Today’s daf TB Berachot 19 spends
a lot of time proving that one should not speak ill of the dead especially if
they are a Torah scholar. The rabbis excommunicated Akavya ben Mahalel because
he spoke despairingly of Shemaya and Avtalon. This particular story could serve
as a loose precedent today.
What is the source for one who speaks
disparagingly after the biers of Torah scholars? As we learned in the
mishna: Akavya ben Mahalalel would say: In the case of a woman whose
husband suspects her of adultery, who was warned by her husband not to seclude
herself with another man and she did not listen (see Numbers 5), the court does not administer the
bitter water potion of a sota to a convert or an emancipated
maidservant. And the Rabbis say: The court administers the bitter
water potion to them. And the Rabbis said to him as proof: There
is the story of Kharkemit, an emancipated maidservant in Jerusalem, and Shemaya
and Avtalyon administered her the bitter waters. Akavya ben Mahalalel said
to the Sages: That is no proof. Shemaya and Avtalyon, who were also from
families of converts, required the maidservant to drink the potion
because she was like them [dugma]. And since Akavya ben Mahalalel
cast aspersion on the deceased Torah scholars, he was ostracized and died
while he was still under the ban of ostracism. And in accordance
with the halakha with regard to one who dies while under a ban of
ostracism, the court stoned his coffin. Apparently, one who deprecates a
deceased Torah scholar is sentenced to ostracism. (Sefaria.com translation)
The
case of Akvya ben Mahalel resonated with me because it reminded me when
candidate Trump attacked Judge Gonzalo Curiel based on his heritage. The judge, Gonzalo
Curiel, first entered the Trump political story long before the President came
to the White House, back when Curiel got a class-action lawsuit in 2016 concerning
students who said they had been defrauded by Trump University.
During the campaign one of Trump’s campaign
promises was to build a wall on the Mexican American border to prevent undocumented
Mexicans from entering the country. He called these Mexicans criminals. “When
Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said. “They’re not
sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of
problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs.
They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Because of his statements about Mexicans Trump
said Curiel was not going to be impartial because he was "Mexican." Curiel works in the Southern District of
California but was born in Indiana.
Trump's attacks on Curiel weren't a one-off
thing, either. They were repeated and sustained and mean. "I have a judge
who is a hater of Donald Trump, a hater. He's a hater," Trump said in San
Diego in May of 2016, kicking off the controversy.
Trump's comments led to accusations of
racism, including from Republicans. Condemnation
of comments made by Donald Trump about a federal judge reached the heights of the
national Republican leadership when then U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan rebuked
the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee on June 7, 2016. "I
disavow these comments," the Wisconsin Republican
said. "Claiming a person can’t do the job because of their race
is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that
should be absolutely disavowed. It’s absolutely unacceptable."
The case was ultimately settled after Trump won the White House.
We have always believed in
the power of speech. God created the entire universe by speaking those 10
utterances found in the very first chapter of Genesis. Because we are created
in God’s image, we too can create worlds with our thoughtful speech, or destroy
worlds with our thoughtless speech. Words can heal, words can hurt. We
must distance ourselves from mean, cruel, and false words because of the damage
they wreck in their wake. Kind and gentle words are like spun gold: they surely
enrich the world and make it a more beautiful place in which to live. They
enhance our relationships with one another and they bring peace.
Consequently, we should never speak despairingly about anybody whether he or
she is a Torah scholar, a modern judge, or just an ordinary person and whether
he or she is dead or alive.
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