Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

It is written (Mishlei 21:33): "One who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles." In order to understand why Scripture specified guarding the mouth and the tongue for prevention of trouble to the soul, more than any other things that the complete man must guard in the days of his life (see the commentaries on the pshat [the plain meaning]). And I, too, will contribute my share of what the L-rd has given me. And hereby we shall also understand (Psalms 34:13-14): "Who is the man who desires life, who loves days to see good? Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit."

The reason for Scripture's singling out just these things seems to be this: It is known that every man has 248 physical organs and 365 physical sinews, as it is written (Iyyov 10:11): "With skin and flesh did You clothe me and with bones and sinews did You cover me." Now Scripture mentions skin and flesh and sinews and bones, and calls them only "clothing" and "covering" — "You clothed me"; "You covered me." Whom did He clothe if not the soul that is in his midst — "the essential man." And every organ of the soul is clothed from above with a bodily organ which corresponds to that organ as a garment to the body. And corresponding to this, the Holy One Blessed be He gave us 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments. And they are also distributed among the organs. For there is a mitzvah depending on the hand and a mitzvah depending on the foot. And so with all the other organs, as stated in the book of Charedim. And when a man fulfills a mitzvah in this world with a certain organ, in the world to come the light of the L-rd reposes on that organ, and it is that light which vivifies that organ. And so, with each and every mitzvah. It emerges, then, that when a man fulfills the 248 positive commandments, then he is the "complete man," who is sanctified to the L-rd with all of his organs. And this is the intent of what is stated in the section of tzitzith [fringes] (Bamidbar 15:40): "And you will do all My mitzvoth and you will be holy to your G-d." But if, G-d forbid, he be lacking one of the 248 positive commandments, which he has "cast behind his back," and which he did not repent of, there will be a defect in his soul in the world to come in the organ corresponding to that mitzvah. And this is the intent of Berachoth 26a: "(Koheleth 1:15): 'The crooked cannot be made straight' — This refers to one who omitted the Shema of the evening prayer or the Shema of the morning prayer, or the Amidah of the evening prayer or the Amidah of the morning prayer.'" And when a man is careful not to transgress the negative commandments of the Torah, he draws down the light of sanctity upon the sinews of his soul. And if he is not careful, they will be — G-d forbid — defective, as is explained at length in the book, Sha'arei Kedushah, Chapter I.

And from this one can reflect how he must be heedful of all the 613 mitzvoth with all his strength in the days of his life. For it is they [the mitzvoth] that extend his life eternally in the organs and sinews of his soul. As it is written (Vayikra 18:5): "And you shall keep My statutes and My judgments that a man shall do and live in them." It is not written "And he shall live because of them" [but "in them,"] to teach that the light of the mitzvah itself is his life in the world to come — just as one wishes to be perfect in all of his limbs in this world, so that he not be blemished in his very smallest organ.

