[RBS] How to pray for ill friends and neighbors...

[Jeffrey Bell]

Yesterday morning at the learning program sponsored by Kollel Bet Tzvi at
Ahavat Shalom, Rabbi Ari Waldman brought a very thought provoking idea.

He was reminding all of us that the mouth which Hashem gives to us to use
for  kosher purposes,  such as eating and prayers, should not also be used
for forbidden things, such as.....loshon hora.

If we ponder this for even a moment, we all realize  something truly
awesome: asking Hashem to accept our prayers for our sick friends /neighbors
and/or other heart rending issues from a mouth  which is also used to harm
those whom we decide do not deserve our goodness is, to say the least, a
grotesque   and blatant contradiction.

If you feel it is appropriate to post or accept the need to pray for the
refuah of others,  please contemplate if your mouth  is up to the challenge
of the integrity of refraining from ALL manners of forbidden speech. Those
of course include loshon hora/negative true words, motzay shame ra/lying and
gross exaggerations, rachelus/passing on negative information,  AND onas
devarim/offensiveand hurtful words, such as mocking someone to their face
and of course even worse in front of others.

In the merit of our  remaining conscious and concerned that we not ignore
these vital issues, may our mutual prayers reach the kisa hakavod and
convince the creator to allow our pleas to change the many terrible gzaros
which seem to badly plague klal Yisroel.

Beryl Shmuel Bell