Tehillim 15 – Do not go about as a talebearer
Tehillim 15:3
– “Lo ragal al leshono…” – (One who does not gossip with his tongue) – literally – “did not walk with his feet upon his tongue.”
In the Book of Vayikra, chapter 19:16, we read: “Do not go about as a talebearer among your people.”
In Hebrew, a talebearer is “rachil” – רכיל.
The letter כ belongs to the four palatal letters: ק י כ ג. These letters are interchangeable, and if כ is replaced with ג , then instead of “rachil” we get “regel”, which means foot in Hebrew. Thus: do not spread gossip by running on your feet from person to person, or “do not walk as a talebearer.”
“Did not walk with his feet upon his tongue” means that he did not gossip.
(Rabbanit Chava Cooperman in “Ohalei Yaakov”)