And [this holds true] especially in the area of guarding one's tongue. For if he permits, G-d forbid, his soul to be in the category of speakers of lashon hara in this world, and, as a matter of course, does not prevent his ears, too, from always hearing lashon hara and rechiluth and accepting it, (also, so that he will have later what to talk about; for this is the trait of the talebearer, to go and hear in one place and sell this "merchandise" in another place, as a merchant with his wares [viz. Torath Cohanim and Rashi's commentary on Chumash]), then he will have damaged his faculties of speech and hearing, and will certainly be punished in his soul, correspondingly, in the world to come, in these two faculties themselves, speech and hearing. [This is the language of the GRA (R. Eliyahu of Vilna) on the verse (Mishlei 13:13): "He who neglects a thing will be hurt by it, and the fearer of a mitzvah — he will be complete." "For there are 248 organs in a man, and, corresponding to them, 248 positive commandments. And likewise, every thing derives its vital strength from the mitzvoth. And, therefore, anyone who neglects any matter of mitzvah hurts himself. For he is thereby deprived of the vital strength of that matter. But one who fears forsaking any mitzvah and seeks to fulfill every thing [(of mitzvah)] will be complete in all of his organs."] And we may also say that this is the intent of the verse (Devarim 32:5): "[In the transgressions that they have committed,] they have corrupted [themselves], not Him," [G-d forbid], as it is written [Iyyov 35:6]: "If you have sinned, what have you done to Him." The intent [of the verse in Devarim] is as he [the GRA] explains — that through their sins they become blemished in the end. [see Rashi on "banav mumam" ("His sons, their blemish")]. That is, if any mitzvah becomes expendable in his eyes, G-d forbid, then the organ corresponding to that mitzvah becomes blemished in the end, as we have written in the name of the GRA. For in the issur of speaking lashon hara and rechiluth that he speaks with his mouth he transgresses "You shall not go talebearing among your people," most of which [sin] inheres in the mouth. And in hearing lashon hara and accepting it, he infringes on the transgression of (Shemoth 23:1): "You shall not bear a false report." [viz. Sefer Charedim on the negative commandments dependent on the ears, and what I have copied of his words in Principle X of the Be'er Mayim Chayim.] And it is known that these [(speaking and hearing)] are the major faculties of the "form" of man and of his perfection, even in this world. (This is well known from the ruling of Chazal that a deaf-mute [cheresh], who does not hear and does not speak is [legally] comparable to a shoteh [one who is mentally deficient] and to a minor, in all matters. And, in Bava Kamma 85b: "If one rendered another a cheresh he pays him the [legal] worth of an entire man"; for from now on he is not [legally] worth anything.) How much more so is he (i.e., "the counterpart of mouth and ear") rendered defective (for sins by those organs)] in the world to come. And even if we say that he will not be lacking entirely in these faculties, (for did he not also employ them in his lifetime in words of Torah and holiness?) in any event, they will certainly be defective, for he damaged them while yet living and did not repent. And this is known to all who have understanding — that even in this world, if, G-d forbid, a man's faculty of speech and hearing is impaired, even if — with great effort — he can still speak and hear, this greatly grieves him in his lifetime, and he will be more greatly shamed by this lack than if he were affected, in his other organs; for these are man's prime faculties and he will also not be able to conceal their loss. How much more so, in the higher world — how much will his soul grieve there before the eyes of all! Even if no punishment were inflicted upon the man of lashon hara at all, but only his speech and hearing were impaired, how much shame would he suffer because of this! For there it is known and recognized by all that his speech and hearing impairment there is due to his being a man of lashon hara and strife in this world.

And it is known that if one is addicted to this sin [of lashon hara, G-d forbid, it is very difficult to find any cure for him, as Chazal have said, that in the next world all are healed, except "a man of lashon hara." If so, his soul will suffer great shame eternally thereby [see the ed of Chapter V, on Miriam.]

And this, [lashon hara] is more likely to result in "the troubles of one's soul" [see introductory paragraph] than anything else. For by this, its [the soul's] perfection is undermined more than by anything else, (it being called "the soul of man" by virtue of the power of speech inherent in it [see Rashi in parshath Bereshith.]) And this is the intent of "One who guards his mouth and his tongue [in this world] guards his soul from troubles [in the next world]." And this is the intent of King David, may peace be upon him, in singling out this trait [of guarding one's tongue], for this is of great benefit for eternal life [see what we shall write below, the L-rd willing, in chapters IV and V.]

And, in truth, every Jew wishes to observe the Torah in perfection and to omit nothing of it, as it is written (Isaiah 60:21): "And Your people are all righteous." But the reasons which cause people to be lax in the holy trait of guarding one's tongue are many. We shall explain them, G-d willing, below at length; but the chief reasons are three:

a) deficiency of knowledge — not knowing which speech is in the category of lashon hara, wherefore we wrote the first two parts of the book Chafetz Chaim.

b) Intensification of the yetzer [the evil inclination] in this area [of lashon hara], whereby it gathers the power to "prosecute" us, so that our prayers are not accepted above (as we have written below, citing the holy Zohar.)

c) lacking the stratagems to escape the yetzer, viz. (Mishlei 24:6): "For with stratagems shall you make war for yourself [against the yetzer]."

