A Jewish Speech Ethic for the Web

CLAL believes that the future of American Jewry depends upon creating and nurturing new webs of communal connection that can enable us to express both Jewish unity and Jewish diversity. In its work around the country, CLAL is seeking to foster such webs of connection and the Jewishly pluralist and respectful dialogues from which such webs are woven.

In this work, CLAL seeks to encourage Jews to abide by a Jewish speech ethic that is grounded upon the idea that each of us is created in the image of God and as such must dialogue with one another in a respectful and civil manner. In espousing this speech ethic, CLAL commits itself to applying the traditional Jewish understanding of language and its impact. Ours is a tradition, after all, that begins with God's creation of the world through speech. And it is speech too that creates human relationships, constitutes communities and enables the search for truth and agreement. But as words can create and enliven they may also destroy and kill. Grasping this, the Rabbis of the Talmud articulated rules regarding what they called lashon hara (evil speech) because they wanted to separate speech's productive power from its harmful potential. At CLAL we are committed to this same separation and to the development of the Jewish speech ethic that the reality of Jewish pluralism makes incumbent upon us.

We hope the CLAL online discussion spaces will be home to intensive dialogue and debate. We encourage your participation and only ask that you engage one another in a manner that is respectful and considerate.