The literal translation is "the evil/bad tounge." "Lashon" is "tounge", and, by extention, "language" -- Hebrew, for instance, is called "the holy language", or "lashon ha-kadosh." "Ra" means "evil" or "bad", as in "yetzer ha-ra" -- "the impulse to do evil." As contrasted with the "yetzer ha-tov", "the impulse to do good."
(Paranthetically, in Judaism, it is considered that most people ought to balance their yetzer ha-ra and yetzer ha-tov. Because a society can only survive a certain number of people with NO yetzer ha-ra. Folks who are entirely devoted to their yetzer ha-tov will spend all their time in meditation, study, and prayer, and will not look toward material or earthly needs -- such as growing food, expanding businesses, investing, starting families -- all of which are from "base impulses", like sex, desire for power, desire for comfort and wealth -- and that, properly harnessed, those desires end up HELPING the community, rather than harming it. Of course, UNHARNESSED, they're destructive.)
The most frequent translation you see for "lashon ha-ra" is "gossip", or perhaps "talebearing" (well, that's more properly "rechilut", but "rechilut" and "lashon ha-ra" are very closely related sins), but, like most culturally-dependent terms, the simple translations are only approximate, and possibly misleading. Because lashon ha-ra is far more wide-reaching than either of these things. And also narrower.
"Talebearing" sounds a lot like "tattle-taleing", but it's not quite the same. If you are reporting a wrong done to the appropriate authorities, is that right or wrong?
Well. . . . it depends. On whether said authorities are just and fair and are exercising apropriate rule of law, for instance. Like most concepts, lashon ha-ra gets real messy and difficult when applied to the Real World. Most Jewish law does, frankly -- but that doesn't make it less useful.
And we usually think of "gossip" as a problem as spreading negative, untrue stories about people. And those are certainly the worst. But, lashon ha-ra includes passing along TRUE information -- and even passing along POSITIVE information.
According to the rules of lashon ha-ra, you may only pass along RELEVANT information, true or false.
Of all the rules in Jewish law, lashon ha-ra is probably the most difficult to follow. Of the rules which I attempt to follow, lashon ha-ra is the one I screw up most often.
There is something of an overview of some of the basic concepts in lashon ha-ra here. It's fairly basic, but, as far as I understand the laws, it's a good starting point.
I guess, if I were to try to make a one sentence description of lashon ha-ra, I might say, "using words in a way that hurts a person, or damages a community." Even positive statements may damage a community, in that they can stir up resentment. If I say "Adam is very smart," and Betty hears it, Betty may wonder if I think that SHE'S not very smart, since I didn't say that about her.
Like I said, of the Jewish laws I do make an attempt to follow, this is one of the ones which I most consistently screw up. I try to follow it, but, heck -- I'm CERTAIN that there is TONS of lashon ha-ra in my LJ right now.
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The literal translation is "the evil/bad tounge." "Lashon" is "tounge", and, by extention, "language" -- Hebrew, for instance, is called "the holy language", or "lashon ha-kadosh." "Ra" means "evil" or "bad", as in "yetzer ha-ra" -- "the impulse to do evil." As contrasted with the "yetzer ha-tov", "the impulse to do good."
(Paranthetically, in Judaism, it is considered that most people ought to balance their yetzer ha-ra and yetzer ha-tov. Because a society can only survive a certain number of people with NO yetzer ha-ra. Folks who are entirely devoted to their yetzer ha-tov will spend all their time in meditation, study, and prayer, and will not look toward material or earthly needs -- such as growing food, expanding businesses, investing, starting families -- all of which are from "base impulses", like sex, desire for power, desire for comfort and wealth -- and that, properly harnessed, those desires end up HELPING the community, rather than harming it. Of course, UNHARNESSED, they're destructive.)
The most frequent translation you see for "lashon ha-ra" is "gossip", or perhaps "talebearing" (well, that's more properly "rechilut", but "rechilut" and "lashon ha-ra" are very closely related sins), but, like most culturally-dependent terms, the simple translations are only approximate, and possibly misleading. Because lashon ha-ra is far more wide-reaching than either of these things. And also narrower.
"Talebearing" sounds a lot like "tattle-taleing", but it's not quite the same. If you are reporting a wrong done to the appropriate authorities, is that right or wrong?
Well. . . . it depends. On whether said authorities are just and fair and are exercising apropriate rule of law, for instance. Like most concepts, lashon ha-ra gets real messy and difficult when applied to the Real World. Most Jewish law does, frankly -- but that doesn't make it less useful.
And we usually think of "gossip" as a problem as spreading negative, untrue stories about people. And those are certainly the worst. But, lashon ha-ra includes passing along TRUE information -- and even passing along POSITIVE information.
According to the rules of lashon ha-ra, you may only pass along RELEVANT information, true or false.
Of all the rules in Jewish law, lashon ha-ra is probably the most difficult to follow. Of the rules which I attempt to follow, lashon ha-ra is the one I screw up most often.
There is something of an overview of some of the basic concepts in lashon ha-ra here. It's fairly basic, but, as far as I understand the laws, it's a good starting point.
I guess, if I were to try to make a one sentence description of lashon ha-ra, I might say, "using words in a way that hurts a person, or damages a community." Even positive statements may damage a community, in that they can stir up resentment. If I say "Adam is very smart," and Betty hears it, Betty may wonder if I think that SHE'S not very smart, since I didn't say that about her.
Like I said, of the Jewish laws I do make an attempt to follow, this is one of the ones which I most consistently screw up. I try to follow it, but, heck -- I'm CERTAIN that there is TONS of lashon ha-ra in my LJ right now.