This final paragraph begins with the request that Hashem “Guard my tongue from evil – ra’ah – and my lips from speaking deceitfully – mirmah.” What is the difference between ra’ah and mirmah? The Vilna Gaon explains that ra’ah refers to when both the words that are spoken and the intent of these words are evil. Mirmah, on the other hand, is when the words sound innocuous enough but the intent behind them is anything but. According to Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, ra’ah is the Yetzer Harah overwhelming a person to the point that he no longer cares that what he is about to do is forbidden. However, mirmah is the way that the Yetzer Harah distorts a person’s perspective to the point that it is not possible to distinguish between that which is good and that which is bad. Within the context of our prayer, Rabbi Shimon Schwab explains that in trying not to speak Lashon Harah, a person may come to speak words of mirmah in order to hide something derogatory that they heard. Therefore, we request from Hashem that He keep us away from such situations so that we won’t have to say anything that is not true.

The concluding paragraph then continues: “To those who curse me, let my soul be silent.” Rabbi Shimon Finkelstein (1861-1947) was recognized as a child prodigy by the greatest scholars in his native Slobodka, Lithuania, and later on in Kovna. When he was in his late twenties, he immigrated to the United States, where he served as a Rabbi in Baltimore and Cincinnati. In Reishit Bikkurei he writes that our Sages teach (Erchin 15b), “There are three people who are caught up in the web of Lashon Harah: the person who speaks the Lashon Harah, the person who listens to the Lashon Harah, and the subject of the Lashon Harah.” He explains that these three people are alluded to in our prayer: “Guard my tongue from evil” is beseeching Hashem to give me the inner strength not to let me speak Lashon Harah. “And my lips from speaking deceitfully” is asking for help to understand that what I just heard was Lashon Harah and cannot be repeated to anyone else. Finally, “To those who curse me, let my soul be silent” is a plea that even when Lashon Harah is spoken about me, I should be able to keep silent and not respond in kind

So great is the spiritual power generated by someone who does not react to Lashon Harah that the Chofetz Chaim often cites a midrash that says, “For every single moment that a person closes his mouth [and refrains from speaking Lashon Harah], he merits a hidden spiritual light that no angel or earthly creature can fathom!” Why is this reward so enormous? Not giving in to the desire to reciprocate in kind – especially when there may be all kinds of justifications for doing so – is truly one of the most difficult things that a person has to overcome. not giving in to the desire to reciprocate in kind.