For this reason, we have written with the Blessed L-rd's help, this third part [Shmirath Halashon], a collection of many aggadoth Chazal, from the Talmud, the Midrashim and the holy Zohar, which speak of the great punishment resulting in this world and the next from this bitter sin, Heaven preserve us, and also of the great reward in this world and the next for the guarder of his mouth and his tongue. For this reason we have called the first gate of this part "The Gate of Remembrance," as per (Devarim 24:9): "Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam" [for speaking lashon hara]. And there will also be mentioned in it apothegms of Chazal arousing one to this end and reminding him of it.

We have also labored and selected from the words of Chazal, with the help of the Blessed L-rd, various stratagems and counsels on how to rescue oneself (from the mouth of the yetzer) from this transgression of the sin of the tongue. Perhaps through these everyone will see to it to become wise in this area and to overcome his yetzer and remove from himself all of the hindrances that keep him from this holy trait of guarding the tongue. For this reason we have called the second gate of this part "The Gate of Understanding," as per (Mishlei 1:5): "And the understanding one will acquire stratagems." I have also explained in this gate many other holy traits which are also essential for the conduct of "the man who wants life." Through them it will be easier for him to arrive at the gate of guarding the tongue. All of this we have explained in the first two gates of this part.

We have also opened in this part an additional gate, the third gate, "The Gate of Torah," which subsumes all of the gates, as Chazal have said: "He who lacks this [Torah], what has he acquired? And he who has acquired this, what does he lack?" (And it [Torah], too, is of great benefit to the man who wants life. As they have said (Arachin 15b): "What is the amendment of the "man of lashon hara? If he is a Torah scholar, let him occupy [himself] in [the study of] Torah.") And in it will be explained the greatness of the reward of the man who sanctifies his speech with Torah, and the reward of him who dedicates his sons to Torah, and various other things that branch out of this. And because there will be in this part, with the help of the Blessed L-rd, many things that are essential for a Jew to know and to fulfill, it [this part] is especially beloved of me, and I have given it a name by itself. It shall be called "Shmirath Halashon" ["The Guarding of the Tongue,"] as per Mishlei 21:23: "One who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles."

And even so, let the dear reader know that even if this book finds favor in his eyes with the help of the Blessed L-rd, let him not think that it is sufficient to know the third part alone. For the first two parts also ("The Laws of Lashon Hara" and "The Laws of Rechiluth" are essential for the man who wants life, as stated in Midrash Mishlei 1:2): "To know wisdom and mussar" — If a man has wisdom, he can learn mussar [chastisement]; but if he does not have wisdom, he cannot learn mussar." The plain meaning is: If one errs in the din itself, no mussar can help him. As, for example, if one thinks about something in his business that it is not in the category of theft. What will it avail him to learn all the teachings of mussar, to inflame his heart with the greatness of the issur of theft, if he holds that what he is doing is not in the category of theft? And the same, in all the other areas of Torah. Therefore, one must learn the dinim of the Torah to know what is forbidden and what is permitted [And he must also learn those areas of mussar which bring a man to the fear of the Blessed L-rd, in order to spur his soul to fulfill the Torah], aside from fulfilling thereby the mitzvah of (Devarim 6:13): "The L-rd your G-d shall you fear." And the same [is true] in our area [of guarding one's tongue]. For what will avail him all the mussar in the world, which speaks of the gravity of the issur of lashon hara and rechiluth if he has permitted his soul to say that this thing is not in the category of lashon hara or that for such and such a man the Torah did not prescribe the issur of lashon hara? It is, therefore, essential for a man to know which thing falls into the category of lashon hara according to the din. And in order to overcome his yetzer and to fulfill what he has learned, he must see to it to study mussar. And that [i.e., mussar] is the [heightening of the awareness of the] greatness of the punishment and of the reward that inheres in this area.

And another benefit of knowing the dinim — on the reverse side — is not to be overstringent with oneself and forbid [oneself from speaking lashon hara] where it is a mitzvah to demean someone [i.e., a heretic], so that he not corrupt the public with his deceitful views. [For yet another benefit, see the Preface of the Chafetz Chaim.]

