Slander? Not in My Mouth!
All the slander that former generations could speak in a hundred years doesn't equal one day of evil speech that is generated in today's mass media…
One of my students encountered an acquaintance who started speaking detrimentally about others. My student understood that he couldn’t directly chastise the acquaintance for speaking slander, because it wouldn’t help. He therefore said, “My brother, there’s a nice church not far from here. Why don’t we go and pray there?”
The acquaintance was shocked. “How can you say that? It’s forbidden to pray in such a place!”
My student said, “The Gemara says that the type of gossip that you’re telling me is worse than idolatry, bloodshed, and illicit sex all in one! Therefore, praying in front of a statue in a church is only one-third as bad as slanderous gossip – that’s why I suggested it…” The acquaintance took the hint and stopped the slander right there. We too must remind ourselves any way we can how serious is evil and slanderous speech–three times worse than murder!
Every generation has had terrible problems with slander and evil speech, but in this generation, the evil inclination has waved the flag of total victory. We won’t be exaggerating if we say that all the slander that former generations would and could speak in a hundred years doesn’t equal one day of the slander and evil speech that is generated in today’s mass media, social media sites and chat rooms.
The evil inclination is a genius. Since the invention of smartphones, the evil inclination can go on retirement in 
some Palm Springs resort. WhatsApp and Facebook are doing all the hard work; we’re just talking about the evil speech on the smartphones–we’re not even talking about the debauchery and violence that smartphone owners–including children–are exposed to. But, as we said earlier, evil speech includes the three worst transgressions of idolatry, bloodshed and illicit relations. Evil speech is like a forest fire that is never satiated yet spreads and consumes every living thing in its way.
The evil inclination senses its own end; it knows that people’s hearts are yearning for something real, a genuine connection with the Creator. Today, people are open to emuna. Those who taste it want more. So, what does the evil inclination do? Just as it pushed Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, it pushes people to gossip and spread evil speech day and night. The evil inclination knows just where the vulnerable flank is – that’s where it attacks.
We should learn from the evil inclination and use its own tricks against it. We must remind ourselves of our true task in the world; we can rearm ourselves with conviction to do the right thing, maintain wholesome speech and thereby foil the designs of the evil inclination. This is the simple and wonderful way to reinforce ourselves against all the temptations and to live happy and wholesome lives.
A person must ask himself from time to time, where am I in the world? What’s happening with my speech? Did I learn to ignore all the tales that people tell me? Did I learn the moral and underlying message of all the tragedies that happen because of slander and evil speech? Do I understand that all types of blessings and Divine abundance stem from positive speech? If so, I must strive to maintain a clean mouth, which includes a lexicon of happy and wholesome words that convey positive messages of blessings, kindness, compassion, hope and encouragement. This is a blessed mouth and a happy mouth.
