Is It Still Worth It? - R. Eliyahu Maksumov - TorahAnytime.com

If you could go into an elevator with somebody, and you could convince them within just a few seconds never to speak lashon hara again, what would you tell that person that is going to be so powerful, that will be so compelling, so convincing that after they will leave that elevator, they're no never ever going to speak lashon hara again? You know what that one thing that you could tell that person is? Says the Chofetz Chaim on Hilchos Lashon Hara, you should know that when a person speaks lashon hara, he inherits all that person's sins. The person that you spoke bad about, you get all their sins. Now, we have enough aveiros to worry about of our own. Now, you have to worry about somebody else's sins, it's not worth it. It's just not worth it. You're going to go up to heaven after 120, you're going to be standing before Beis Din Shel Ma'alah, and they're going to present to you all of your sins. But amongst all your sins, they're going to present to you other people's sins, and you're going to say, "Hey, I'm not responsible for that. I didn't do this. I didn't eat that. I didn't go there." And they're going to say, "But you did." "But how?" "Because that person did." "But I'm not that person." "But you spoke lashon hara about them." And by speaking lashon hara about them, you are now responsible for their sin, and now you get a share with them in their sin. Isn't that a terrible thing? That itself should stop us from speaking lashon hara about other people. Rabbeinu Bachya teaches us the severity behind the sin. We have to take it upon ourselves to control our speech, to learn about shemiras lashon, because if we don't and we're loose with our tongue and we spit venom, we will be very guilty after 120 for old many sins that we never even committed. Why? Because of lashon hara. So, if a person realizes this and internalizes this, how could he ever go and speak gossip about other people? And that's something we have to keep in mind. That's something we have to take to heart.