Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

And know that guarding the tongue from evil includes guarding it from all aspects of speech that are intended to do harm or to antagonize his friend, such as lashon hara, rechiluth, machloketh, cursing, "whitening of the face" [in shame], and wronging with words. One who wishes to merit guarding his tongue must strengthen himself greatly in the trait of trust, as explained in the beginning of Chapter X, so that he not come to harm one who [adversely] affects his affairs, and not come to speak demeaningly of him or quarrel with him or curse him or whiten his face or antagonize him, but trust in the L-rd that He will make up in some other way for the loss that the other causes him. And Chazal have said (Menachoth 29b): "All who place their trust in the Holy One Blessed be He — He is a haven for them both in this world and in the world to come." "All who place their trust" includes even [an instance] where the "needs of Heaven" are not affected; how much more so when one restrains himself from quarreling with his friend who affected his affairs [adversely], for the sake of Heaven, fearing that he would not be able to hold back, when angry, from speaking things that are improper according to the din, wherefore he "overlooks his traits and trusts in the L-rd" and beseeches Him to provide for him in some other way, in which instance the Holy One Blessed be He will certainly be a haven for him in this world, too.

To what may this be compared? To [an instance] of a man whose sons are seated around his table. He hands out portions to each one of them, and one of them snares his neighbor's portion. The robbed son goes to his father and says to him: "Father, I asked my brother to return my portion and he refused. I know that you don't want us to fight or to quarrel, so please give me a different portion." When the father hears this, he kisses him and gives him a different, bigger portion, saying: "You, my son, have found favor in my eyes because of your goodly trait. Your brother, the fool, will keep your portion, and at the next meal I will give you a double portion and he will get nothing." But if the robbed son had not done this but had quarreled with his brother, and they had fought with each other until he had disgorged what he had swallowed from his mouth, even though the truth is with this robbed one, still, this certainly would be painful to his father and he would hate both of them, saying: "You should have asked me for a different portion, and I would have given it to you gladly, and not fight and quarrel with each other before my eyes over trifles like these."

So, precisely, in our case. The Holy One Blessed be He, who apportions food to all of His creations, as it is written (Psalms 136:25): "He gives bread to all flesh," is the Father of Israel and they are His sons, as it is written (Devarim 14:1): "You are sons, etc." And He desires their peace and not their quarrel, as we find in Tanna d'bei Eliyahu 28: "The Holy One Blessed be He said to Israel: 'My beloved sons, do I lack anything that I ask it from you? And what do I ask from you? Only that you love each other and honor each other, etc., and that there not be found among you sin and theft, etc.'" Therefore, if one intrudes himself upon another and he [the second] asks him to stop, and he refuses, and he [the second] comes before the Blessed L-rd and entreats Him to give him a different portion so that he need not quarrel with his friend, he certainly will find favor in the eyes of the Blessed L-rd because of his holy trait, as they have said (Chullin 89a) on the verse (Iyyov 26:7): "He suspends the earth on nothingness [b'limah]." "Because of whom does the world exist? Because of him who muzzles [bolem (like b'limah)] his mouth in a time of quarrel, because of his trust in the L-rd" — and he receives a double portion.

[And his friend will only lose because of this. For it is known that one who robs his friend is only a fool and an evildoer. For his grant will not increase beyond what was decreed for him on Rosh Hashanah, because of his theft. For in exchange for taking the grant that came or that was destined to come to the hand of his friend, there will be taken from him the grant that was decreed for him on Rosh Hashanah. And the end of the matter will be that the money of [i.e., attained by] the wrong will consume also the "surviving remnant," the "kosher" grant that had already been allotted him. As Chazal have said (Succah 29b): "Because of four things a man's property goes lost," one of them being because he divests himself of his own yoke and places it on his friend. And so we find in Derech Eretz Zuta, Chapter 3: "If you have taken what is not yours, yours will be taken from you." And he will remain only with the bartering of a kosher grant for one that is forbidden. For he will be destined to give din and accounting for every [misappropriated] p'rutah [small coin]. As Chazal have said (Bava Kamma 119a): "If one steals from his friend the worth of a p'rutah, it is as if he has taken his soul." And he also constrains the Holy One Blessed be He to return the theft to its owner. As Chazal have said (Sanhedrin 8a): "The Holy One Blessed be He says to the wicked: 'It is not enough that you steal, but you also constrain Me to return the theft to its owner." And all of these things are intimated in our holy Torah, in Parshath Vayetze, where it is written (Bereshith 32:11-12): "And the angel of the L-rd said to me in a dream: 'Yaakov, … lift up your eyes and see all the rams that go up on the sheep — ringstraked, speckled and grizzled" (As Rashi explains there, the angels would bring them from the flock assigned to the sons of Lavan to that assigned to Yaakov. And lest you ask, how am I permitted to take from the grant of Lavan and give it to you? The angel, therefore, concludes: "For I have seen all that Lavan does to you," that he has changed your wage ten times and taken your grant; therefore I am returning it to you.)]

But if he does not act this way, but always quarrels with his friend over this, even if the truth is with him, still, this thing will not bring pleasure to the Blessed L-rd, like a father whose sons wrangle at his table because of the portions he has given them.

And if he conducts himself with the trait of trust, he will merit seeing the lovingkindness and goodness of the Holy One Blessed be He, as Scripture states (Psalms 31:19): "Taste and see that the L-rd is good; happy is the man who takes haven in Him." As to "Taste and see," this is to teach us that just as one who tastes a thing in his mouth recognizes the nature of what is tasted, so, one who in truth possesses the trait of trust recognizes the greatness of the goodness of the Holy One Blessed be He.