Staying On Top- Rabbi Shlomo Landau

dear friends often in life we categorize and compartmentalize people oh that fellow he's learned it he's a tamar that person he's about he's really into helping other people that person he's not much that person oh he's a special person yet the gemara teaches us that even though we compartmentalize we make a hierarchy of where people belong the gemara says it was a particular rough a particular torah teacher that went up to shamayim that went up to heaven and came down and shared that what he saw in the world to come was absolutely astonishing el yoin le mata some of the people that he thought were amazing at the highest level the mata they were insignificant and those who we thought were insignificant lamala were considered some of the most highest quality people why is that and there's many layers of understanding i'll share one thing writes one of the most frightening things he says that if you speak lash and hara about another person besides for the terrible damage and the aveira they get all your sim all your merits all your and you get automatically all their avails all the terrible transgressions and the bad things the evil that they've done so it comes out if you think about it you have a person who's worked so hard in so many areas of his life in learning in davaning in personal growth and they callously speak la shanhara about a person who may not be much all of a sudden that person shoots up and becomes elijah one of the people at the top of tear and that person who you perceived as being incredibly righteous la mata sinks down to the bottom says that's how counterproductive speaking rashan hara is not only for the person you're speaking about in terms of the harm that you give them but yourself we are harming ourselves in the greatest way possible and the farsham all struggle what the chuva is how we could reclaim it etc etc but we must take this to heart it's just not worth speaking leshenhara we don't want to lose so much of we've worked so hard to to accomplish we want to keep our successes and we always want to be aliyon shy one who guards his lips and his mouth ishmael he keeps himself away from tsaris from all the terrible consequences of what happens when he speaks flesh and heart let's be much like ourselves let's strengthen ourselves let's bite our tongue let's speak positively and the hashem will be able to ascend level after level until mamish each and every one of us is we're at the top with the rebina show layla great hat on success