Shemirat HaLashon שמירת הלשון

Come and see further how great is the punishment of this bitter sin. For by speaking lashon hara and rechiluth he loses the little Torah that he has. As per Midrash Shocher Tov 42 (Koheleth 5:5): "'Do not allow your mouth to cause sin to your flesh.' This speaks of lashon hara, etc. 'Why should G-d be angry at your voice?' — at that voice which you uttered with your mouth and spoke lashon hara against your friend. 'And [He shall] destroy the work of your hands' — the little Torah that you have in your hands will go lost." And it is obvious that the intent of the midrash is as written in the holy books, that one who speaks lashon hara against his friend causes his merits that have accrued until now to be taken from him and given to his friend.

And because of this, his prayer, too, is not accepted. As stated in the holy Zohar, Parshath Metzora:

"If one has lashon hara in him, his prayer does not come before the Holy One Blessed be He, because a spirit of uncleanliness has reposed itself upon him. Once he repents and takes it upon himself to return [to the L-rd], what is said of him? (Vayikra 14:2): 'On the day of his cleansing, he shall be brought to the Cohein.'"

(And this explains the Torah's writing "And 'Unclean! Unclean' shall he call." Chazal understand this as his having to apprise the populace of his suffering, so that they pray [to the L-rd to grant] him mercy. And it is because his [own] prayer is not acceptable above, that the Torah revealed this counsel to us specifically in respect to this sufferer.)

And his holy soul, too, departs from him because of this, as written above in Chapter III in the name of the holy Zohar.)

In this [(the following)], too, this sin is graver than other sins: For in other sins, in that limb by which he commits the sin, he draws down upon himself the spirit of uncleanliness. Not so, with lashon hara. With that sin he draws down upon all of his limbs the spirit of uncleanliness, and he renders them unclean, as it is written in the holy Zohar, Parshath Metzora:

R. Chiyya said: "If one speaks lashon hara, all of his limbs are rendered unclean, and he is to be quarantined, because his evil speech ascends and awakens the spirit of uncleanliness upon him, and he becomes unclean. One who comes to become unclean is made unclean [from above]." (As Chazal say in Yoma 39a: "A man makes himself unclean below — he is made unclean from above"). The lower world "triggers" the upper world.

The reason is obvious: Speech is not a specific part of a man as his other limbs are, each one being of benefit in itself. But it is the generality of man and his completeness. And that is why, when he perfects himself by occupying himself with Torah, all of his limbs are amended. For it reposes upon them a spirit of holiness to vivify them and to sustain them in this world and the next. As Chazal have said: "If one's head ails him, let him study Torah, as it is written, etc. If his throat ails him, let him study Torah, etc. If his whole body ails him, let him study Torah, as it is written (Mishlei 4:22): 'And to all his flesh it is healing.'" And the opposite, G-d forbid — by forbidden speech, he harms and defiles all of his limbs, and each and every limb falls from its eminence through this. And what advantage is it to them that their master lives and speaks if only to render din and accounting!

Also, in defiling his mouth, he renders defective the words of holiness that he utters afterwards, as it is written in the holy Zohar, Parshath Pekudei 263:

"And in that evil spirit [of his lashon hara] there reside several other arousers of din, which are appointed to take hold of the evil, filthy, speech which issues from a man's mouth; and afterwards, when he utters holy words — woe unto him and woe unto his life! Woe unto him in this world and woe unto him in the world to come! For those unclean spirits take that unclean speech, so that when he afterwards utters holy words, they come forward and take that unclean speech and defile thereby that holy thing, so that it does not accrue to the merit of the speaker, and, as it were, the power of holiness is attenuated."

And, similarly, in Shabbath 119b: "The world endures only by the breath of the mouths of the young students." R. Pappa asked Abbaye: "What about mine and yours?" He answered: "The breath of the mouth that has sin is not like the breath of the mouth that has no sin." Even though their complete dedication [to Torah] and the holiness of their Torah was extremely exalted, notwithstanding this, because sometimes (as they saw it) some inappropriate speech became intermixed with their words [of Torah], their faculty of speech fell from the level appropriate for it, so that it [their Torah] was not comparable to the [untainted] breath of the mouths of the young students.

And see, my brother, a wondrous thing in "the breath of the young students." Even though there is no holiness of thought or cleaving to the L-rd in their speech, the world endures by this breath of their mouths. To what may this be compared? To a poor man who found a rare, precious stone of uncommon powers, to be found only on the crowns of kings. His finding it becomes known to the king, who rewards him with great wealth. Now the poor man who found it, even though he cannot, with his wisdom, conceive of the special properties of the stone, notwithstanding this, the great good of the stone itself and the grandeur of its light bring him all this great good — that he acquires special distinction in the eyes of the king. The very same is true with the Torah of the living G-d. One who wishes to achieve holiness through it does not require great preparation in order to do so; for it itself is holy and exalted beyond measure. And when a man speaks in it, he cleaves to its holiness, as it is written (Jeremiah 31:20): "For whenever I speak in it [Torah], I remember Him even more" [see Nefesh Hachaim]. And a man must just take heed not to do the opposite; that is, not to dim its light by his [tainted] speech. This is the intent of R. Pappa's words to Abbaye: "What about mine and yours?" That is, our Torah in itself is holier than the Torah of the young students, for [in us] it is [accompanied] by holy thought. And Abbaye answered: "The breath of the mouth, etc.," i.e., the defect [of tainted speech] overrides the [holiness of Torah], as we explained.

And now, let us see: If in the "cedars of the Levanon" of the past, whose thoughts always cleaved to the Holy One Blessed be He with fear of the L-rd and His mitzvoth, and whose speech was always in great holiness and purity (and if, by chance, an inappropriate word sometimes became intermixed with it, they immediately afterwards repented as necessary) — with all this, this one word undermined the holiness of their speech in general, if so, what should we, the "moss of the wall" do, whose constancy in Torah is, even without this, on a very low level, in our many sins — what shall we do if we yet sully our mouths, G-d forbid, with words of lashon hara, rechiluth, levity, contention, and the like? What holiness can repose on such learning, learned afterwards with such a mouth?

And from this we can understand the greatness of our weakness in Torah and mitzvoth, in our many sins. For do we not plainly see that everyone, always, sets his thoughts on his business or his trade, to enlarge and expand it, and also to remove from it any possible cause of loss? And it would not occur to anyone of common sense to destroy with his own hands the business that he lives from. But when we look at the [really] desired end, the very opposite is the case! For not only does our yetzer intensify itself in us each day to increase sin and offense; but we also create reasons and causes through which there will be undermined, G-d forbid, the "surviving remnant," the little Torah and prayer that yet remains with us.

May the L-rd spare our eyes from seeing falsehood, and make us worthy of recognizing the greatness of the holiness of Torah. And through this may our souls be healed and its [the Torah's] words be sweeter in our mouths than honey, as it is written (Psalms 19:11): "They are more desirable than gold and much fine gold and sweeter than honey, etc."