A Practical Guide to the Laws of Loshon Hora Adopted from Chofetz Chaim

For the reader unfamiliar with the Orthodox world, this book will be something of a shock. Yet for anybody interested in learning about the practical applications of one important area of Jewish teaching, the book will also be an attractive and interesting read.

Guard Your Tongue is a clear and precise rendition of the laws of Loshon Hora, or the laws of relating derogoratory information about others - whether true or false. Within Halachah, it is considered very important to refrain from relating derogoratory information about others, or encouraging others to do this. For those unfamiliar with the Halachic framework this might seem strange, but perhaps because the book is so unashamedly religious, once inside the framework the reader can soon come to forget that they aren't necessarily used to the Halachic debate.

It is fairly easy for anyone - religious or not - to vow to stop speaking Loshon Hora, and then to fail because they don't really know how to. Strangely, when one starts to think about what would be involved in not speaking about others derogoratorily, listening to others do the same, or saying things that might be taken by others as encouragement to speak derogoratorily, it becomes apparent that a book such as Guard Your Tongue has its place. By providing an accurate framework for speech, and really giving answers to most questions (although there are gaps), Guard Your Tongue gives the reader a way to keep the laws of Loshon Hora.

Guard Your Tongue is written methodically and fairly clearly. It isn't a fun read, but it isn't meant to be. It just goes though laws - which at times seem repetitive - in exactly the way that (I assume) the Chofetz Chayim did. (Chofetz Chayim is both the name of the book that Guard Your Tongue is based on, and the name that was given to its author, the Ninteenth Century rabbi, Israel Meir Kagan.) What makes Guard Your Tongue valuable, apart from the simple translation, are the numerous examples given to illustrate each law.

Guard Your Tongue can be hilarious. The examples are from the Brooklyn and ArtScroll world of serious study and ethical behaviour. For somebody who isn't familiar with that world, this book can be an eye-opener that borders on the kitsch it is so self-confident yet alien. In the following example given in the book less religiously educated Jews are put firmly in their place: 'Sholom replied "Mr Sneider is a nobody. He's such an am ha'aretz [ignoramous] that he doesn't even understand a simple Rashi." It may be true that Mr Sneider is not educated, but it is nonetheless forbidden to speak loshon hora about him.' The whole book is like that, and in many ways it really adds to the experience. Guard Your Tongue provides a fairly interesting insight into what an idealised religious life could be like.

The content of the book is clear and well-structured. If read from a 'secular' perspective some stuff will be irritating at best and offensive at worst - but for a reader with maturity there will be nothing but insight and education. For anybody interested in changing their own behaviour by utilising the accumalated wisdom and accuracy of the Rabbis - whether for reasons grounded in religion or not - Guard Your Tongue is a great place to start.