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“I am entitled!” “I have every right to express myself and convey what is bothering me.” “You wouldn’t believe what ***** said to ME!” Should this person be surprised that their relationships and work life are suffering?!  Is it surprising that people tend to avoid them? There is a huge problem with the innate human condition, namely the felt entitlement to be critical and undue in our comments towards others, particularly behind their backs or in social gatherings. The human condition is such that we focus readily on the negative and particularly on others and shift the focus outside of ourselves, after all, who wants to see a stain appear on one’s own psyche? What many of us do not realize is that a simple utterance has now created something tremendously negative, and even more, has also created a powerful force that will challenge every essence of our very being as well as that of the other person who may even have cursed.

The Esoteric Nature of Lashon Hara (Evil Speech)
The book Tomer Devorah (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, ZT’l) addresses the meaning of נושא עון “carrying of the sin” explaining that when a person sins, a demon can be created משחיתים. The will of the created demon is actually to destroy the person that created him. The law of creation is such that a parent must support her/his progeny, and the demon is considered a child of the sinner. It is through the commission of more sins that the demons survive, as they need the power of additional sins of their parent. Every sin creates demons and speaking badly (Lashon Hara) is no exception.
          When the parent does repent (Teshuva) and distances her/himself from sinning, the demon that was created from sins has no support and thus nothing from which to derive sustenance. Incensed by this they turn on their host parent and creator, and strive to destroy that person. G-d saves the parent from death by demon(s) by allowing them to be supported via their parent’s merits. If for example the parent gave charity (tzedaka), prayed in a quorum of ten (minyan), or helped someone in some other way, his demons feed from those achieved commandments (Mitzvot). Unless complete repentance is performed, the demons continue to feed off his parent’s merits. If repentance is not done, the demon(s) have the power to take away their parent’s merits leaving them barren and drained of spiritual achievements on the Day of Judgement. Clearly in the matter of נושא עון “carrying the sin,” G-d carries and suffers the sins of the Nation, though this causes pain to the שכינה (Divine Spirit). It pulls the Divine Spirit down to the impurity of this world (שכינתא בגלותה The Divine Spirit in the Exile). This descent tugs The Divine Spirit toward the Klipot (lower world) and it must support the demons. This causes the Divine Spirit so much pain because the enemies of G-d feed off the Holy Divine Spirit.
          In Chesed LeAvraham, (Rabbi Avraham Azoulai, ZT’l), it is explained that since the destruction of the Holy Temple until today, the world falls continually further into the Klipot along with the Divine Spirit. This means that each progressive day can be a further descent from that of the previous day. For this reason, we pray that G-d should raise the fallen Succah of David הנופלת דוד סוכת from falling further into the klipot. Given this, it is possible to understand that the negative interaction between just two people can serve to bring all of us down together since we are ALL connected to G-d physically and metaphysically.

