No ones up for tonight, so I thought I would do 72 a little favor. I hope this qualifies as mondays. 🙂
Parshas Behaaloscha
Mo’ Better Jews
Volume 6 Issue 39
by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
Rashi elucidates: “against My servant,” even if he was not Moses, and “against Moses” even if he was not “My servant.” The Torah seems to make a clear warning against slandering either Moses the servant or Moses the man. What is the difference?
My grandfather, Reb Yaakov Kamenetzky told the story of the Chafetz Chaim and another Rabbi who were traveling together in Poland. As guests at an inn, they were served a fitting meal. Upon finishing their supper, the proprietress inquired about the quality of the service and the food.
“Excellent,” replied the Chafetz Chaim. The other rabbi nodded in agreement and then said as an afterthought, “the soup could use a bit more salt.”
The Chafetz Chaim turned white. The moment the hostess left the table he turned to his travel partner. “What have you done? All my life I have tried to avoid lashon harah and now I regret this entire trip!” “But what did I say?” pleaded the other Rabbi. “All I mentioned is that the soup needed a bit of salt. Otherwise I was as complimentary as you!” Don’t you understand? There is a poor Jewish widow that is the cook. Right now the owner will complain to the cook who may deny that she did not salt the soup, then there may be a fight. The widow may lose her job! And if you don’t believe me, come to the kitchen and see what is happening!” True to his prediction they entered the kitchen and saw the hostess admonishing the cook. Only the intervention and continued compliments of the rabbis calmed the ire of the hostess and the cook retained her position. The Torah teaches us an important lesson in considering about whom we speak. Some of us worry about speaking about Hashem’s servants. But the Torah clearly chastises those who speak against Moses, even if he were not “my servant”! Everyone has a capacity in life and deserves the utmost regard no matter how high or low they are on the social scale.
taken from torah.org