Rav Frand
The pasuk in Parshas Kedoshim says, “You shall not curse a deaf person, you shall not place a stumbling block before a blind person, you shall fear your G-d, I am Hashem.” (Vayikra 19:14). The vernacular expression “to curse someone out” is not the Torah prohibition of “Lo sekalel“. The halachic definition of “klala” does not coincide with what someone might do to another driver when he cuts him off in traffic. Without getting into the specific Torah definition of “Lo sekalel,” it is forbidden to do it to a deaf person.
There is a question regarding this mitzvah. It would seem that the last person in the world whom we need to be concerned about “cursing out” (however that is to be defined) is a person who specify a deaf person? The Torah qualifies the more general pasuk to teach that just as a deaf person is alive, so too, the general prohibition applies only to live people, to the exclusion of those who are dead.” In other words, if someone goes to the grave of a dead person and utters a halachic curse against him, that is not included in the prohibition.
The Ramban also asks this question and quotes Rashi, as he normally does. However, the Ramban takes a different approach: The above-cited pasuk in Mishpatim, which reads in full: “Do not curse a judge, and a prince in your nation you shall not curse” is speaking about cursing the elite of society – judges and princes. The pasuk here in Kedoshim refers to cursing the lower echelons of society. The Torah wants to warn us against cursing the entire range of society, from the highest man on the totem pole to the least fortunate members of our nation. From this end-to-end prohibition, we can infer that it is prohibited to curse anyone in between these two extremes as well.
The Ramban says further that the deaf person was singled out in this area to teach us a kal v’chomer: If it is even forbidden to curse a cheresh who cannot hear what we say about him, and is neither embarrassed nor hurt by what we say, it is certainly forbidden to curse someone who can hear and be offended by what we are saying.
The Sefer haChinuch (Mitzvah 231) has yet a different take on the entire prohibition: Even though we don’t really understand how the utterance of a curse affects the object of that curse, we realize that inevitably, people fear being cursed. The universal assumption is that words do have a power. This apprehension of being cursed applies equally to both Jews and non-Jews. The reason then for this mitzvah is that we are warned not to harm people with our words just like we are warned not to harm them with our deeds. This is not necessarily about making a person feel bad. The Torah is teaching us the power of speech: It is an aveira (sin) if I give a klala to someone – even if he may not be insulted, embarrassed, or even hear what I said (as in the case of a cheresh) because words have power – however that works. That is why the Torah picked the deaf person. Had the Torah picked a person who hears, our assumption would be that the aveira is making someone feel badly. However, that is not the rationale of this mitzvah, so that is why the Torah picks a cheresh.
The Chinuch continues with an attempt to explain how this all works: Speech is a gift from G-d. It is a “chelek elyoni” – “higher power” because it comes, as it were, from the Almighty. We see this from the pasuk in Bereshis (2:7) “And He blew into his nostrils nishmas chaim(literally, the soul of life).” The famous Targum Onkelos on this pasuk interprets the words nishmas chaimto be ruach memalela – a spirit that speaks. The koach hadibur (power of speech) comes directly from the Ribono shel Olam. Man was granted great strength to speak, even matters outside his own being.
This, says the Chinuch, is why people go to tzadikim, to rebbes, and to holy people to receive brochos. The closer a person is to the Ribono shel Olam, the stronger his power of speech is. The rationale for going to someone for a bracha is that words count. Even the bracha of a simple person (hedyot) is not to be treated lightly. When a simple Jew gives you abracha, you should respond with a resounding “Amen!”
The power of speech is not to be underestimated. That is the lesson of Lo sekalel cheresh.
