Michael el Chayil

Consider, please, verses 26 and 27 from T'hillim, chapter 18: עִם-חָסִיד תִּתְחַסָּד;    עִם-גְּבַר תָּמִים, תִּתַּמָּם. עִם-נָבָר תִּתְבָּרָר;    וְעִם-עִקֵּשׁ, תִּתְפַּתָּל.  These verses speak to the basic/fundamental manner with which HaShem interacts with His creation. In broad strokes we say מידה כנגד מידה/measure for measure. Here, however, Dovid HaMelech drills down a bit and gives us four approaches (rough/free translation): עִם-חָסִיד תִּתְחַסָּד -- with the pious/devout, You act devoutly עִם-גְּבַר תָּמִים, תִּתַּמָּם -- with the innocent/whole-hearted, You act with simplicity (no hidden agenda) עִם-נָבָר תִּתְבָּרָר -- with the honest/trustworthy, You act in faithfulness וְעִם-עִקֵּשׁ, תִּתְפַּתָּל -- but with the crooked/perverse, You act as if everything is happenstance It is striking that Dovid HaMelech decided to break down the positive conduct into three distinct channels, where as the all who act as if there is no one running the show are lu...

Sefer Shmiras HaLashon says there are seven main terrible midos that bring a person to say לשון הרע, and they can be remembered with the simple and pithy acronym: כל גיהנם/All Hell. Let's take them one at a time. The first three -- כ עס/Anger, ל יצנות/Derision/Mocking, and ג אווה/Pride and Arrogance -- don't really need any elucidation. They are the triumvirate of bad midos, so you can just add לשון הרע to the list of despicable crimes that they encourage. Next on the list and basically two sides of the same coin are י יאוש/Despair and ה פקר/Neglected. Both of these lead one to remove any thought of constraining one's speech. One side of the coin is, "There are so many ways to get caught in the trap of speaking לשון הרע, I just know that I won't be able to avoid it; so why even try?" The other side says, "I really don't see anyone at all being careful with there speech. It must be one of those extra credit, super-frum things! That certainly isn't ...