[Avodah] Lashon Hara

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 01:13:35PM +1100, Meir Rabi wrote:
: When Gd reports to Avraham Avinu that Sara ridiculed the suggestion that she
: will bear a child, why was this not Lashon Hara?
: 
: Assuming that HKBH deemed AA responsible for Sara's failing and therefore
: must be informed of his own failing and his need to correct that by rebuking
: Sara; it appears that the report could have nevertheless been worded without
: reference to Sara describing Avraham as the source of the problem...

And to Avraham, it was worded that way. This shift from "va'adoni
zaqein" to "va'ani zakanti" is often discussed in the context of
emes vs sheqer, tact and onaas devarim.

The question is why we had to have the original version of her words in
the Chumash. This ties in to our discussion of how Tanakh and medrash
portray the historic greats, and what lesson -- if any -- that has for
contemporary biographers / hagiographers.

The to'eles could be our learning from Sarah imeinu's error something we
couldn't learn if we didn't learn it about Sarah in particular. Would
the CC have pasqened lehatir? I don't think so. But here's a thought
I found intriguing: Presumably her neshamah gave reshus before matan
Torah, anyway.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Nearly all men can stand adversity,
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