Ki Teitzei - You Have No Idea Who You’re Talking About

Why does the Torah command us to remember Miriam’s aveira? Miriam loved Moshe. She helped raise him, risked her life to save him, and never intended to demean him. Of all the aveiros in Tanach, why must we remember this one?And why does the Torah describe it in almost exactly the same language it uses for Amalek?In this shmooze, delivered at the first Mishmar of the year in Mevaseret, Rav Burg explores the deeper root of lashon hara: our tendency to understand another person entirely from within our own experience. Miriam knew what nevuah demanded of her and assumed that it must demand the same of Moshe. She saw what Moshe did, but she did not yet see who Moshe was.Sometimes lashon hara begins before a word is spoken. It begins when we make another person small enough to fit inside our own frame.We are all still בַּדֶּרֶךְ—unfinished people, slowly leaving our own Mitzrayim. Another person’s unfinishedness is not permission to define him by what we can presently see. It may be precisely the moment when we are being asked to search for his greatness.We are all still בַּדֶּרֶךְ—unfinished people, slowly leaving our own Mitzrayim. Another person’s unfinishedness is not permission to define him by what we can presently see. It may be precisely the moment when we are being asked to search for his greatness.