What do you do at a cocktail party, during recess at school, and at kiddush in shul? Of course, you catch up on news of friends and family. And that leads to: ...Did you hear about? Did you see what she bought? Did you hear about the new car that...? Gossip. Lashon hara, and the hurting of many people's feelings is bound to occur if we don't actively hold ourselves back from speaking about other people.

The spiritual disease of "leprosy" or "metzorah" in the Torah was given to someone by Hashem as a consequence of their speaking "lashon hara" - evil speech. Why? If you speak about someone about the superficial way things "appear", then the "middah k'neged middah" - measure for measure - consequence would be that your skin - your superficial exterior covering- would be afflicted. This teaches us not to judge others by "skin deep" appearances - there must be more than meets the eye.

Secondly, when I speak about someone else, I usually speak about how "awful" someone looked, or the silly thing they did - I usually put them down. Why? To re-assure myself that they are not "OK" and that I am "OK". If so, I can stand still in my level of Jewish observance and knowledge, my character, and my way of lifeÉ...since I'm OK! And this is exactly what the Torah does not want us to do. We are not supposed to stand immobile and say: "I know enough, I do enough, I'm kind enough, I'm generous enough...! No, the Torah wants us to grow in our character. The Vilna Gaon tells us that the purpose of life is to develop our middos - our character. Lashon Torah means we are focusing on othersÕ faults which simultaneously causes us to forget about our purpose in life -- to improve ourselves.

The Torah, as emphasised by the laws of "Guarding Your Tongue" by the Chofetz Chaim, gives us strict parameters of what we can and cannot say about others. This is to encourage us to stop focussing on the apparent faults of others - and instead to work on our own personal growth.