Rosh Hashanah: Choosing Life or Self-Censorship: Shmirat Halashon In the 21st Century

Choosing Life or Self-Censorship: Shmirat Halashon In the 21st Century

Rosh Hashanah 5783/2022 Day 2

Rabbi Noah Gradofsky

Words in gray were omitted from the spoken version of this sermon for time purposes.

Does anyone here know what a cerebro-atmospheric individual is?  I’ll give you a moment to think about it.  See if you can figure it out.  Cerebro-atmospheric individual.  Coming from “cerebro,” meaning the brain and atmosphere, according to the hilarious “Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook,”[1] this is the politically correct term for an “airhead.”  Other entertaining entries in this dictionary include “processed tree carcasses,” meaning paper, “hair disadvantaged” for balding (although I prefer to be called folically challenged) and, my personal favorite, “temporarily metabolically abled” for “alive,” as in the sentence “’HE’S TEMPORARILY METABOLICALLY ABLED!,’ exclaimed Dr. Frankenstein.”

Setting humor aside, debates over language are high stakes debates.  And the debates have even reached our לשון הקודש, our holy language of Hebrew.  Recently the New York Times carried an article about those in Israel trying to make Hebrew gender neutral.[2]  “PC violations” can have severe consequences.  Taken with a sense of humor it can all seem absurd.  Without that sense of humor, the issue can seem downright dangerous.

Sometimes when at least some people take an idea to an extreme (determining who has or how many people have done so is above my pay grade), it can obscure the very important kernel of truth lying behind some of those ideas.  And so, when we think about “political correctness” in terms of language, I like to point out that there is an important Jewish value that shares at least some of the same ideals.

In Judaism, we talk about שמירת הלשון, watching one’s tongue.  Like political correctness, the idea behind שמירת הלשון is that words matter and that we ought to tailor our words to have the best impact possible.  And while I don’t want to get into whether modern day PC is wrong or right about any particular aspect of language, I think discussions about what the words we use mean and what impact they have is an important discussion that we ought to take seriously.

מִי הָאִישׁ הֶחָפֵץ חַיִּים אֹהֵב יָמִים לִרְאוֹת טוֹב Who is the person who chooses life and who desires to see[3] good days”[4] asks the psalm that we recite in the preliminary service every Shabbat and holiday.  “נְצֹר לְשׁוֹנְךָ מֵרָע וּשְׂפָתֶיךָ מִדַּבֵּר מִרְמָה Hold your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceitfully.”[5]  Reflecting that verse, we say at the end of every Amidah “א-להי נצור לשוני מרע ושפתי מדבר מרמה my God, hold back my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceitfully.”  קהלת, Ecclesiastes, bids us to always measure our words by saying “אַל תְּבַהֵל עַל פִּיךָ don’t be rash with your words.”[6]  משלי, Proverbs notes that “מָוֶת וְחַיִּים בְּיַד לָשׁוֹן death and life are held by the tongue,”[7] and the Talmud[8] notes that while weapons can only injure people as far as the weapon can physically reach, words have no such limitation, as the psalm says, “they set their mouths against the heavens and their tongues travel the earth.”[9]  Well, I suppose that physical weapons can reach father than they could in the Talmudic day, but I’d say that the potential reach of words has also grown exponentially as well.  We like to teach children that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.”  But while that’s a good message for a child who might be hurt by words, שמירת הלשון teaches that it’s actually a really problematic message if it emboldens children and the adults they become to fault others for being hurt by anything that they have to say rather than feeling responsible to avoid hurtful words.

Many of the issues of language usage that are talked about today are, I think, at least in part reflected in some of the classical Jewish texts discussing how we speak.  The Torah recounts the racist attack by Miriam and Aaron against the Kushite woman Moses married.[10] The Mishnah talks about אונאת דברים oppression through words and gives as one of its primary examples saying to a convert “remember what your ancestors did.”[11]  The Talmud in Yoma reports a striking example of this אונאת דברים in a racist epithet employed by a certain high priest toward two sages, who were either converts or descendants of converts.[12]

מעשה בכהן גדול אחד שיצא מבית המקדש, והוו אזלי כולי עלמא בתריה. כיון דחזיונהו לשמעיה ואבטליון – שבקוהו לדידיה ואזלי בתר שמעיה ואבטליון. לסוף אתו שמעיה ואבטליון לאיפטורי מיניה דכהן גדול אמר להן: ייתון בני עממין לשלם! – אמרו ליה: ייתון בני עממין לשלם – דעבדין עובדא דאהרן, ולא ייתי בר אהרן לשלם – דלא עביד עובדא דאהרן.

