The Sickening Effect of Slander
When I was visiting New York to raise awareness of Torah Judaism, a family asked that I visit their sick mother, who lay in a coma in the hospital. When I arrived there, I had a strong feeling that Hashem would send this woman a refuah sheleimah. Therefore, I advised her children to undertake resolutions in mitzvot, as a merit for their mother. I warned them against doing other acts for her merit. Then I turned and went on my way.
Unfortunately, another Rabbi vilified my name before the woman’s children. As a result, they dismissed my words of sage advice and unanimously decided not to pay attention to any of my suggestions.
I was blissfully unaware of what was transpiring. I patiently waited for them to come to me for more suggestions which would enable their mother to rise from her sickbed. But I waited for nothing. They never returned.
Our Sages have said that lashon hara kills three: the speaker, the listener, and the one spoken about. This case was no exception. The woman’s condition did not improve at all. On the contrary, it deteriorated steadily, until she finally passed away.
After some time, on a visit to Eretz Yisrael, I found out through a trusted source that the rabbi who had spoken against me regretted his wrongdoings. He sent me one of his works, together with a beautiful inscription. In this manner, he began displaying great honor toward me. When another person asked about me, he extolled me at length and recommended that he receive my effective blessing in the merit of my forefathers, zy”a.
But of course, he could not take back his words. The dead woman, who surely died as a result of slander, would not come back to life.
I learned a tremendous lesson from this incident. How careful one must be regarding words of slander and gossip. They have the power to literally destroy worlds, as the pasuk states (Mishlei 18:21), “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
