A thought on Parshiyos Achrei Mos - Kedoshim

"...lo t'kallel cheresh...""...do not curse the deaf..." (19:14)

Jews are not supposed to curse anyone. We are supposed to watch our language and use our speech for good purposes and with pure vocabularies. We avoid gossip and impure words. Cursing is not acceptable.

So, why this emphasis on "deaf people"? We should not be cursing any person at all. Now, we have all come across the words of the Ramban who teaches us that this verse serves as a kal v'chamor - a stepping stone for inductive logic: if we are not allowed to curse a deaf man even though he will not hear our ugly words, all the more so must we not curse a hearing person who will be shamed and hurt by our words.

This makes great sense, logically. Yet, we could have learned the same thing had the Torah simply said, "do not curse people." We would have included in the scope of that prohibition the deaf, the mute, the blind, the feeble and everyone else. Now, before you move your cursors down, let's listen to the thought of Rabbeinu Bachya.

He writes that this and so many of our mitzvos are tools for self improvement. The ban on cursing is not about the victim or target of our words. It is about ourselves. The Torah wants us to develop into nice people. The Torah wants us to avoid becoming cruel, angry, senseless, selfish and otherwise unworthy. That is why the verse captures the prohibition on cursing by saying "do not curse (even) a deaf person." The problem has nothing to do with whether or not anyone hears you. It does not matter if the person you are swearing at has no clue about what you are saying. The severity of the problem is that when you utter those horrible words, you are damaging your mind and your soul! The Torah is alerting us to this lesson. Many of the behaviors which we are told to avoid are for our own sake. The soul and the mind are nurtured by what we put into them, just as the body is nourished by what we put into it. If we exercise mind and soul by use of abominable speech, then we are going to grow into crooked and cruel people. Our thoughts follow our words, and the more we direct our words along profane and vulgar lines, the more our thinking and attitudes are infected.

This week, look for good things to say to and about other people. Watching what we say means that we are watching out for what we become.

Enough cursive writing. Good Shabbos. D Fox