Words From Rabbi White

HEY, YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT REUVEN SAID ABOUT LEVI!

Again this week, we have a double portion. Unlike last week’s double portion, many of this week’s laws are readily understandable to the modern mind.

Leviticus Chapter 19, verse 6, instructs us not to walk around being a gossip. That’s pretty relevant nowadays, as we are inundated by news on the internet and social media. How do we distinguish between “fake” and genuine news?

As one who is interested in philology, I have always appreciated Rashi’s comment on that verse, theas he connects the word “rakhil,” meaning “a gossiper,” with “regel,” which means “foot.”  Rashi notes that the letters”khaf” and “gimmel” are both gutturals, meaning they are both pronounced at the throat. So, both the words RaKhil and ReGeL are connected. Indeed, one who gossips likes to walk around, telling everyone something nasty about someone else.

It is usually accepted that Hebrew verbs have three root consonants. The word for “root” is “shoresh,” the same word we use for the root of a plant, or what your dentist would use for a (ugh) root canal. Thus, based on what I wrote above, the root/shoresh letters for “regel” and “rakhil” are similar. So, the idea is that the gossiper tends to walk around town, telling everyone his evil report.

In commenting on this verse, Rashi notes that the Aramaic translation on this verse uses the word meaning “to eat.”  Rashi explains that the chief gossiper (let’s call him Reuven) would invite someone (let’s call him Shimon) to his house, they would have a bite to eat. During the meal, Reuven tells Shimon something nasty about Levi, and Shimon would now go and spread the gossip about Levi.

As said above, “rakhil” means a gossiper, as in the more common Hebrew word “rekhilut,” which means “gossip”. I was wondering: there is a theory that Hebrew verbs are basically biradical, that is, based on 2 root letters. If so, the root letters for the word for gossip are KL, which in Hebrew means to destroy, such as in the word “leKhalot.” For the gossiper, with his/her inconsiderate and mindless banter, can destroy the reputation of another.

As the old rabbinic maxim goes, “life and death are in the hand of the tongue.”

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On Sunday, 13 iyyar, Maggie Cohen observes yahrzeit for her father Yaakov Cohen.

May the neshama have aliya.

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We read the haftarah of parashat `aharei mot, taken from the end of Amos.

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Monday is Pesach sheni. Some have a tradition to eat matsa on that day.

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Menahem White, Chevra Shaas