It happened that one high priest left the Temple and everyone followed after him.  When the people saw Shamayah and Avtalyon(the teachers of the fabled sages Hillel and Shamai[13]) they left the high priest and followed after Shamayah and Avtalyon.  When Shamayah and Avtalyon went to part company with the high priest, the high priest said to them: “Go, descendants of gentiles, in peace.”  They retorted “Let descendants of gentiles go in peace when they do the work of Aaron (i.e. pursuing peace,[14] although as we noted, Aaron, too, seems to have succumbed to racism on at least one occasion), but don’t let a descendant of Aaron (i.e. the high priest in question) go in peace when he does not do Aaron’s works.”

Our sources also speak about what is acceptable to say when referring to a person or a group of people.  The negative example of the high priest is probably a good example to start with.  In Bava Metziah we are told of three people who do not escape eternal punishment, including המכנה שם רע לחבירו, one who calls another by a bad name.[15]  Based on the discussion of this point in the Talmud, Rashi notes that this punishment attaches even if a person is used to being referred to in a certain manner, as long as the person using the term intends to embarrass the person.[16] From this discussion, I would extrapolate that people take it personally when they are referred to in ways that they do not like, and we should take care to avoid such offense.

A couple of other modern buzzwords are gender and inclusivity, even when it comes to the Hebrew language, as we have noted.  In this light, I think it’s worth noting that, cast in the absolutely most positive light, our sages struggled to determine whether and when the gendered language of the Torah intended to include or exclude and when it did not.[17]  Also, have you ever noticed that the standard “prayer for the congregation,” recited every Shabbat clearly suggests that women are not part of the congregation?  The prayer asks God’s blessings on the entire congregation, “הם ונשיהם them and their wives!”  I would suggest that making our prayers more inclusive by leaving that phrase out of a prayer that is not halakhically prescribed would be a step in the right direction.

Some would argue that those who complain about what might be implied by certain language should develop a thicker skin – adopt more of a “sticks and stones” approach, if you will – especially when changing how we speak has many significant drawbacks, and that is certainly a valid counterargument.  But if we have ever felt slightly less marginalized by seeing a “Seasons Greetings” sign or ever felt any sense of appreciation for a person who wished us “happy holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas,” or we can at least understand how some of our fellow Jews might feel that way, perhaps we can think about how adjusting the words we use might make others feel a bit less marginalized as well.

Others object that measuring our words might be an act of dishonesty.  Well, I hope we are honestly people who want to avoid offending others.  Furthermore, it is worth noting that our sages leave some room for expressing less than 100% of our beliefs in consideration for how others feel.  The Talmud says that it is permissible, possibly even obligatory, to prevaricate for purposes of peace – and that even God does so on occasion![18]  Halakhah dictates that one should be effusive in praise of a bride, even if that praise goes beyond the strict bounds of honesty.[19]  So, it stands to reason that adjusting what thoughts we express, and how we express them, to avoid offending others is licensed by Torah standards of שמירת הלשון.

Finally, some object to political correctness as censorship and to the harsh penalties sometimes imposed in the name of political correctness.  The question of what exactly should be the consequences of offensive speech is another questions that is beyond my pay grade, and, by this point in this sermon, also beyond my intended word count.  But I am going to step my toe a little bit beyond both of those limitations to offer three thoughts.  First, while we should have the right to express our thoughts, that doesn’t mean we are always right to do so or that we are doing so in the best way possible.  Second, there are absolutely times that the punishment of PC violations are extremely inappropriate, taking absolutist stands on issues that should be subject to reasonable debate and thoroughly lacking in grace for those whose errors are inadvertent or infrequent or for those who work to correct their past errors.  Third, there should absolutely be some societal consequence if a person continually speaks in an inappropriate manner.  It is certainly a good thing that at least some statements are simply unacceptable in our society and come with significant societal opprobrium.  There should probably also be some lesser violations that carry at least some societal consequence.  Such consequences have never been a violation of free speech – in fact they have always been a core part of how the free market of ideas functions.  And establishing such consequences are also part of our religious responsibility to protect others from injury and to respond to wrongdoing.[20]

Today, I offer far more questions than answers, and deliberately so.  As a rabbi inevitably talking to a diverse congregation, I recognize that we have a great many political views represented here, and I do my best to teach Torah and not to foist my political views on a congregation.  But I think it is important to remember that Torah values have plenty to say about how we engage in the world.   Even when the issues are politically charged, the expectation remains that we follow the dictates of שמית הלשון, measuring our words, considering their consequences, and choosing words that will maximize the good that we do in this world.  May the God who endowed humanity with the power of speech[21] be with our mouths and guide our words[22] along the ways of pleasantness and the paths of peace.[23]

[1] “The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook” by Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf, Villard 1993.  Unfortunately I don’t have access to my copy at the moment, so I can’t provide a page number.

