by Rabbi Pauline Bebe, Communauté Juive
Libérale in Paris, France
Jewish Tradition,
by a play on words, associates
metsorato
motsi shem ra
[slandering] (TB, Ar. 15b); the one who is
affected by the disease of
tsoraat- a
disease that no one is able to identify, since it
affects people, houses and clothing - to one who
utters literally "a bad name," who slanders. This
association also comes from the biblical story
(Numbers 12: 1) when Miriam, Moses' sister, says
something bad about Moses' wife. We are not told
what she says but Miriam is subsequently stricken
with this same strange sickness. This disease is
not something we might easily relate to today,
especially the fact that a particular behavior
would cause the immediate intervention of God, but
what we can indeed easily relate to is gossiping
or misusing our language. The Jewish tradition has
always insisted on the correct use of
language; works, such as the Havets Hayyim's
Shemirat Halashon (1873; in "Sefer Shemirat
Halashon", Israel Meir Hacohen), is but an example
of the extensive literature in this domain.
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