The Evil Tongue: Stop Using X Now if You Care About the Jewish People

Migrate on over to Substack Notes instead.

This month, I’ve shifted from writing about antisemitism for Jewish News Syndicate to The Algemeiner. This will likely result in more pieces on this subject here at the Substack, since I now have much more control over which stories I select to write. Thus, I'll more frequently use them as subjects for essays, as I did with our most recent installment:

Global Antisemitism Has Exploded Over the Last 10 Years

Here’s today’s article in which I reported on an announcement from 15 Jewish groups declaring their intent to stop posting on the social media platform owned by the billionaire antisemite I designated last week as He Who Shall Not Be Named.

Let’s just reprint the whole statement since it’s worth reading in full:

In Jewish tradition, the prohibition on "lashon hara," or "evil speech," reminds us of words' power to harm. The great sage Maimonides taught that even when true, speaking disparagingly of others is "the evil tongue." (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deot 7:2.) Speech, whether spoken or written, can cause pain, shame, and instigate action to devastating effect. Words can also uplift and heal. They must always be chosen with care, designed to call in rather than call out, to lift up rather than tear down.

That is why, after careful consideration, we are choosing to stop actively posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, which has become rife with toxic speech. We will transition away from active engagement on X in the first quarter of 2025.

As Jewish groups committed to healing what is broken in our world, we aim to do our work through means that similarly foster repair. In study after study, as well as our lived experiences, X has become a platform that promotes hate, antisemitism, and societal division. Under the leadership of Elon Musk, X has reduced content moderation, promoted white supremacists, and re-platformed purveyors of conspiracy theories. Musk himself has re-posted content that is antisemitic and xenophobic, promoting it to his millions of followers.

The hateful posts on X are harmful to Jews and people of all faiths and no faiths. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, elected officials and disaster response officials who happen to be Jewish were attacked in posts on X that used virulent antisemitic terms and tropes, undermining efforts to help all individuals impacted by the hurricane and diminishing trust in civic institutions. In addition, X has become the largest purveyor of antisemitic content among the major social media platforms post-October 7.

No social media site is free of challenges, and social media's impact on individuals and society overall requires greater study and effective responses. Some of us may maintain accounts on X to ensure our handles are not assumed by other entities with values contrary to our own. But rather than contribute to the coarsening of discourse that is so pervasive on X, going forward, we will post content elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Union for Reform Judaism
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
American Conference of Cantors
Avodah
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Jewish Women's Archive
Keshet
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
PEP-RJ (Programming and Engagement Professionals of Reform Judaism)
Reconstructing Judaism
Reform Jewish Community of Canada
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
The Shalom Center
The Workers Circle
Women of Reform Judaism

In my article, I noted a few more Jewish perspectives, particularly in response to a recent speech:

Musk also received scrutiny for a video address he delivered on Saturday at an event organized by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which, the ADL noted, includes officials who “have made antisemitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-democratic statements.”

In his speech, Musk said “there is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.” He also declared that “it’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.”

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, responded to the address on X competitor BlueSky, writing, “Musk is a shameless and unrepentant antisemite, and those who defend him only further embolden him and the neo-Nazis he so inspires.”

Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), said that “speaking as a deeply concerned American Jew, I am deeply concerned about the security of American Jews, of Jews worldwide, given our president’s clear alignment with dangerous right-wing extremists.”

Soifer said that “the salute, the message to the AfD, the fact that he is willing to joke about the criticism he is getting, it all demonstrates that [those around Trump] are unwilling to recognize how dangerous their words and actions are. They don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this alignment. It has been a steady stream of signaling to right-wing extremists that they have an ally now in the White House.”

Over the years, both through this Substack and in the way we’ve set up our publishing company, I’ve advocated for a ton of Jewish ideas, encouraging non-Jews to draw extensively from the wisdom the children of Israel have nurtured and maintained for centuries.

That doesn’t mean I’m on board with all Jewish ideas, however. In fact, that would be impossible, since plenty of Jewish ideas contradict each other. I’ve known and worked with Jews across the spectrum from secular, Reconstructionist, and Reform through Conservative, Orthodox, and Chassidic.

As an outsider among the outsiders, it’s often been fun to sit on the sidelines and weigh which ideas, from which branches of the religion seem to make the most sense. From my perspective, all the teams seem to put some points up on the board.

However, the idea mentioned at the top of the Jewish organizations’ statement is one that goes across levels of observance, and which I strongly reject:

In Jewish tradition, the prohibition on "lashon hara," or "evil speech," reminds us of words' power to harm. The great sage Maimonides taught that even when true, speaking disparagingly of others is "the evil tongue." (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deot 7:2.)

Here’s a simple explanation for why this concept has never made sense to me.

Is it “lashon hara” for me to call someone an antisemite?

When Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, says, “Musk is a shameless and unrepentant antisemite, and those who defend him only further embolden him and the neo-Nazis he so inspires,” is she not engaged in lashon hara?

Have I been engaging in “the evil tongue” by spending two years writing 100 essays raising awareness and explaining the nature of the evil people making war against the Jewish people?

100 Essays on Antisemitism I Wrote Over the Last 2 Years

Is it evil to ring an alarm bell? Is it evil to try to wake people up to the increased danger threatening not only Jews, but all people?

With that “alarm bell” principle in mind, one can extend the concept to any number of situations.

If one gets sick eating at a particular Italian restaurant, is it “lashon hara” to tell others about what happened, in order to prevent them from spending a night puking up lasagna?

If a man sexually assaults a woman, is it “lashon hara” for her to warn other women about what he did, so they don’t put themselves in danger, too?

If a business partner lies and cheats you, is it “lashon hara” to try to warn others in the field not to trust them?

Who exactly is “lashon hara,” this “evil tongue,” protecting? Evil people. By refusing to talk about evil, by refusing to recognize and condemn those who practice it, we cannot protect ourselves.

Now, sure—there’s certainly a legitimate, more trivial interpretation: If your neighbor is rude to you when you’re taking out your garbage, or if you get bad service from the cashier at Starbucks, then it’s wrong to go and tell everyone in the world. In that context, the concept of “lashon hara” certainly makes sense, which is likely how it’s generally intended to be interpreted.

But that’s not the situation at the global level, where we find ourselves today.

The much-vaunted “wealthiest man in the world” has chosen to use his wealth to empower the genocidal authoritarian alliance of Iran, Russia, and China. He is actively creating an uglier, more dangerous and hateful world.

And he is aided in this work by anyone who chooses to continue promoting his X website.

Please: If you regard yourself as a supporter of the Jewish people and free societies around the planet, maybe now is a good time to switch to a different social media network.

Might I recommend Notes, the one here on Substack?

A social network without ads—where the writing from the site’s users, published at their own Substacks, is advertisement enough—is just totally different. It's a kind of callback to what the internet was like 20 years ago, before the ascent of social media.

Sometimes what progress really means is going backwards.

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” - Matthew 6:26

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