I have also found it fit to set down here in the preface my explanation of Avoth d'R. Nathan 27:3, so that one can thereby refute his yetzer in its argument against him in this area [of guarding one's tongue]. The Mishnah there states: "He [R. Yochanan ben Dahavai] used to say: 'Do not distance yourself from a trait that has no end and from a labor that has no completion.' To what can this be compared? To one taking water from the sea and spilling it on the shore. The sea was not emptied and the shore was not filled — at which he gave up in despair — upon which he was told: 'Empty one! Why do you despair? Every day take your wage — a dinar of gold!'" I explained that the "trait" referred to is the one we are speaking of. It is well known that the yetzer entices a man to distance himself from the trait of guarding his tongue and learning the details of this din. It sys to you: "What do you gain by learning and probing this thing? Will you be able to reach its end and guard your mouth all the days of your life? Would that you could hold out for one or two days! And even in this small amount of time, would you be able to do all that you had to do? Are you not a government official and don't you have dealings with hundreds of people? Turn back and don't begin [to cultivate] this trait at all. For it is a trait that has no end in time or in substance. For it includes all times and seasons that a man goes through in his lifetime and all of the affairs between a man and his neighbors!" And [in refutation of] this came the tanna, R. Yochanan ben Dahavai and taught us in his terse reply that, in truth, things are not so, that one should not distance himself from a trait that has no end.

And we shall explain our words in more detail with the help of the Blessed L-rd. As to the contention of the yetzer that the thing [i.e., guarding one's tongue] will not last more than a day or two, let him answer: Even if it were as you say, should one be lax in this? Don't you know that if someone walked on the seashore (be he who he may, even a very rich man; how much more so, a poor one,) and he saw the sea cast up precious stones and pearls, would he be lax in picking them up because he could do so for only a few hours, or, at most, for a single day? This might be so for cheap, worthless things, but not for precious stones and pearls, where each moment that he picks them is worth more than a hundred days of picking paltry things! So, in our case. Do we not know what the GRA has adduced in the name of the Midrash? That for every moment that a man muzzles his mouth [against speaking lashon hara], he merits the secreted light, which no angel or [heavenly] creature can visualize. Observe that the Midrash does not speak of a month or a week or a day or an hour — but a moment! And this is the intent of (Mishlei 2:4): "If you seek it as silver; if you search for it as hidden treasure, etc." A man must conduct himself in seeking the eternal reward as he would in seeking silver and searching for hidden treasure. And this is the intent of the tanna: "Do not distance yourself from a trait that has no end." That is, a man should reckon as a merit and as a "find" for his soul anything that he finds of it [i.e., of the hidden treasure].

And all this, even according to the words of the yetzer, that the agreement and the acceptance that he reaches in his heart for the future will last for only several days. But if we delve more deeply into these things, we will find that the yetzer's contention is false to begin with. For it has already been proved in the crucible of experience that if one wants to work on this, then the longer he habituates himself to it, the easier it will be to maintain it. For he will be aware of it whenever he utters something unbecoming, as opposed to his earlier state where he felt nothing because of the inclination of his nature for all the things that he desired. And with a little spurring of his soul, he will keep back from forbidden speech, having divested himself of this force of habit.

But as to this question of fixing within one's soul this habit of guarding his tongue, it seems clear to me that one should conduct himself as follows: First he must see to it to be expert in all of the details of the laws of guarding one's tongue and reviewing them thoroughly to the end of becoming expert in them, to know which manner of speech is subsumed in the category of "guarding." By doing so there will as a matter of course fall away from him the major part of his former habit. Thenceforward, even if he only establishes a fixed time for this every week, this, too, will aid him greatly, all according to the nature of the man and of his affairs. For there are some men who must always examine themselves, every day as to how and where they stand in respect to their faculty of speech.

And even if some time transpires in which, for some reason, one cannot spur himself to this, or in which he sometimes finds himself defeated in this by the yetzer, still, he must not allow himself to despair of ever attaining it. For if he strengthens himself further and arouses himself to this guarding, he will emerge the victor and will conduct himself accordingly all of his days. This is Chazal's intent in (Berachoth 5a): "Let one always incite his good yetzer against his evil yetzer, etc." This "incitement" consists in his always waging war with him, as we have written.

