![Chofetz Chaim, 1923](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Chofetz_Chaim%2C_1923.jpg)
The ''
Sefer Sefer may refer to:
* Sefer (Hebrew), a term for a book
People with the surname
* Franjo Šefer (born 1905), Yugoslav tennis player
* Bela Šefer, Yugoslav footballer playing in 1924
People with the forename
* Sefer Reis, Turkish privateer and Ot ...
'' ''Chafetz Chaim'' (or ''Chofetz Chaim'' or ''Hafetz Hayim'') ( he, חָפֵץ חַיִּים,
trans. "Desirer of Life") is a book by Rabbi
Yisrael Meir Kagan
Rabbi Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan (January 26, 1838 – September 15, 1933), known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim, after his book on lashon hara, who was also well known for the Mishna Berurah, his book on ritual law, was an influential Lith ...
, who is also called "the Chofetz Chaim" after it. The book deals with the Jewish ethics and laws of speech.
The Sefer
The title of the ''Chafetz Chaim'' is taken from
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
:
The subject of the book is ''hilchos shmiras halashon'' (laws of clean speech). Kagan provides copious sources from the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
,
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
and ''
Rishonim
''Rishonim'' (; he, ; sing. he, , ''Rishon'', "the first ones") were the leading rabbis and '' poskim'' who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, , "Set Table", a ...
'' about the severity of
Jewish law on tale-mongering and gossip.
Lashon hara
''Lashon hara'' (or ''loshon horo'', or ''loshon hora'') ( he, לשון הרע; "evil tongue") is the halakhic term for speech about a person or persons that is negative or harmful to them, even though it is true. It is speech that damages the p ...
, meaning "'evil speech" (or loosely
gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling.
Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...
and
slander
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
and prohibitions of
defamation), is sometimes translated as "prohibitions of slander", but in essence is concerning the prohibitions of saying evil/bad/unpleasant things about a person, whether or not they are true.
The book is divided into three parts:
* ''Mekor Chayim'' ("Source of Life"), the legal text.
* ''Be'er mayim chayim'' ("Well of living water"), the footnotes and legal argument.
* It is commonly printed together with the text ''Shemirath ha-Lashon'' ("Guarding of the tongue"), an
ethical
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
treatise on the proper use of the faculty of speech.
The author
![Israel Meir Poupko, tefillin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Israel_Meir_Poupko%2C_tefillin.jpg)
Rabbi
Yisrael Meir Kagan
Rabbi Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan (January 26, 1838 – September 15, 1933), known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim, after his book on lashon hara, who was also well known for the Mishna Berurah, his book on ritual law, was an influential Lith ...
is commonly known as the ''Chafetz Chaim'', the name of his famous work on guarding one's tongue. He was born in
Dzyatlava
Dziatlava or Dyatlovo ( be, Дзятлава, lt, Zietela, pl, Zdzięcioł, russian: italic=yes, Дзенціолъ until the 1870s, thereafter ''Дятлово'', yi, זשעטל, Zhetl) is a town in Belarus in the Grodno Region, about 165&nbs ...
,
Grodno Governorate
The Grodno Governorate, (russian: Гро́дненская губе́рнiя, translit=Grodnenskaya guberniya, pl, Gubernia grodzieńska, be, Гродзенская губерня, translit=Hrodzenskaya gubernya, lt, Gardino gubernija, u ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
(today
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
), on January 26, 1838. As his reputation grew, students from all over Europe flocked to him and by 1869 his house became known as the
Radin Yeshiva
The Radin Yeshiva, originally located in Radun, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now in Belarus), was established by Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan (known as the ''Chofetz Chaim'' after the title of his well-known '' sefer'') in 1869. Because of its fo ...
. Kagan published twenty one books. His first work, ''Chafetz Chaim'' (1873), is the first attempt to organize and clarify the laws regarding ''
Lashon Hara
''Lashon hara'' (or ''loshon horo'', or ''loshon hora'') ( he, לשון הרע; "evil tongue") is the halakhic term for speech about a person or persons that is negative or harmful to them, even though it is true. It is speech that damages the p ...
''. Other notable works include the ''Sefer Shmirat HaLashon'', an ethical work on the importance of guarding one's tongue and the
Mishnah Berurah (printed between 1894 and 1907) which is a commentary on the "
Orach Chayim
Orach Chayim, (''manner/way of life'') is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of Halakha (Jewish law), Arba'ah Turim. This section addresses aspects of Jewish law pertinent to the Hebrew calendar (be it the daily, weekly, monthly, o ...
", the first section of the ''
Shulchan Aruch
The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in I ...
'', and has been accepted universally among many
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
as an authoritative source of
Halacha
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...
.
[{{Cite web, url=https://www.broydeblog.net/uploads/8/0/4/0/80408218/codificationofjewishlaw__2012_.pdf, title=The Codification of Jewish Law and an Introduction to the Jurisprudence of the Mishna Berura]
References
External links
Chofetz Chaim Heritage FoundationOnline edition in HebrewA Lesson A Day: A Daily Learning ProgramDevekut.comhas a link ("Chofetz Chaim") with an abstract of a book by Rabbis Shimon Finkelman and Yitzhak Berkowitz about Chofetz Chaim's ideas.
1873 books
Hebrew-language religious books
Rabbinic legal texts and responsa