A few months ago I came across this video , (TO WATCH IT - scroll to bottom of the post) which brings to light a list of new words that are no longer politically correct and therefore can not be used in kids textbooks in the USA. Among those words are Deaf, Poor, Americans...(YEAH AMERICANS?) and many others. It seems a little strange at first, like what is going on here? I think the main point to notice here is that
these words are offensive to some people and therefore people should avoid them. Looking at this specific point, I think it is definitely a GREAT thing and a step in the right direction.
On the other hand, do these words that they are choosing have any intrinsic bad in them? As some of those words could also be used for a good purpose and not necessarily in an offensive manner. Also whatever word they are planning to take out of textbooks will be replaced with a word that has the exact same meaning and therefore may become offensive once again. Will the new words be removed in another 5 years? What is really offensive: the word or what they portray? Something to think about.
Anyways, thanks to Hashem, proper speech was taught to the Jewish People apprx 3000 years ago when we received the Torah. The Great Kabbalist, The Ramchal z"l (i.e.,Ha
Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato from around 250 yrs ago, explicitly teaches us a lesson for life about proper speech in his book of
Messilat Yesharim (Path of the Just)
Here is my English translation of what he says:
A general rule: One's evil inclination has many ways [to make a person stumble, but know this:] anything a person says that can possibly cause harm or disgrace to his friend, whether in his presence or behind his back, this falls under the transgression of "Lashon Harah". It is hated and vile before G-d. (שנאוי ומתועב לפני המקום).
As it is written:
Erchin page 16b: "Anyone who speaks loshon hara is like one who has denied everything (i.e., all of Torah)"
and
Tehillim 101: "He who slanders his neighbor in secret, Him I will cut down."
Back to american text books: As weird as it seems, If we focus on the good point that "Offensive words should be avoided" , we can see how the world is slowly coming to the realization of what our Holy Torah taught us many many years ago...
So, I think we are a seeing yet another sign that the world is moving towards, and laying out the groundwork for the final redemption in which The Truth will be revealed to the whole world.
Other interesting signs...
• Product reviews / user comments all over the internet leave businesses no choice but to be honest about the products that they try to sell. (truth)
• Abundance of knowledge available to everyone via internet. (knowledge)
• Via Internet - Everyone in the world can receive the same information simultaneously (oneness)
• Creation of the Euro, talks of the Amero, (currencies, countries coming together) conspiracies of a One World government. (oneness)
• ANY MORE? probably many...leave comments, let us know!
In Parshat Lech Lecha, among the blessings that Avraham was to receive for leaving all that he had was the blessing that he himself should be a blessing (12:2). How does one become a blessing? Furthermore, Rashi comments that G-d promised Avraham that although he would be identified with Yitzchak and Yakov, any such blessings would end with Avraham's name at its conclusion. If the sages are correct that Yitzchak and Yakov reached higher levels than Avraham, what made him so special that any blessing would end with him?
