Everyone knows they shouldn't gossip. Feld represents only one of the most recent anti-gossip efforts. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament contain numerous admonitions against false rumors and tale bearing. And there is the nonprofit Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation in Monsey, N.Y., which is devoted to creating books, audio tapes, screen savers and e-mail services to improve the quality of people's speech. Foundation director Michael Rothschild compares it to installing new software between people's brains and mouths.
Proper language is a habit that has to be practiced.
Just wishing it doesn't make it happen. Essentially, any statement that hurts someone physically, emotionally or financially is considered gossip or slander, and that includes derogatory statements that may be true, cutting repartee, caustic rebukes and mockery. Rothschild recommends that people initially try spending one hour a day not gossiping, and then gradually increase the length of time. The potential for change, he said, is tremendous, given that people may have a hundred conversations daily. Words have awesome power.