Advice from John Gotti's Defense Attorney
I listened to a tape from Rabbi Yissocher Frand the other day that really made me think.
Rabbi Frand talked about speaking positively about our fellow Jew and about maintaining a postive outlook on life. Rabbi Frand said that we should look to John Gotti's defense attorney as an example to emulate in our dealings with other Jews.
WHY???
John Gotti ran an organized crime family, murdered people, robbed people, etc., yet from listening to his defense attorney you would have thought he was a tzaddik!
Why did he do this? Because he was PAID to do so!
There is a lesson we can learn from this which is applicable in our daily lives. Gotti's defense attorney was paid to only see the good in his client, and because of this he only presented Gotti in a positive light. We need to see ourselves as the PAID defense attorneys of every Jew. Hashem pays us a reward a thousand times larger than what Gotti's attorney received when we speak favorably about another Jew.
We need to speak of our fellow Jew only in a positive light. This is what we are paid to do.
This is a lesson I hope I will be able to internalize.
The tape I listened to was tape #209 "Loshon Hora -- Dealing with the Sickness Rather Than the Symptoms"
1 Comments:
What a great post. Loshon hara is always a tough thing to stay away from.
Not exactly on the topic, but a friend told us that when we complain about other people's bad habits, traits, actions, we are really complaining about our own. When I complain that my friend is always shopping. She always has something new and they don't have any money, I'm really talking about myself. I'm upset with myself for spending money we don't have.
I try to take this to heart when I start in about people. I also try to only talk about other people, in a negative way, to my husband. I shouldn't do that, but I figure it's better than saying all the stuff I'm thinking about to all my girlfriends.
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