The Daily Chizzuk from our Rebbe Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a – Not speaking Lashon Hara saves you from thousands of transgressions
“For in G-d, Hashem is the strength of the worlds” (Yeshayah 26:4)
Sunday, 28 Shevat, 5783 – “How many letters does a person speak in an hour?”
These are his holy words:
“For in G-d [Yud-Heh], Hashem is the strength of the worlds.” The Rebbe says, there is “Yud” – this is the intellect, and there is “Heh” – this is the letters.
One needs to guard the tongue, because a person speaks 600,000 letters in 12 and a half hours. In an hour, this is 48,000 letters.
The Chafetz Chaim made a calculation that a person [in his speaking Lashon Hara (evil gossip)] violates 17 Prohibitive Commandments and 14 Positive Commandments – 31 transgressions for every word of Lashon Hara.
A person speaks Lashon Hara, then with every letter of Lashon Hara he transgresses, with every letter of Lashon Hara that he puts out of his mouth, he transgresses 17 Prohibitive Commandments and 14 Positive Commandments – together 31.
Now, how many letters does a person say in an hour? 48,000 times 31 is already 1,440,000 transgressions that he violates.
Because of this, his wife and all the children are sick, and he doesn’t know why – because he spoke Lashon Hara. He believed some Lashon Hara; he believed somebody.
It is written that the one who speaks Lashon Hara about someone is liable to lashes. Because, either bring him to a Rabbinic Court, or bring two witnesses. But if you don’t have two witnesses, then you speak evil slander [false Lashon Hara] – you are liable to lashes.
In one hour, one commits 1,440,000 transgressions. A person could say 200 words in a minute. Every word is on average four letters. If a person says 200 words in a minute, then 800 letters in a minute. Times 60 minutes in an hour – this is 48,000 letters per hour. So if a person doesn’t speak Lashon Hara, then he saves [himself] from all of this.
