For the Shabbos Table

בְּמִסְפַּר הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר־תַּרְתֶּם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה תִּשְׂאוּ אֶת־עֲוֹנֹתֵיכֶם אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה

Like the number of the days that you spied out the land, forty days, a day for a year, a day for a year, you shall bear your iniquities forty years (Bamidbar 14:34)

Bnei Yisrael were punished with wandering in the desert for forty years, corresponding to the forty days that the Meraglim traversed the land and returned with a bad report on Eretz Yisrael. Although the lashon hara spoken against Eretz Yisrael was certainly wrong, it was spoken only upon their return. Why, then, was the punishment correspondent to the days they spent within Eretz Yisrael?

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz zt”l answers that we learn from here that not only is lashon hara forbidden in speech, it is even forbidden to think and contemplate negative thoughts about a fellow Jew. Rashi (13:26) writes that the Meraglim’s negative intentions were present from the time they entered the land. Therefore, the sin of lashon hara in the form of negative thoughts was in fact present for all forty days. Rav Elya Baruch Finkel zt”l expounds further with the words of the Chofetz Chaim who writes that the underlying sin of lashon hara is the ayin ra - an evil eye with which one views his fellow negatively. This negative outlook is what causes one to develop negative views regarding a fellow Jew. The noted mechaneches, Reb. B. David a”h, would tell her students that our hashkafos and feelings are also “lemaysa” and practical in nature, as they guide our actions and practice. One must be careful about thoughts in mind and heart in order to cultivate positive words and deeds.