| Rabbi's Thought Watch your mouth. Not to start off "preachy" but the thought that I would like to share with you (as well as myself!) today...is to be careful with what you say. Sometimes we just don't realize the power of our words.
There is a famous story about a group of observant Jews who were visiting a restaurant and before allowing themselves to eat the food they inquired about specific details about the source of the meat and the kosher standards of the kitchen. When they were satisfied with the quality of the kashrut certification, they sat down to their meal, where they proceeded (to drink a tad much and) loudly bad mouth many of their "friends". The waiter told them "You should be as careful about what comes out of your mouth as you are about what goes into your mouth". (I am guessing that since he gave them a "tip", he didn't get tipped too much!) This week the Torah talks about how careful we have to be when we talk and the procedure one must go through in order to have an oath or commitment to be annulled or vetoed. We really have to be careful of what we say. Last week we learned how the only person on the planet who was able to hurt us was BIlaam , the evil prophet who utilized his power of speech to curse people for money. When hired to curse the Jews, G-d changed his curses to blessings and they remain very powerful and fundamental to Judaism. One of his blessings became standard in the liturgy and another is one of the only times where the Torah alludes to the coming of Moshiach, which Maimonides defines as one of the 13 fundamental principles of faith in Judaism. G-d was watching what Bilaam says. The power of speech is prevalent throughout the story of Bilaam. The Torah records that his donkey spoke to him. The power of Speech is really the only way we have to reach another person. Even when we write and sometimes when think to ourselves we need to put it into "words" which are ready to be spoken. G-d created the world with his Speech, because he was dealing with creating something "outside" himself. . He created us in his image. Can you imagine how powerful our speech is? The famous saying "the word travels farther and injures more than an arrow" also speaks to the potential power that speech has.
The story is told that the Temple was destroyed because of "loshon Hora" malicious slander or gossip. And the reverse is also true. With one comment, one phone call, one nice word we can turn somone's day into a good one. My blessing for this week is "May we always remember to give each other only good days".
Good Shabbos! |
Quote of the Day Why [are mourners fed] lentils? Just as the lentil has no mouth, so is the mourner speechless...Just as the lentil is round, so mourning comes round to all the inhabitants of this world - Talmud, Bava Batra 16b  |
For many months now, we have been getting together to discuss the ideas found in the weekly Torah portion. We debate, discuss, and agree to disagree.
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