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leading questions (short)

At the end of our sedra, Miriam is punished for speaking ‘lashon hara’ about Moshe. Rav Dessler raises the question that if you look at the psukim (always a good idea!), all Miriam seems to be saying is asking ‘why Moshe must seperate from his wife to receive prophecy?’ And the question is a fair one; Miriam was also a prophetess and did not need to separate from her husband. Wasn’t Miriam just asking a fair question? Rav Dessler answers that there are two types of question; one is a genuine will to know an answer, and the other is a veiled attack – it is not a question at all and the questioner does not want to know an answer; they just want to make known that they disagree and do not approve of something. Miriam’s was the latter – she was not asking genuinely why Moshe separated from his wife, but was showing her disaproval of Moshe in a question form. This was the origin of her sin.