Physicality of Loshon Hara
The body is a magnificent creation, and with that, it is important to consider that there is a power afforded to the frail human form to create, as too there is the capacity to destroy as outlined above. There are two regions of the body that create, namely the upper world of the body and the lower world of the body. The lower world of the body is involved in bringing children into the world, where a combination of profound physical and spiritual connection with one’s spouse serves to draw down a powerful connection from on High, and ultimately can result in conception and the breathing of a spirit and soul into a little body. There must be a very strong physical and emotional bond between husband and wife before the Divine Light will visit down between them and breathe the life of a good soul between them as they seek to bring a child into the world, if this is His will. The physicality of procreation will bring about physical changes and perhaps a child, but the nature of what that soul is enclothed in is contingent and dependent upon the purity and bond between the partners in its making, namely the parents and how they have invited G-d to help them. Speech is no different as it is initiated by one person, but requires a participant to bring it into the world through even passive acknowledgement.  It should be understood then that the tongue and the procreative organ (two manifestations of covenant between G-d and man) are interlaced. Their rectification will therefore be interdependent. Correction of one’s faculty of speech as with guarding of the covenant of one’s procreative organ (expression of one’s true love for one’s spouse in marital holiness), depend upon and influence one another. It can be for no other reason that the word Milah applies not only to the Hebrew word for tongue, but to the performance of circumcision as well. Speech is derived from the upper world of the body, and is also a function of thought and contemplation. If one were to simply blurt out exactly what they were thinking or feeling as a function of a purely physical urge, it may be likened to a goat bleating perfunctorily in the field. A purely physical act of speech without contemplation of where our powers of speech stem from, to whom we are addressing our thoughts, the nature and ultimately the impact/consequence of what we say, constitutes a waste of the organs of speech. Consider the following: a heart muscle is capable of beating only so many times before it dies. If a heart beats faster all the time, the natural outcome will be a shorter life for that person or organism given that the quota of beats will be used up that much sooner. It is no different with speech. The numbers of words we are allotted in life are indeed limited. What we say, how we say it, and when we say it, are all things we have control over. Lastly, consider that words possess the power of prophecy. When we issue threats, it is very important to consider that the comment made in haste and/or anger can actually come to fruition. When we curse ourselves or others, there are many instances where those curses take hold and present themselves in physical reality. It is known that there are particular Hebrew characters (otiyot) relegated to each part of the head and mouth as they pertain to speech, and depending upon their enunciation can bring about good or harm.
           There is only one way to look at the power of speech, namely as a form of creation. Speech is achieved through multiple levels of thought as well as a separate set of physical levels. It makes sense in that we have the ability and opportunity to use our speech wisely and for constructive purposes, and words used in such a way will serve only to build, dedicate, and preserve what is pure, helpful, and ultimately beautiful. Good words, words that have been thought through, and spoken with gentle, loving-kindness will build relationships. Anything contrary will only destroy and cause suffering. Perhaps now, the notion of bringing in a negative power or even a demon through a contraction of speech and Loshon Hara can be appreciated on a much more serious level.
 

Putting It Together
The power of the number two is significant as it is an inherent part of creation. The old adage of it takes two to tango verily applies. Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, the Chofetz Chaim, produced phenomenal works on Shmirat Halashon (Guarding Speech), and outlines that on its simplest level, poor speech occurs on a level between at least two people, and bears the power to create untold pain, suffering, and loss for others in an untimely and lasting fashion. A wholly and beautiful contrast to this lies within the power to bring down the Divine Light by simply learning Torah together. Not even an angel can withstand the power of this light that comes down between two people learning Torah. Another example lies in the collective completion of the Talmud by a number of individuals, where each is considered as if he had completed the entire Talmud himself. This too follows in regards to a prohibited labour (malacha) performed on Shabbath with the sharing of a labour to avoid punishment. The irony abounds where two can have the choice to exercise a power to either create or destroy.

G-d shields Himself from us through many contractions and levels of filtration from one realm (Sefirah) to the next. We can reach Him with considerable strength of character, learning and piety, and most of all through acts of Loving Kindness (Chesed) and Charity (Tzeddakah).

It is by no coincidence that the mouth is constructed of one circular orbicularis oris muscle which is in turn covered by two red/vermilion borders we call lips. Just as good things can bring about reward, so too it goes with bad things, that they return almost in a circular fashion to their origin. Red is the colour of blood, and what we share and shed becomes our responsibility. When we purse our lips in anger, the lips become white and blood is drawn away, in turn, words that issue forth at this point may too result in a drawing away of the blood of another and may cause pain or embarrassment; what the Torah also refers to as a shedding of blood. We should therefore exercise our lips by keeping them tightly bound together until the words we wish to issue are thought out with clarity, purpose, and purity. Rosh Hashana, the Jewsh New Year marks a time of achieving our physical and spiritual best. It also requires that we make a blessing on apples dipped in honey. If what we take in is sweet, is it not essential that what comes out of our mouthes be even sweeter?

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 17:03 and is filed under The Power of Speech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.