Don’t Let Them Fool You!

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna.

Aren’t You Tired of This? 

How many times can one be fooled? If someone fooled you once, and you found him out, what are the chances that you will believe him next time? And if he fooled you twice?…. 

So why do we persist in believing every item we hear in the media, or from friends who believed whatever they were told? 

How do we accept every poisonous article about rabbis as if it was some G-d given truth, as if the witnesses were interrogated at length, and the verdict was handed down and a heavenly voice has announced that it’s all true? 

How do we believe every “news” item about any criminal activity, when the chances are that the background is a long-standing discord and internal battles over money and such like, with the media serving only as a public arena for it? 

Unfortunately, even G-d-fearing Jews tend to believe and spread the word and talk, and judge people unfavorably and trample explicit halachas written in the Chafetz Chaim’s book, which call on you to judge people favorably and not believe such lashon hara. 

The same way you are forbidden to eat non-kosher meat, so too you are forbidden to believe non-kosher information. And if you have not obtained permission from an authorized rabbi to hear and accept the information – how can you listen and believe, not to mention spread it further? 

Enough of Suffering! 

Dear Jews, in this article I wish to have a heart-to-heart talk with you. There is much suffering in our generation. We see around us Jews who are suffering. Everyone is searching for solutions and cures for what ails them. It is clear and known, according to Chazal and the great rabbis of all generations, that the main reason for a person suffering in this world is misbehavior in the interpersonal realm – bein adam lachaveiro. 

Bein adam lachaveiro is fire – and when you play with fire, you get burned! 

Rav Rechumi learned in Rava’s yeshiva all year long and would go home only the day before Yom Kippur. One year, he was a bit late; as a result, his wife shed two tears and he died immediately. All the commentators ask: So what did she gain? She lost him completely! And they explain that it isn’t a question of her gaining – it’s simply a law of nature: if someone is in distress because of you, the result will be an immediate and harsh verdict. 

Even more so, when one believes lashon hara about rabbis, where there are three types of fire involved: the fire of bein adam lachaveiro, the fire of talmidei chachamim (Torah scholars), and the fire of chillul Hashem (desecrating Hashem’s Name). 

Rabbis and righteous men are fire – as the Mishna says: “Be cautious of their burning coals, so that you won’t get burned”, and anyone who disparages Torah scholars, says the Gemara, cannot be cured of his ailment! Chillul Hashem is fire: In Heaven they are very particular about it, even when it’s something minor, and even suffering does not atone for chillul Hashem! 

When you slander rabbis and spread lies about them, or even just believe the lies that are spread about any Jew and all the more so about a talmid chacham who benefits so many – not only are you transgressing a prohibition regarding bein adam lachaveiro, but you are also disparaging a talmid chacham and besides, you are taking part in a terrible mass chilul Hashem; perhaps you are getting some personal benefit from it; this is very dangerous. It is a powerful fire that spreads uninhibited.  

It is clear and simple that all the suffering we see in our generation – physical and emotional – is a direct result of lashon hara, and particularly when the lashon hara is about rabbis and talmidei chachamim.   

As One Runs From Fire 

We are living in a complex generation. The pace of life and of the flow of information that brainwashes us cruelly are capable of driving even the strongest crazy. And even if a person doesn’t break down completely, his da’at (wisdom) and emuna and the simple world view according to the Torah may develop cracks and faults. 

Why should an emotionally healthy person involve himself in all the ills of the media? Why should he ingest poison? And if we are living in this world and occasionally hear bad rumors – what should we do? How should we respond? What is the correct way of thinking according to the Torah? 

Let’s do a little exercise together: You hear on the radio, or on the news, or from a friend, about some nefarious act allegedly committed by an important or well-known rabbi. Usually one believes the story, and is even happy, because the nature of man the animal is to rejoice in someone else’s downfall: Look! Even this rabbi that everyone respects and appreciates – he too is a liar, a cheat, a hypocrite etc. etc. In one instant, a person can transgress so many negative mitzvahs, turn his back on Hashem’s honor and display some very bad traits. Is this what you want to look like? Is that who you want to be? Of course not. 

A Jew’s Response 

So, what is the right thing to do? The right thing is, first of all, to feel shocked at this strike at Hashem’s honor. A Jew should think of Hashem’s honor. When he sees that people are saying and doing things that constitute chilul Hashem, such as transgressions and disputes and lashon hara – the first emotion a Jew should feel is that of shock and great pain. Jews are distancing themselves from Hashem, and that is terrible.  

As for the issue itself, a G-d fearing Jew doesn’t believe anything! And it doesn’t matter who told him the story! Even great people can stumble and make others stumble, because lashon hara has a way of being accepted! But you are forbidden to accept, that is, to believe, a story that is lashon hara, because the Torah commands us not to do so. 

You have no chance of knowing what the truth is! Unfortunately, in our generation there are no Jewish courts that can try a case according to the Torah, and we have no way of finding out the truth; and, as is known, even the investigations of the police and the trials in the courts are not trustworthy (an issue we will not go into right now). So we see that neither you or anyone else has any way of finding out the truth. So why believe? Why should you accept the story as true? 

Besides, every Jew is assumed to be good, and must be judged favorably. And even if he has slipped, you don’t really know what happened there. Even if everything people are saying is true (unfortunately), what does that have to do with you? What does it have to do with your life, with the tikkun you have to do? And what does it say about the Torah and this generation’s talmidei chachamim? Nothing! So why are you going into this at all? 

To enter a minefield because it’s a good shortcut is quite crazy, but at least you’re gaining something from it. You’ll shorten your way. But why enter a minefield if it doesn’t even shorten the way, when it doesn’t do you any good? As it is said, “There is no advantage to the charmer’s (speaker’s) art.” There is no gain, but rather endless damage to you, as I wrote above. Because the issues of bein adam lachaveiro are a raging fire.  

A Personal Request from My Brothers and Sisters 

Parashat Kedoshim is full of interpersonal mitzvot and ahavat Yisrael (love of Jews), and it is read in the middle of the days of Sefirat Ha’Omer, when we are in mourning over that same point: Talmidei chachamim who didn’t respect each other and were horribly punished.  

Allow me to request from you, my dear friends, for yourselves and for your own good, please, don’t bring upon yourself troubles for such a bit of nonsense, because of some new item or article produced by the factories of lies who are only trying to harm you and the Jewish People.  

Please, don’t relate to it at all, don’t believe, don’t speak of it, don’t judge any Jew unfavorably when you hear slander about him, and even more so, rabbis of any stripe and sector. Remove it completely from your mind. It is not connected and not relevant to your lives. It only increases the lies and the wayward imagination, and disrupts the soul, as we wrote in the previous article. And in that merit, may we be protected from all troubles and mishaps, and attain the status of “kedoshim tihyu” – you will be holy – and merit to receive the Torah out of love, while standing united.