At first glance, the opening Rashi of Parshas Shlach is most challenging. Rashi explains the juxtaposition of the episode of the meraglim and the end of Beha'aloscha where Miriam and Aharon speak lashon hora regarding Moshe, to be that they, the spies, who saw that Miriam was punished with leprosy, should have learned a lesson and not spoken lashon hora about Eretz Yisrael. How is this comparison to be understood?
The Rambam (Hilchos Tumas Tzara'as 15:10) ends the section with a moral-ethical teaching. He asserts that what we call tzara'as was not part of the natural world. Discoloration on houses, garments, and on the body occurred to cause the individual to realize that their negative speech was a direct contradiction to the Divine plan and calling of man. Onkelus understands the words, "a living soul" in the passuk, "He blew into his nostrils the soul of life and the man was a living soul" (Bereshis 2:7) to mean, "a speaking person", and by man sullying his mouth with negative speech thereby diminishes the Divine image implanted in, and entrusted to, him.
The Rambam continues, "'remember what Hashem your God did to Miriam on the way when you were leaving Egypt' (Devarim 24:9) Now: Miriam the prophetess, older sister of Moshe, who helped raise him, risked her life to save him, and she did not speak 'b'g'nuso' - in a disparaging manner regarding Moshe. Rather she erred by equating him with other Prophets." The necessary background is that when Eldad and Meidad began to prophesize in the camp (Bamidbar 11:26), the immediate reaction of Tziporah (Moshe's wife) was that she felt sorry for their wives, thinking that just as Moshe separated himself from her, they would do likewise to their spouses. When Miriam heard this, she questioned why Moshe did indeed separate himself. After all, she and Aharon were prophets and they did not separate from their spouses! Miriam did not know that Moshe's action was nothing less than a Divine decree, as Hashem told Moshe (Devarim 5:27-28) after the revelation at Sinai to inform the people they were to return to their families. Moshe, however, was told to stay with Hashem and be literally on call 24x7. The Torah informs us (12:3) Moshe was exceedingly humble and therefore told no one of his exclusive status.
The Rambam was teaching us that Miriam's failure to recognize the unique position of Moshe and not attributing to him the respect due to the av hanevi'im - father of the prophets (the seventh of Rambam's thirteen principles of faith) is within the rubric of lashon hora. The Torah is thus raising the bar and definition of lashon hora. Not only is it forbidden to speak outright g'nus-negativity about an individual (unless it is within the halachic circumstances that one must reveal specific information to someone who will be affected) but even diminishing someone's status and reputation is forbidden. As such, if one hears that someone is an outstanding talmid chacham or expert in a particular field and retorts saying "no - he is only average", this too is considered lashon hora.
This is the thrust of the moving beautiful "Adarabah" tefillah of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk wherein we ask for Divine assistance in properly evaluating others - "May we see the good in our friends and acquaintances and not their faults and deficiencies." The Chassidic master, a student of the Magid of Mezeritch, acknowledges that if one only looks they will find flaws in another person's personality. His prayer is that we should focus on the good. This is not always an easy task. One of my teachers suggests as a practical way to implement this noble and positive mandate is to recall the stern verse that ascribes the manifold lists of curses and afflictions in the tochacha in Devarim (28:47) that would occur to the Jewish people to, "Because you did not serve Hashem, your God, amid gladness and goodness of heart, when everything was abundant - merov kols." The Torah's words, "merov kol" can be explained as, "most things were good." In your own life how are you to fulfill "ivdu es Hashem b'simcha - serve Hashem with joy" (Tehillim 100:2)? Only by realizing that the cup is either half full or empty. Focus on His Divine gifts and blessings to keep your personal simcha level high, and similarly look at the positive traits in others and say, "thank you Hashem for having my path cross theirs, for me to learn and be enriched."
This cardinal lesson of properly assessing the character of others, taught by the above Rambam, applies to Eretz Yisrael as well. The sin of Miriam was not ascribing to Moshe his unique role and position. Similarly the meraglim failed to ascribe to the land of Israel its unique nature and qualities. Everything they saw and reported regarding the land - that is was fortified and most difficult to conquer - was accurate. The Chasam Sofer zt"l teaches that it was precisely for that reason that the people were to know that only with Divine assistance could they conquer the land. They forgot the idea articulated by the very first Rashi of the Torah, i.e. that Hashem created the world and chose this land for this people. The spiritual DNA of this people is different - it is charged with spirituality and so too is this land programmed to produce and respond only to its inhabitants. History has shown that for almost two thousand years the beloved land of Israel refused to accept any other people's attempt to settle and cultivate the land. Like a faithful lover it waited patiently for its beloved people Am Yisrael.
May we be zoche to look and find the good in the next one thereby enriching ourselves.