blogs/rabbi-huberman

Tweeting and the Jewish Connection

On the average, every second of every day, about 6,000 new tweets appear on Twitter.

That translates to more than 500 million tweets every day.

Based on an average of 70 characters per tweet, and about four characters required to form a word - it is now calculated (including spaces) that 6.5 trillion words are exchanged day each on this remarkable and largely unregulated form of communication.

The Book of Psalms records that, three thousand years ago, King David wrote, "Oh Lord, set a guard over my mouth, a watch at the door of my lips."

Perhaps if King David were alive today, Psalm 141 would look a little more like: "Oh Lord, set a guard over my fingertips, a watch over the letters of my keyboard."

Indeed, letters fly off our keyboards at supersonic speeds.

A generation has been raised -- and increasingly the older among us is following suit -- that it is less complicated and time-consuming to text or tweet, rather than exchange words face to face.

Even e-mail is seen by many as being too cumbersome.

Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and other media carry words through iPhones, Androids, laptops, tablets and home computers.

A recent study by the NVEEE (National Voices for Equality, Education and Enlightenment) stated that 86 per cent of students surveyed reported "other kids picking on them, making fun of them or bullying them."

Children who are obese, LGBT, or have disabilities were 63 per cent more likely to be bullied than others.

The same study concluded that an estimated 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by others. Many grow up with significant self esteem issues.

And, as we have learned through many highly publicized suicides, social intimidation can inspire profound depression, isolation, and even loss of life.

Is this a Jewish problem?

Yes, it is.

Day schools, religious and secular, spend much time teaching the rich moral content of religious or secular texts. But they often fail to extend the concepts that children learn in the classroom, to the schoolyard, the playground, the mall, and within social media, where the bulk of communication now takes place.

The Talmud refers to the importance of words in its teachings about lashon hara - literally bad language, or gossip.

Rav Chama taught, recorded in the Talmud 1,500 years ago, that speech is like an arrow: once words are released, they cannot be recalled. Indeed, the harm they cause cannot be predicted -- for words like arrows often go astray.

In 2017, the words of our leaders and educators -- whether they enter the universe through conventional or social media -- possess the dangerous potential to recklessly damage, wound, and slander.

This is something that Judaism guards against. The sin of lashon hara is one of the most serious within Judaism.

On Yom Kippur, a significant number of sins we confess to relate to the misuse of speech.

Yet somehow we have failed to make the jump between King David's warning and today's most powerful and potentially destructive weapons: the text and the tweet.

In this week's Torah reading, we begin our examination of the fifth book of the Torah. In Greek, the book's name is Deuteronomy:"the second statement of the law." Much of the content contained in Deuteronomy repeats laws which we've read in the Torah's previous four books.

But in Hebrew, we refer to the fifth book of the Torah as Devarim: The Book of Words. Judaism teaches that words matter.

Whether it's the way we speak with our children, our partners, and our friends, or how we conduct ourselves over the phone, in person or on line, Judaism contends that every word, like an arrow, possesses the ability to either hit the target or otherwise cause damage that the archer cannot foresee.

The Midrash, our ancient book of stories and interpretations, notices a close connection between the word Devarim -- words -- and Devorim -- bees. It notes that words, like bees, can sting.

How similar it is when gossip is spread.

The Talmud notes that when hurtful words are spoken-particularly from the lips of someone seeking to elevate themselves at the expense of others ---three people are hurt: the victim, the speaker, and the one who hears the gossip. None is the same once lashon hara occurs.

Perhaps this week, as we begin reading the fifth book of the Torah, The Book of Words, we should consider how wisely we use our own words.

Somewhere within those 6.5 trillion words shot like arrows each day on social media are our own words, and those of our children.

Are these words always kind?

God created the world through the power of words. As God's creation, we possess the capacity if not the responsibility to do the same.

This week's Torah reading beckons us to consider: are we using words to build or to destroy? Or, perhaps worse, are we allowing trillions of words each day into the spiritual atmosphere without any respect, or consideration of their affect on others?

Texts matter. Emails matter. Tweets matter.

Let us elevate the words of King David and others to an even higher level.

It begs the question, as we act as role models for our children, grandchildren, friends and citizens, are we taking the proper steps to ensure, that words that we speak or tweet are connected to ethical behavior.

And let us also hold those who represent us to the same standards.

Let us understand and respect the power of all words.

As poet Elise Sobel wrote:

          Cruel words like feathers fly

          Cruel words reach far and wide

          They leave the mouth a bitter rind

          May all your words, my friend, be kind.

Shabbat shalom, v'kol tuv (with all goodness)

Rabbi Irwin Huberman