Hebrew lessons.  I wanted to scream out:  That would be a waste of time!  Why?  Did I want the business myself?  Well, I'm always happy to work with a new, serious student and yes, I can use the parnassah - income - that comes from teaching.  But that's not why I wanted to discourage my friend from going to that Rabbi.  I knew that, if he did, he would be wasting his time.  I know of people who have taken their kids to the man for Hebrew lessons, and their experience was that he would not show up when promised, would not give the student his full attention, would not give the agreed-to amount of time, and was just really not a particularly good and attentive teacher.  With every fibre of my body I wanted to warn my friend to try something else, but I kept hearing the words of the Chofets Chaim in my ears and would not say something negative about my colleague.  After all, my friend is a rational adult; if he had gone to this Rabbi, he would have quickly learnt that he wasn't going to learn from him.  There would be very little 'harm' done.  And on the other hand, maybe the Rabbi has improved over the years; maybe he would give my friend the attention he needed.  So I refrained.  (In the end my friend let me off the hook; before going to my colleague, he suggested that I might be interested in teaching him via Skype, and I agreed.)

The laws of Shemirat Lashon are particularly challenging because they deal with a proscription against positive action (that is, you can't repeat adverse information except in very limited circumstances) and also against negative action (that is, you cannot let someone else get away with lashon hara in you presence).  If he first part is difficult, the second is doubly hard.  But the health of our souls, and our community, demands that we learn, and internalise, and work to put into effect these laws.

One more thought and I'll leave you for now.  I don't think I've ever said so explicitly, but you are welcome to circulate these e-mails to anybody whom you think might be interested in them.  And they can get subscribed to them simply by sending me a quick e-mail.  Please, just exercise discretion by not sending my e-mail on to someone whom you think might use my address for nefarious purposes.  If someone meeting that description might benefit from these e-mails, tell them to become a follower of my blog (rabbidoninoz.blogspot.com) or the Jewish Journeys Facebook page (www.facebook.com/jewishjourneysaustralia).  Thanks, and Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi Don

Rabbi Don Levy

Queensland, Australia