HP 02 Inks
I have replaced my defective printer, but the ink cartridges are fine. In fact, I have some that are brand new (not opened). They are HP 02 series.
If anyone needs them, just let me know.
Skip
I have replaced my defective printer, but the ink cartridges are fine. In fact, I have some that are brand new (not opened). They are HP 02 series.
If anyone needs them, just let me know.
Skip
Speaking of HP printers, my wife has worked in IT at HP for many years.
And has been in a very good mood since CEO Mark Hurd was ingloriously terminated on Friday.
Apparently, Mr Hurd was caught cheating on his expense reports, in order to cover up an inappropriate relationship with a contract employee who served as his traveling companion.
A less greedy man would have just paid cash for his inappropriate expenses.
Mr Hurd was known for making acquisitions, downsizing, and cutting the salaries of the employees who survived.
Needless to say, there have been a lot of unhappy campers at HP since Mr Hurd arrived.
A geeky version of Gordon Gekko (Wall Street), Mr Hurd significantly increased the salaries of his board members and took home an annual $50 million salary package for himself.
No doubt a bit of air has been let out of his inflated ego, but I don’t feel to sorry for him.
His severance pay was $38 million.
Hi Michael,
Yes, it’s a shame isn’t it? The severance packages end up REWARDING the criminals. And we see it time and time again.
We clearly live in a fallen world.
Is this comment not in danger of being ‘Lashon Hara’?
Lashon hara (or Loshon hora) (Hebrew לשון הרע; “evil language/tongue”) is the prohibition in Jewish Law of telling gossip.
Hi Ken,
The accuser in this case has physical evidence of the CEO embezzling company money.
A regular employee would be prosecuted and thrown in jail for stealing these large sums of money.
Not given a $38 million severance payment.
That was my point.
The Law of Shimirat Ha-Lashon. Any time we communicate any information for anything other than a positive, constructive, and beneficial purpose [to’elet], or an important (e.g. life-saving) purpose, it is lashon ha’ra. And that includes whether it is spoken, written or implied. Specifically:
Motzi Shem Ra (spreading a bad name) covers what might be called ‘slander’, or malicious tale-telling. Jews would include the spreading of rumour in this category. Also, we should not tell people anything about anyone else (even if it is true and positive) if it might make life difficult for that person. For instance, if we told everyone that we met that we had experienced good hospitality at someone’s house on Shabbat, they might be inundated with visitors at the next Shabbat and the extra pressure on the host may ruin Shabbat for them. Also, the rabbis say that our good comment may cause someone to want to ‘correct’ our opinion/experience.
Lashon ha’ra (evil tongue) itself is any story or information – which may be true – that would cause a person to be held in a lower opinion by others. It would also include the communication of snippets of information that would make people suspicious of another person’s motives. And, by the way, lashon ha’ra can even be committed by actions that cause people to doubt another’s character – pulling a face behind a person’s back, for instance.
Speaking about such things, Leviticus Ch19 v17 says: “You shall rebuke your neighbour and you shall not bear sin because of him.”
Wow. That’s seriously a good word. There are situations where I REALLY need to be more careful about how I speak. Thanks for explaining that! I didn’t know about it, and your explanation was really good.
I’m going to post this where I work and where I can see it a lot to remind me. 🙂 I also wrote about it in a post on my website (I hope you don’t mind). Thanks again!
You’re most welcome! Yeah – it scared the life out of us when we first came across it! In Scripture, the punishment was a disease inflicted directly by God Himself – known as tzarrat. Our English translation is ‘leprosy’, however the description of the disease is not the same as for what we know today as ‘leprosy’ – and, of course, leprosy does not appear on clothing or on the walls of homes, as it does in Scripture!
In Numbers Chapter 12, Moses’ sister, Miriam, is struck down with it for speaking against Moses. Note this: Hebrew law says that if a person is declared innocent in court; his case cannot be re-opened, even if the crime he was charged with was murder. However, the laws of tzarrat are different. If a person was confirmed clean of tzarrat by the High Priest (and only the High Priest – which is why Yeshua asks the lepers to report to the Temple), the High Priest can examine him again, at any time, and decide that he actually does have tzarrat!
