“For these things a person suffers in this world and loses their place in the world to come: idolatry, adultery, and murder; and evil tongue is equal to them all.”

-(Talmud Yerushalmi Peah 1:1 )

“It’s just words!”  How many times have we heard, or used that phrase? Meaning, it doesn’t matter. Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Or can they?

The rabbis of the Talmud considered telling harmful tales about someones failings, i.e. gossip, as a transgression equal to a combination of idolatry, sexual mayhem, and murder. Really? Gossip seems like a such a little sin, dishing a little dirt on someone else’s life. Not admirable, but as serious as those biggies together? This is not lies and slander, which is covered elsewhere. This is sharing things about someone that while negative, are true.

There’s always a story. In this one, a man went about the community telling tales about the rabbi’s failings. Later, he began to feel remorse. He went to the rabbi and begged his forgiveness, asking what he could do to make it right. The rabbi told the man, “Take a feather pillow, open it on the hill in town, and scatter the feathers to the 4 winds.” The man as instructed. When he asked the rabbi if he was forgiven, the rabbi said, “First, go and gather the feathers back up again.” The man protested that his was impossible, the feathers were scattered to the whole world. “So is it with your words”, the rabbi spoke,  “you can no more undo the damage of your words than you can recollect the feathers.”

Just words? Words brought the world into being in the Creation stories! Reputations have been ruined, people have committed suicide or killed others because of spoken words that were better kept unspoken. Someone’s story belongs to them, not us. We can use our words to create justice or injustice in the world. May ALL of our words be just words.

How can you use your words to create justice?

The Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmuda de-Eretz Yisrael (Talmud of the Land of Israel), is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah.  The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th centuries CE, then divided between the Byzantine provinces of Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda. The Jerusalem Talmud predates its counterpart, the Babylonian Talmud (also known as the Talmud Bavli), by about 200 years and is written in both Hebrew and Jewish Palestinian Aramaic.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, artist, builder, naturalist, consultant, and EcoKosher mashgiach. He lives with his wife Sara in western Massachusetts, where he serves as head groundskeeper and resident singer songwriter. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@joelaur.com.