Ivanka Trump suggests you avoid this central sin in Judaism — will her father listen?
Trump said to ‘choose words that heal, not harm.’
Ivanka Trump, center, with J.D. Vance (L) and Jared Kushner (R). Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
By PJ Grisar November 6, 2024
Ivanka Trump, after mostly avoiding politics for the last four years, appeared onstage on Election Night during her father Donald Trump’s victory party at Mar-A-Lago. Is it possible she had a hand in writing his acceptance speech?
On Nov. 4, Ivanka Trump’s 43rd birthday, she posted to X (previously Twitter), a series of lessons she has learned, quoting philosophers Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus and the psychotherapist Esther Perel. But prominent on her list was a Jewish imperative.
“Avoid Lashon Hara/Gossip,” Trump wrote. “Choose words that heal, not harm.”
Lashon hara, literally “evil tongue,” is one of the greatest sins in Judaism, a denigration said to “kill three,” the speaker, listener and person being talked about (usually it refers to speech that is true but harmful). As with Melania Trump’s anti-bullying initiative, Ivanka Trump’s insistence that we choose not to malign others, has a piquant irony given who she’s related to.
This past week, I turned 43!
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 4, 2024
Reflecting on life’s lessons, here are some truths I’ve learned along the way: pic.twitter.com/vP1zFJ7onX
Two days before Ivanka Trump’s birthday post, Tim Alberta in The Atlantic reported that Trump had briefly considered a new nickname for his former opponent — “Retarded Joe Biden.” (Trump has denied saying this.)
The Trump campaign of 2016 launched with the real estate mogul descending an escalator and calling Mexicans rapists. He is a prolific coiner of schoolyard nicknames and even likes to play the yente about the manhood of the late tennis pro Arnold Palmer and the dining habits of fictitious cannibal Hannibal Lecter.
While not strictly lashon hara — a lot of Trump’s insults or blind items are made up, so better fit the designation motzi shem ra or slander — his remarks are in the same derogatory spirit and harm more than heal.
Recently, Donald Trump has inveighed against an “enemy within” though has, in the past, had nice things to say about people marching in Charlottesville (he said the “very fine people” did not include the Neo-Nazis and white supremacists.)
But Trump has two modes: the pejorative and the superlative. Yesterday, in the afterglow of a victory that seems to include not just the electoral but the popular vote, Trump was more eager to sing the praises of Elon Musk’s rockets and the people in his circle.
The word “best” appears five times in the transcript, “beautiful” six, and “great” or “greatest” 45.
It even seems like he may have taken Ivanka Trump’s advice about healing words, vowing that “we’re going to help our country heal.”
This promise — and Trump declared his second administration would go by the motto “promises made, promises kept” — seems to run counter to Trump’s divisive rhetoric and announced policy.
He has stated that his second administration will implement mass deportations, rebuild the economy through tariffs in a move economists believe will drive up inflation and seek reprisals for a long list of enemies.
While Trump was happy, and even gracious in his victory speech, reserving the Lashon Hara and ad hominem for other countries, it remains to be seen if he will follow another pearl of wisdom from his daughter: “Forgive people — it frees you more than anyone else.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
