LEV145 Realizing the pain caused by loshon hora should deter us from speaking it. The Sages said that since the metzora caused the separation of friends and the separation of husbands and wives, he should also be separated from others. (Erchin 16b, cited by Rashi). The isolation of the metzora gave him time for introspection. He could now recall the marriages and friendships his malicious gossip had dissolved. Removed from society, he would feel the mental anguish he cost others when his slander cost them to be ostracized. From here we see that a person should learn from his own experiences the pain that others feel when they suffer. If anyone ever spoke loshon hora against you, you certainly did not like it. Remember those feelings, and refrain from speaking against others. Rabbi Yisroel Salanter used to say, "If a person says that a rabbi cannot sing and a cantor is not a scholar, he is guilty of speaking loshon hora. But if someone says that a rabbi is not a scholar and a cantor cannot sing, it is tantamount to murder." (Tnuas Hamussar, vol. 1, p. 305).