Rav Menachem Weiss published a story about his friend, a principal of a yeshivah in Israel. This principal, his wife, and his family were known for being extremely careful about shemirat halashon—guarding the tongue and for diligently reviewing the halachot surrounding lashon hara daily.
Recently, the wife was in a situation where it was incredibly difficult for her to refrain from speaking lashon hara, but thanks to the family’s constant review of the halachot, she withstood the nisayon—test and remained silent.
Half an hour later she went into her kitchen and was horrified to find her two-year-old holding a sharp knife between his teeth. After freezing for a second, she spoke softly to him and managed to distract him enough to carefully extricate the knife from his mouth.
After she calmed down, she couldn’t help but draw the connection between her decision to keep her mouth closed and her rescue of her son’s mouth from serious injury mere moments later.
Reprinted from the Parashat Beha’alotcha 5784 email of Rabbi Jack E. Rahmey based on the Torah teachings of Rabbi Amram Sananes.
