Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

It is written in Mishlei (13:7): "There are those who enrich themselves and have nothing, etc." It is known that Mishlei consists of analogies (meshalim). [In the above instance, the analogy is as follows:] Just as in monetary matters, it is possible for one to heap up riches, and yet, when it comes to the accounting, he may find that the great profits in his business are offset by many damages, so that when one is set against the other, he is seen to be left with nothing— so, in matters of eternity, it is possible for a man always to do mitzvoth and good deeds and yet to have an evil nature, which prompts him to slander his fellows. A man like this, when he comes to the higher world, will find that he has nothing, that all of the vines and plants that he planted in Gan Eden through his deeds have been covered with thorns and nettles, and the vines below are not visible, as it is written (Ibid. 24:31): "I passed by the field of a lazy man, and by the vineyard of a man lacking a heart, etc." That is, there are two types of people: one is too lazy to acquire Torah and good deeds for his soul. This is [what is intended by] "the field of a lazy man," one who did not learn, or who forgot through his laziness; and the second lacks a heart. He has Torah and good deeds, but his heart lacks concern for them [to see to it] that they endure. About the first, Solomon writes (Ibid. 24:30): "and, behold, it was all grown over with thorns"; i.e., instead of beautiful words of Torah there grew thorns and briers of idle speech. And, about the second, (Ibid.): "nettles had covered its face." In our context this is understood as meaning that every word of Torah and holiness that he had spoken and that could have produced "glorious fruit, holy to the L-rd," was covered and overlaid from above with the spirit of uncleanliness of his forbidden speech.

As we find in the holy Zohar, Parshath Pekudei: "And in this evil spirit there are found other inciters of din, which are designated to seize upon evil or filthy speech that a man utters with his mouth, that is followed by words of holiness. Woe to them and woe to their lives! Woe to them in this world and woe to them in the next world! For those unclean spirits take that unclean word, and when he subsequently utters words of holiness, those unclean spirits come forward and take that unclean speech and defile [with it] the holy speech, so that the speaker is not credited with it, and, the holy power is weakened, as it were."

And, King Solomon, may peace be upon him, said in a similar vein (Mishlei 13:3): "One who widens his lips— it is 'breaking' for him," which the GRA explains: "One who widens his lips [in lashon hara], though he has a good soul, and though he has done many mitzvoth and [built] many 'fences,' his mouth will break everything."

The verse (Ibid. 24:31) ends: "and its stone wall was broken down." That is, in the course of time, even a strong stone fence will break down, and the vineyard will be trodden underfoot by every wayfarer and will be worth nothing. So is it with the man that does not look to what leaves his lips, which are, [as it were,] "abandoned" by him. All of the strong fences which he had built in the beginning around his conduct will be destroyed. Therefore, the man of heart, who wishes to amend his deeds, must first of all build a fence for his vineyard; that is, he must put an extra-strong guard upon his mouth and his tongue so that they not bring him to grief again.

As to Solomon's using the word "vineyard," aside from the fact that all of Israel is considered a vineyard, viz. (Isaiah 5:7): "For the vineyard of the L-rd of hosts is the house of Israel," and every Jew has a portion in this vineyard— aside from this, everyone has a distinct vineyard in Gan Eden, as it is written (Koheleth 12:5): "A man goes to his eternal house." And he must take especial care with it, to plant it with pleasing growths and to guard it that it not spoil.

He must also root out thorns and briers from his vineyard. That is, people to whom he has caused a loss with his tongue or whom he has shamed or grieved. He must conciliate them with his mouth, and he must also confess before the L-rd for having transgressed His will as stated in the Torah. For all sins between man and his neighbor are also sins between man and his Maker, as is well known. And even if he spoke against them not to their face and his words had no effect, in any event, he must repent before the L-rd, and thus the thorns will be removed from his vineyard, as will the spirit of uncleanliness that covered its face (see Part One, The Gate of Torah, where we expanded on this.) [The end of the (opening) verse (Mishlei 13:7): "and [there are] those who impoverish themselves and have great wealth": It is known that if one repents out of love [of the L-rd], all of the sins that he committed in the beginning become merits for him; so that it emerges that the more he had sinned in the beginning and had become impoverished, the wealthier he becomes afterwards. This can be understood according to its plain meaning: One who repents out of love is certainly embittered over each sin he has committed, and grieves over how his heart could have permitted him to transgress the will of the Creator, who gives life to all of the creation in His lovingkindness and His goodness. As a result, his sin is uprooted from the beginning, and he fulfills thereby the positive commandment of repentance. It emerges, then, that for every sin he committed in the beginning, there is now in its place the positive mitzvah of teshuvah.]