Shabbos Nachamu is a perplexing time. Everyone is heaving a sigh of relief after the intensity of mourning, saying elaborate, tragic sequences of kinos, and gritty fasting. Once again, we indulge in the merriment of music, meat and wine, and feel a new sense of relief and comfort. But what has really changed? Our Temple is still in ruins – a golden mosque perched in its place. Eretz Yisrael is under siege and Moshiach is still nowhere in sight.
I believe the nechama, the comfort, is that we have changed as a result of our efforts during the Three Weeks and the Nine Days, learning how to be more careful with sinas chinam, baseless hatred, and lashon hara, evil slander. We have become more sensitized of the importance of regularly hoping for the Moshiach’s coming and the rebuilding of the Temple. With this newfound strength, we feel a buoyant surge of hope that the geulah, redemption, is soon to come.
I would like to zoom in again on a specific aspect that we spoke about last week: the subject of lashon hara. Dovid HaMelech says in Tehillim, “L’chu vanim shim’u li, yiras Hashem alamed’chem – Listen to me my children, let me teach you awareness of Heaven (of Hashem).” Let’s pause a moment. With this intro, what do we think Dovid HaMelech is going to discuss? One would imagine the subject would be prayer, which is a way to directly connect with Heaven. Alternatively, we might consider that Dovid is referring to the saying of a hundred blessing daily, which leads to the fear of G-d. As the verse says, “Mah Hashem Elokecha sho’el mei’imach ki im liyirah – What does Hashem ask but that you should fear Him,” (The Gemara in Menachos elucidates, “Al tikre mah, ela mei’ah – Don’t read it what, but rather a hundred.” These are the hundred blessings we say every day which cause us to be aware of Hashem.) Or perhaps Dovid could be referencing the study of nature, for that is a sure way to become aware of Hashem. Who else put the sun precisely 93 million miles away, calibrated to give perfect light, without squinting, throughout the globe?
But, Dovid HaMelech, when teaching us about yiras Hashem chooses to talk about something else entirely. As the next verse says, “Mi ha’ish hechafeitz chaim, oheiv yamim liros tov? N’tzor lishoncha meirah, u’s’fasecha midabeir mirmah – Who is the man that desires life, to see good? Guard your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from speaking deceit.” This is puzzling. Why, when introducing the subject of awareness of Hashem, does Dovid HaMelech zoom in on lashon hara? The Chofetz Chaim, zt”l, zy”a, is bothered by this question. He answers that there is no sin in the entire Torah that contains as many negative prohibitions, positive commandments, and curses, as the crime of lashon hara. Therefore, a G-d-fearing person has to pay attention to it first. He adds that it is a sin that is lurking around us 24/7. As the pasuk in Micha warns us, “Mishocheves cheikecha shmor pischei picha – From the one who sleeps in your bosom (your spouse) guard the openings of your mouth.”
I would like to add some other thoughts on this question. When one thinks about fear of Hashem, one reflects upon avoiding sin. The very first sin that brought death to all mankind was the lashon hara spoken by the snake. And therefore, we think first how to avoid this particular crime. Furthermore, we know that the essence of man is our power of speech for the Torah says that man was created l’nefash chaya, a spirit of life, and the Targum interprets this as l’ruach mimalelah, a spirit that speaks. As such, a G-d-fearing person wants to succeed with his speech by succeeding at avoiding the grievous crime of lashon hara.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin comes to the conclusion that, “Adam l’amal peh nivrah – A man was created primarily for the toil of one’s mouth.” In other words, the greatest arena for achievement in this world is through the mouth. Thus, a G-d-fearing person starts off their campaign of yiras Shamayim by purging from their mouth any shred of lashon hara.
Finally, the G-d-fearing person is scared of the mekatreig, the satan in Heaven which will prosecute us for our many sins. The Chofetz Chaim informs us that the satan only has the power to prosecute us if we speak badly about others. Therefore, G-d-fearing people will avoid – like the plague – speaking negatively about someone else so that the satan will be unable to speak poorly about us.
With this new ammunition, we can indeed look forward on this Shabbos Nachamu to the coming of Moshiach tzidkeinu and shalom al Yisrael world over, speedily in our days.
Transcribed and edited by Shelley Zeitlin.
