When a teacher can educate and inspire students, that’s a job well done, and the teacher deserves respect. When a teacher goes beyond the classroom, and educates and inspires an entire community, that’s a blessing and the teacher deserves bountiful thanks.
The Colorado Jewish community was blessed this past fall with Clean Speech Colorado, the brainchild of Rabbi Raphael Leban, managing director of The Jewish Experience. Rabbi Leban, distressed by the deterioration of political and social discourse in our country in recent years, thought that Colorado Jews should know what Jewish law says about how we ought to speak to and about one another.
In an unprecedented effort, Rabbi Leban brought together nearly every synagogue, agency and organization in Denver-Boulder metro area to educate their constituents about the centrality of mindful, positive language in the lives of Jews, as well as the devastation that can be caused by the opposite, that is talking negatively or gossiping about other human beings.
Through a month of daily videos presented by community rabbis and leaders, school curricula and public events, Rabbi Leban’s Clean Speech Colorado reinforced the Jewish aversion to lashon ha-ra in the minds of thousands of Colorado Jews. The campaign taught us how we can improve own own lives and the lives of others, and change the complexion of our entire community. Thank you, rabbi!
Copyright © 2020 by the Intermountain Jewish News
