Trump's Shabbat Proclamation and America's Founding Promise
7 min read
If you’re looking for a greater purpose in life, here’s a big one: let’s eradicate offensive, hurtful speech. Malicious gossip spreads virally through media platforms, infecting many minds. Harmful speech is pervasive. I’m not implying that you or I contribute to this. On the other hand, each of us should say, “The buck stops here.” The transformative results of speaking kindly are positively life-changing. Our Torah Sages describe a wise person as one who foresees the consequences of his action.
Insensitivity toward others has a boomerang effect; it eventually comes back to bring negativity into one’s own life. Words can build, but they also can destroy. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
Whereas positive speech strengthens and builds our relationships, disparaging words diminish us and our relationships with others. The aftermath of negative speech can continue, unabated, to adversely impact future generations. Shattered relationships are often the remnants of thoughtless, stinging words. The words spoken might even be truthful and accurate but if they are damaging or hurtful, the impact can be the same. Such speech also must be avoided. Torah study can strengthen one’s inner resolve to speak with forethought. It heightens our awareness of consequences that may result from what we do or don’t say.
Just as we must be concerned about what goes into our mouths, we must be as concerned and careful about what comes out of our mouths. Just as eating contaminated food can make you sick physically, speaking contaminated words can have harmful consequences spiritually.
In the Torah’s description of the malady called tzaraas, the spiritual and physical interact. Tzaraas was a specific malady, resulting from harmful speech. The Torah tells us that tzaraas was not a result of physiological causes. Nevertheless, it was made manifest through physical signs and symptoms.
If someone spread slander or brought about harm through their speech, they were afflicted with tzaraas and thus referred to as a metzora. The metzora would be isolated from the community for an indefinite period. This consequence was meant to heighten the offender’s awareness of the divisive effects of their harmful speech. This time of separation was not viewed as punitive but as corrective. The isolation provided the metzora time for introspection, in which to examine and correct their errant behavior.
The Torah instituted effective modes of rehabilitating miscreants long before correctional reforms were adopted by other cultures. Not to be overlooked was the holistic way in which tzaraas was treated. Until recent times, Western medicine was reluctant to acknowledge the association between illness and non-physiological influence. The Torah, however, recognized that tzaraas was a physical manifestation of a spiritual cause. Today’s stressful, often unhealthy lifestyles have been linked to numerous medical conditions. The risk factors associated with a growing list of ailments suggest non-physiological sources. Credence has been given to the connections among mind, body, and soul. Medical fields have come to recommend proactive approaches to help prevent and alleviate negative patient outcomes. Thousands of years ago, the Torah fully utilized what today are known as “alternative healing methods.” The Torah’s comprehensive treatment of tzaraas integrated spiritual modalities to affect a positive outcome. It treated the entire person, not just the illness.
Mainstream medical practice finally is catching up. If only today’s practitioners had been aware of the Torah’s ancient wisdom sooner. Alas, science was not ready to view the body, mind, and spirit as one. The Torah’s approach was way ahead of its time.
A person who noticed certain skin discolorations would seek a Kohen, priest, not a doctor. The Kohen would examine the person to see if the blemish was more than superficial. The source of an illness is deeper than its superficial symptoms alone. A Kohen, not a doctor, would render a “diagnosis” of tzaraas and guide the afflicted individual through the recovery process. This attests to the greater understanding of why tzaraas was treated spiritually to attain a complete healing of both body and soul. Rambam, the twelfth-century physician and Torah commentator, understood how the mind, body, and soul are intrinsically connected.
He taught that healing is predicated on a patient understanding the integrated factors contributing to an illness. Subsequently, appropriate treatment, including making necessary lifestyle changes, could occur.
The Torah relates that tzaraas presented itself in three different ways.
In addition to the skin condition on the body, it could appear on clothes or on dwellings. The Talmud states that tzaraas would first appear in a person’s home as a warning from God that something was amiss.129 If this warning was ignored, the tzaraas then appeared on his or her clothing. If this sign also went unheeded, the affliction would manifest itself upon his or her body.
The relevance of not ignoring the outward signs of an illness—be they physical, spiritual, or both—is eye-opening. We’re taught the importance of being proactive, not just reactive. A diseased mind often will lead to unhealthy actions that ultimately encompass body and soul. The Torah alerts us to be vigilant and to identify and treat the signs so that a state of overall health is restored. These are the lessons that we can learn from the ancient malady of tzaraas.
Throughout the annals of history, humanity has been enlightened by advances in pioneering research. Oftentimes, medical research develops so-called cutting-edge breakthroughs that, in reality, have long been practiced in Judaism. Although not previously understood, the Torah already enumerated these ideas and practices. One such concept is the fusion of spiritual and physical.
The Torah’s relevance is ongoing. Even though certain cryptic verses are not yet fully comprehended, they allude to a future time in which we’ll be ready and able to perceive their deep significance. The Torah is multifaceted. Regarding the Torah, Pirkei Avos (Ethics of the Fathers) teaches, “Turn it and turn it, for everything is in it. Reflect on it and grow old and gray with it. Don’t turn from it, for nothing is better than it.”130 These ingenious words truly are trailblazing.
The life-affirming benefits of positive speech cannot be overemphasized. Kind words of encouragement, understanding, and appreciation fortify us. By choosing to accentuate the positive traits within ourselves and others, we enrich our environments. The Lubavitcher Rebbe often repeated these Yiddish words, accredited to the Tzemach Tzedek: “Tracht gut, vet zein gut—Think good, and it will be good.” Think positively and the outcome will be good.
By increasing our positive thoughts, we will come to strengthen our resolve to speak positively as well. Avoiding negative speech is the first step. Ridding ourselves of negativity, however, is not enough. A void will remain that must be filled. Replenishing that void with positive thought and speech brings continual goodness in its wake. Every mindful moment can produce victory over negativity.
Let’s join together in practicing positive speech. Striving to dispel harmful speech starts with each of us. Using kind and positive speech will add value to your life and the lives of those around you. That’s a great purpose!
