Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
The sin of the מְרַגְּלִים (meraglim, spies) gets a super-harsh punishment! Here it is, in God’s words:
כִּי כׇל הָאֲנָשִׁים הָרֹאִים אֶת כְּבֹדִי וְאֶת אֹתֹתַי אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי בְמִצְרַיִם וּבַמִּדְבָּר
וַיְנַסּוּ אֹתִי זֶה עֶשֶׂר פְּעָמִים וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ בְּקוֹלִי׃
אִם יִרְאוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לַאֲבֹתָם
וְכׇל מְנַאֲצַי לֹא יִרְאוּהָ׃
“None of the people who saw My Presence and the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness,
who tested Me so many times and didn’t listen to Me—
They will not see the land that I promised to their ancestors. No one who rejected Me shall see it.”
In these pesukim, God points out that Benei Yisrael have disobeyed many times already! So why is this the time they’re punished to not enter Eretz Yisrael? What was uniquely terrible about the sin of the meraglim?
The Mishnah (Arkhin 3:5) explains that this was Benei Yisrael’s worst sin yet because it was לָשׁוֹן הָרַע (lashon hara, slander). We see from here that it’s even considered lashon hara to speak badly about a place!
In the Gemara, R. Elazar ben Parta comments on this idea in the Mishnah.
תַּנְיָא אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן פַּרְטָא בֹּא וּרְאֵה כַּמָּה גָּדוֹל כֹּחַ שֶׁל לְשׁוֹן הָרָע. מִנָּלַן? מִמְּרַגְּלִים, וּמָה הַמּוֹצִיא שֵׁם רַע עַל עֵצִים וַאֲבָנִים כָּךְ, הַמּוֹצִיא שֵׁם רַע עַל חֲבֵרוֹ עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה.
It was taught: R. Elazar ben Parta says: Come and see the power of lashon hara. How do we know this? From the meraglim. If saying bad things about trees and rocks gets such a harsh punishment, how much worse it must be to say bad things about another person.
- What power do our words have? What’s the problem with saying bad things about trees and rocks?
- Have you ever visited somewhere and it wasn’t what you hoped it would be like? How are we supposed to talk about experiences like that? Why?
- Why does R. Elazar point out that it’s worse to say bad things about people? How so?
- Has anybody ever spoken lashon hara about you? How did that feel?
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