I heard in the name of a certain Gaon that being asked by someone how to arouse himself to concentrate if, nearing the end of his prayer, he found himself not to have concentrated for most of it, he (the Gaon) replied: "To what may this be compared? To a little girl standing in the marketplace with a great basket of vegetables to sell and being accosted by someone who begins to grab things from the basket. She panics and is at a loss how to act — until a certain wise man standing at a distance calls out to her: 'What are you waiting for? Until he grabs it all? He is grabbing — you grab too! Everything that you grab will be yours!'" And thus, precisely, is it with prayer. The yezter overpowers a man and casts upon him indolence and vagrant thoughts, thus preventing him from concentrating upon many blessings. You, too, "grab," and spur yourself on with all of your strength to concentrate on the blessings that yet remain before you.

And thus, precisely, is it in our instance. The yetzer bested you today in the area of forbidden speech. Stand up and strengthen yourself against him tomorrow to defeat him. And even if, G-d forbid, he bests you again, notwithstanding this, return and strengthen yourself again against him to wage war with him. And the Holy One Blessed be He will certainly help you, too, to emerge victorious; for "one who comes to purify himself is abetted (from on High.") In sum: A man should spend all of his days warring with his yetzer, this being the intent of Chazal in "Let one always incite, etc." And this, in effect, is the intent of the verse (Koheleth 10:4): "If the spirit of the "ruler" rises up against you, do not abandon your position."

As to the yetzer's second contention — "Since you cannot observe the din completely, it is best to distance yourself from this [(guarding your tongue)] altogether" — you can answer: "Would I allow myself to conduct my business in this way?" For example, If someone saw me running with alacrity to "make a deal" to support myself and he asked me: "Why are you running? Do you think that by doing so you will become the wealthiest man in the whole world, like Ploni?" would I not certainly answer him: "Because I will not become like him should I 'hide my hand in the dish' and not support myself?" And if this is so with the transitory body, what should I answer for the affairs of the [eternal] soul? Because I cannot observe this trait in all its details and aspects, by means of which I could rise to eternal heights of exaltedness and holiness — [as we find in the holy Zohar, Parshath Chukath, that one who guards his mouth and his tongue merits being clothed with the holy spirit, and also shining eternally in the secreted light that no angel or [Heavenly] creature can visualize, as Chazal say and as we find in Reshith Chochmah in the name of Maharam Kordovero of blessed memory, that Rav Shoshan was shown secrets in a dream in which he saw that every hair of his beard shone with a torchlike luminescence, the result of his abstinence from idle speech] — should I, therefore, forebear from guarding my soul by guarding my mouth with all my might and not being G-d forbid, of the class of "the speakers of lashon hara" and the like, of those evil classes of which Chazal state that they do not behold the presence of the Shechinah? It is this that King Solomon, may peace be upon him, intended when he wrote (Koheleth 9:10): "All that your hand finds to do with your strength — do!" To teach us that even if it enters one's mind that he will not have the strength to complete the mitzvah in all of its details, in spite of this, he should do everything that he can do. And along these lines Chazal have said on Devarim 4:41: "Then Moses would set apart three cities," that Scripture apprises us of this [to teach us] that even though the three cities across the Jordan could not serve as cities of refuge until those in the land of Canaan had been designated, and he knew that he would not enter Eretz Yisrael, in spite of this Mosheh Rabbeinu, may peace be upon him, said: "Everything that it is in my power to do, I will do," as Rashi explains there. All this we have written, with the help of the Blessed L-rd, in explanation of what is stated in Avoth d'R. Nathan, that one should not distance himself from "a trait that has no end." As to "a labor that has no completion," this applies to [the study of] Torah, as indicated by the analogy adduced there.

And know that what we have written in this book as to the great need of guarding oneself from the sin of lashon hara, applies to one who is still in the class of "your fellow." But as to those who deny the Torah of the L-rd, even one letter thereof, and those who mock the words of Chazal, it is a mitzvah to publicize their deceitful views before all and to demean them, so that men not learn from their evil ways, as explained in the Chafetz Chaim Principle VIII, halachah 5.