Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

It is written in Mishlei (9:10): "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the L-rd." This indicates that the beginning of wisdom for the man who seeks to be wise is to acquire fear of the L-rd. Yet, another verse in Mishlei states (4:7): "The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom." This would seem to indicate that the beginning of all for him who desires to acquire wisdom is to reflect upon wisdom [that is, the wisdom of the Torah]! But, in truth, there is no contradiction. Solomon, may peace be upon him, desired to teach us that both are necessary, that one without the other is not worth anything [(as per the Tanna in Avoth (3:17): "If there is no fear, there is no wisdom; if there is no wisdom, there is no fear")]. That is, if one would seek to place all his toil and reflection upon acquiring fear of the L-rd and think to acquire wisdom afterwards, King Solomon, may peace be upon him, advises us that it is not right to do so. For to acquire fear as befits a Jew, he must seek it as silver, as Scripture states (Mishlei 2:9): "If you seek it as silver, …then you will understand fear of the L-rd." And the seeking of silver is not for one day or one week or one month; but silver is always on his mind. So, the man who wants to acquire fear of the L-rd. He must always reflect upon His greatness and upon the goodness which He confers upon him each day and increase fear of the L-rd in his soul. And if he waits to reflect upon the wisdom of Torah until he becomes a fearer of the L-rd in truth, this will take a long time, so that all of that time that his heart is void of wisdom, his fear is worth nothing. For if there is no wisdom there is no fear, and (Avoth 2:5): "A boor does not fear sin."

Let us illustrate a little: Even if one were eager to fulfill the will of the Creator with the mitzvah of tefillin, so long as he did not know the locus of the tefillin, whether on his head, specifically, or whether his forehead also sufficed. And so, the hand phylactery, whether on the biceps, specifically, or even below that. And so, if they must be perfectly square or even a little rounded. And what must be his intent in putting them on, and the like. Let us say that he did not know the halachoth of tefillin — he would be many years without [the mitzvah of] tefillin. And so with many mitzvoth. Therefore, as soon as he realizes that his purpose in this world is to attain fear of the L-rd, he must see to it immediately to meditate in Torah, so that it show him the way in which to walk and thereby come to know the Holy One Blessed be He.

And so, conversely: If he desires to steep his mind in wisdom; that is, the wisdom of the Torah alone, and to dispense with the fear of the L-rd, his wisdom is worthless. And this is the intent, in Avoth, of "If there is no fear, there is no wisdom." That is, if he does not fear the L-rd, and, as a result, all of His mitzvoth are not fixed in his mind to fulfill them — And so with his faculties, that of speaking and that of hearing — if they are free to speak and to hear whatever he wishes — whether lashon hara or rechiluth or verbal wronging or levity or the like, then, "everything goes" with him.

[And this is the intent of Mishlei 4:7: "The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom," and, the end of the verse: "and with all of your acquisitions, acquire understanding." This is self-explanatory: "Wisdom" connotes what is apparent, first principles, what one learns from others; and "understanding," what one reflects upon thereafter by himself, to understand one thing from another. Therefore, he says that first one must acquire wisdom, and then he must strengthen himself to understand one thing from another. As they said (Shabbath 31a): "At the time of judgment they ask a man: 'Did you discourse in wisdom? Did you understand one thing from another?''' As to "and with all your acquisitions, acquire understanding," this is understood according to Midrash Shir Hashirim 8 in the episode of R. Chiyya b. Abba and R. Yochanan, who were walking on the way and came upon a field, at which R. Yochanan said: "This was mine, but I sold it to toil in Torah," and thus, until the last field. At this, R. Chiyya began to cry, and said to him: "What will you leave over for your old age?" R. Yochanan answered: "Why does this disturb you? I sold something that was created in six days, as it is written (Shemoth 20:11): 'For six days the L-rd made, etc.', and I bought something which was learned in forty days, as it is written (Ibid. 39:28): 'And he was there with the L-rd for forty days.'" And this is what Scripture intimates to us in "and with all of your acquisitions acquire understanding." It is right that one give all he possesses to acquire understanding. That is, that he grow wise in all matters of Torah in order to understand one thing from another.]

And our sages of blessed memory have said, that in time to come all of a man's acts will be "lit up" before his face. And so, with his speech. Nothing that he said in the world will be lost; not even one thing will go unrecorded. Even the idle talk that he spoke in this world will be repeated to him at the time of judgment. And it is known what the holy Zohar says:

"…And from this evil spirit there arise other arousers of din, which are assigned to seize upon evil speech or filthy speech which issues from a man's mouth and then is followed by holy words. Woe to them [the speakers]. Woe to their lives! Woe to them in this world! Woe to them in the world to come! For those spirits of uncleanliness take that word of uncleanliness, and when he thereafter speaks holy words, those spirits of uncleanliness come forward and take that unclean speech to that holy word, so that it does not accrue to his [(the speaker's)] merit, and the power of holiness is thereby attenuated."

[see Chapter II on Vayikra 11:43]

Now if this man had learned every day Scripture and Mishnah or Gemara, and he knew that at the time of judgment they would present before his eyes all the Mishnah and Gemara that he had learned, how great would be his yearning for this [presentation] at all times — Would that this [moment] arrived and they cited this to his credit! However, when they thereafter bring all those books [that he studied] and he sees that on every page the spirit of uncleanliness resides because of the forbidden speech that he spoke in the beginning or in the middle [of his learning], and that they [(the holy words)] are worth nothing, how great will be his grief then when he reflects upon himself, how he himself, with careless abandon, made his Torah go lost!

To what may this be compared? To one who bought from his friend a complete Shas, bound in fine leather, without looking inside, relying upon its fine binding. He pays for it and the seller goes on his way. When he goes to his house [and opens it], he sees that the entire Shas is besmirched with fats and grease that had spilled out upon it and that not even one tractate is intact. How embittered he is at having been deceived by that seller, who had praised it before him — and he had not opened it himself to see what he had bought!

So, in our case. If one's mouth is perpetually open, and he takes no care [of what he says], then even if he has learned all six orders of the Mishnah and the entire Shas several times, when he comes on high [for judgment], he will find not even one Gemara that will defend him. For each one will be overlaid with the spirit of uncleanliness and will be disgusting to look at. Therefore, the wise man, whose eyes are in his head, before he begins to grow wise in Torah and to fulfill "The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom" must fulfill "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the L-rd." And then he will be happy and it will be good for him in this world and in the next. For his Torah will be much beloved by the Blessed L-rd, their being no blemish in it. A man like this must bestir himself and heap up as much wisdom as he can. And if he wastes one moment of Torah, this is a great loss. For "a servant who does needlework cannot be compared to one who strings pearls."