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/world/middleeast/israel-hebrew-gender.html

[3] The term לראות can have the sense of “to experience,” see e.g. Ex. 20:15 (רֹאִים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹת “experienced the thunder”) and Lam. 3:1 (אֲנִי הַגֶּבֶר רָאָה עֳנִי, “I am the person who experienced affliction”).  Thank you to my teacher Rabbi Alan Yuter for noting this point.  The term “see” in my translation is used in the same sense.

[4] Psalms 34:13.

[5] Psalms 34:14.

[6] Ecclesiastes 5:1.

[7] Proverbs 18:21.

[8] Arakhin 15b.

[9] Psalms 73:9, שַׁתּוּ בַשָּׁמַיִם פִּיהֶם וּלְשׁוֹנָם תִּהֲלַךְ בָּאָרֶץ.

[10] Numbers 12:1.

[11] Mishnah Bava Metziah 4:10.

[12] Rashi Yoma 71b s.v. ייתון בני עממין לשלם notes that Shamayah and Avtaloy were descendants of Sanherev.  Rashi s.v. דלא עבד עובדא דאהרן also notes the connection between this incident and אונאת דברים.

[13] Mishnah Avot 1:12.

[14] Rashi Yoma 71b sv דעבדי עובדא דאהרן.

[15] BT Bava Metziah 58b.  CF BT Megillah 27b where Rabbi Zakai says he earned a long life by, among other things, never calling someone by a nickname, presumably a hurtful nickname, though Tosafot SV ולא כיניתי שם לחברי argue R. Zakai must be referring even to a nickname that is not hurtful, since hurtful nicknames are already addressed by Bava Metziah 58b.

[16] Rashi Bava Metziah 58b sv דדש ביה.

[17] For a particularly poignant discussion of this point, see ספר הקנה, תלמוד תורה, particularly starting with א”ל השומע.  For a translation of this text see Hakham Isaac Sassoon The Status of Women in Jewish Tradition p. 117-118 or Destination Torah: Notes and Reflections on Selected Verses from the Weekly Torah Readings p.xv.  Note: an updated version of Hakham Sassoon’s commentary on Torah is forthcoming, so you may want to hold off on purchasing this version.  Also, please note that the book links use the Amazon referral code of the Union for Traditional Judaism.  UTJ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

[18] BT Yevamoth 65b.

וא”ר אילעא משום רבי אלעזר בר’ שמעון: מותר לו לאדם לשנות בדבר השלום, שנאמר: אביך צוה וגו’ כה תאמרו ליוסף אנא שא נא וגו’. ר’ נתן אומר: מצוה, שנאמר: ויאמר שמואל איך אלך ושמע שאול והרגני וגו’. דבי רבי ישמעאל תנא: גדול השלום, שאף הקדוש ברוך הוא שינה בו, דמעיקרא כתיב: ואדוני זקן, ולבסוף כתיב: ואני זקנתי.

[19] BT Ketubot 16b-17a, Shulhan Arukh Even Haezer 65a.

[20] Leviticus 19:16 – 17.

(טז) לֹא תֵלֵךְ רָכִיל בְּעַמֶּיךָ לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל דַּם רֵעֶךָ אֲנִי יְקֹוָק:

(יז) לֹא תִשְׂנָא אֶת אָחִיךָ בִּלְבָבֶךָ הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ אֶת עֲמִיתֶךָ וְלֹא תִשָּׂא עָלָיו חֵטְא:

(16) Do not go gossiping among your people, do not stand (idly) upon the blood of your fellow, I am the LORD.

(17) Do not hate your kinsfolk in your heart, surely rebuke your fellow and do not bear iniquity because of him.

[21] Exodus 4:11.

[22] CF Exodus 4:12.

[23] CF Proverbs 3:17.