Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Power of Words

Pharris Art
This shall be the law of the person afflicted with tzara'ath, on the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought to the kohen. [Metzora 14:2]

People have a tendency to make light of the sin of loshon hara, said the Dubno Maggid.  They say to themselves:  ''What are mere words? I am not harming my friend in any way by simply speaking about him.''

The Torah therefore requires that the metzora be brought to the Kohen, in order for him to witness what man's speech is capable of doing.  With one word, the Kohen defines the status of the metzora, making him either pure or impure - such is the power of man's words!

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

2 comments:

Leah said...

Hashem created the world with ten utterances and it is said that we can destroy people, who are considered worlds, with our utterances- our words. We need to be careful and think what and how will this effect the person and our own future.

Anonymous said...

To Devorah and Leah: what you said is so true. Shalom.

Fangyu