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Sleeze Free Campaign Kick Off Christianity adopted the 10 commandments from our Jewish roots. And among those commandments is the prohibition telling us not to bear false witness against our neighbor But St. Paul amplified the commandments by saying it is not enough simply to follow them, but rather we are asked to out-do one another in showing honor. In humility we are expected to regard others as better than ourselves. And we are to live with love for one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the commandments. You might say that fulfilling the commandments requires that we think and speak well of each other—something we rarely see in our public discourse. To bring this forward to the present, a recent article in the New York Times detailed a study about the nature of gossip in human relationships. A large group of people were brought together with a few members inserted into the group trained to help with the study. Some of the trained members of the group began to spread rumors, both good and bad, about other trained members. Then, those who had bad rumors spread about them were coached to behave in an exemplary manner. And those who had good rumors spread about them, were coached to get caught in little white lies, or even be seen stealing something from some one else. The result, a survey of the non-trained members of the group found they had a poor opinion of those who had been the subject of bad rumors, even though they did nothing wrong, and a high opinion of those who were the subject of good rumors, even though they had been observed doing some things of a questionable nature. Our words have a lasting impact, and tear at the fabric of trust needed for public discourse. If we, the leaders of faith communities, cannot call for an end to bearing false witness against each other, then who will? -Rev. Stephen Smith The Talmud relates a story in Tractate Baba Metzia (pages 58b – 59b) in which Rabban Gamliel, the head of the Sanhedrin, suffers an untimely death owing to his having previously shamed his colleague Rabbi Eliezer over a disagreement about matter of the law. The legal disagreement was not at issue (disagreements abound in the Talmud), it was the way in which Gamliel treated Eliezer before his peers that led to his death.
While perhaps hyperbole, the narrative is employed as a pointed caution against the humiliation of a fellow, especially in a public way. As part of the discussion in the Talmud, we find this teaching from the oldest codification of Jewish law, the Mishnah, which warns, "Just as there is wronging in buying and selling, so there is wronging with words." Jewish tradition teaches in the strongest possible terms that public humiliation is tantamount to murder, i.e. character assassination: "If anyone makes his friend’s face turn white from shame in public it is as if he has spilled blood." "It is better that a person should cast himself into a fiery furnace than that he should shame his fellow in public."
Disagreement over public policy is the stuff of a political campaign. However, we must conclude from this Talmudic passage that from a Jewish perspective, the debate should be a respectful and civil discourse about the issues, not a mud-slinging contest about the other candidates. -Rabbi Misha Zinkow |