That’s how bad lashan ha’ra was considered to be. The fact that a gossiper’s case could be re-examined, while that of a murderer could not, shows that lashan ha’ra is considered to be much worse than murder. It was even possible for the High Priest to decide that a person had tzarrat without fully examining them. This is the ‘measure for measure’ principle (that Skip spoke about a few days ago) at work. The person was afflicted with tzarrat because they hadn’t judged people favourably, and had spoken evil of them – often without the chance to state their side of the story. Therefore, when the perpetrator was examined, they are not judged favourably either. There are only a few cases of tzarrat being healed in Scripture and it was believed that only a true tzaddik could action such healing – that is why the Pharisees pay such close attention to Yeshua after the leper was healed.
Ian and Tara,
Your comments are most informative and convicting. For most of us, it’s easy to know in our heart when we are truly gossiping or speaking in ways that are not positive or constructive. However, there are a few gray areas…
How are we to speak out against injustice?
How do we involve ourselves in naming crimes or offenses of political candidates so that others may make an informed decision when they vote.
How do we expose educators who are teaching or doing inappropriate/immoral things?
Or, do we remain silent and leave it in G-d’s hands??
Hi Judy – Sorry for the delay in replying [time differences and all that]. Yes, God is (of course) the legitimate direction for all our comments about daily life!
Tara and I are not (by any stretch of the imagination) experts in Judaism or halacha (Jewish Law), but we have been studying and trying to find out as much as we can. The guiding principle for Jews is to make sure that the minimum amount of ‘damage’ lands upon the community. It is relatively easy to look at the parties involved… but we often forget that ‘damage’ can be caused by our “thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought”. Are we in a place (and frame of mind) to be the one who speaks out? We asked the same kind of questions you asked when we first encountered the laws of lashan ha’ra, and discovered that it is permissible to violate them on some occasions – the kind of situations you highlight just may (and each situation would have to be weighed on merit) be able to be seen in that light.
The Law says that you would have to be a direct witness to an act where a brother or sister had been wronged – even if the person ‘wronged’ was unaware that the ‘wrong’ was done to them. In such a situation, you may talk to other people about the ‘wrong’ you witnessed if doing so will provide a way for the one who committed the act to realise their sin and repent. Obviously, from that statement, the ‘wrong’ must have broken a commandment.
However, as there is the very real possibility that lashan ha’ra could be committed, the rabbis say that the witness to the act should consider certain things before speaking: you must have actually witnessed the ‘wrong’ being performed (if you only heard about it, you should check that all the reports are true before saying anything); you should check that a commandment (Torah or rabbinic) has actually been broken, and not just assume so on the grounds that you thought that ‘wrong’ was done. Then, as we see in Scripture, you should approach the person who did the ‘wrong’ and point out the ‘wrong’ they did in the hope that they will repent (if you know the person won’t accept the rebuke, you can omit this step). Once this step has been taken – if the person doesn’t repent and make restitution – the ‘wrong’ can be made public.
In making the wrong-doing public, the witness should share their concern with a group of at least three other people of good standing in the community – this may be the Beth Din, or some other group that can take action. The rabbis say that there must be at least 3 others because a good Jew would not tell lies to a group, whereas with one or two people the report may dissolve into opinion and lashan ha’ra may result! When the witness shares what they know with others, those who hear it are forbidden to believe anything negative about the supposed sin or the alleged sinner. They are to listen only so they can have enough information to investigate the matter. The next consideration is that the witness must not exaggerate the ‘wrong’ when they speak of it. The witness must have pure intentions and must not be acting out of any malice or be seeking vengeance when they make the sin public and, if there is any way of bringing repentance, realising restitution or warning others that can be carried out without speaking lashan ha’ra, then that way must be the way forward. Finally – and we would think that this is where most of our ‘good intentions’ become dangerous – the injury, damage or expense that will be caused to the sinner as a result of the witness feeling they must speak out must not be more than the court [Beth Din] would rule as the appropriate punishment.
I also believe that there is a warning (but couldn’t confirm it with limited time) that a witness must not speak lashan ha’ra to bring the ‘wrong act’ to the attention of others if the witness has committed a similar sin (of any magnitude) themself. Anyway, the over-riding rule – when speaking out – is not simply that the truth should prevail, but so that what is, really, very close to lashan ha’ra will be received by all as constructive and purposeful for the benefit of the community.
This is, as we say, only the barest outline – if you are interested in studying more you should research Sefer Chafetz Chaim. Be Blessed!
Thanks Ian and Tara,
This is very helpful information. I appreciate your taking the time to answer.