Is gossip worth dying for?

Baal Shem Tov's Synagogue  (Public Domain)

There’s an old saying:  If looks could kill…  Perhaps looks can’t (easily) kill, but words certainly can.  Maybe not all at once (except orders of execution), but they can cumulatively

erode the will to live.

In an article called "Words Matter," Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat report that the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism, “said that a person is born with a fixed number of words to speak in his/her lifetime.”

Imagine that:  If each and every word brought you that much closer to death, would you not weigh them all more carefully?  For when the verbal “count” is reached, the speaker allegedly dies.

The Brussats therefore advise, “The next time you are about to criticize someone, to engage in gossip, or to utter any negative and hurtful words, ask yourself:  Are these words worth dying for?”

Resources

http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/literacy-world-features/view/20693/words-matter

Copyright March 9, 2016 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved