“Vayehi Ohr … and G-d said, ‘Let there be light….”
This is how it all begins! “[Hashem] made the heavens with words…” (Tehillim 31:6)
Words have cosmic power, as it says, “Mauves v’chaim b’yad lashon … Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” (Mishlei 18:21)
Our fate hangs on words. “Mi ha’ish … who is the man who desires life … guard your tongue from evil and your lips from deceit.” (Tehillim 34). It is well-known that our present Golus as well as the prototype Golus in Mitzraim began with evil talk.
I saw something remarkable in the Tefillos for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Each Shemoneh Esreh begins with the words, “Grant honor to Your people … u’pis’chon pe ….” What exactly is “pis’chon pe?” It seems that we are asking Hashem to open the mouth of His righteous people so that holy and powerful words fill the world.
Then we continue and say, “And so too, the righteous will see and be glad … and ‘olasa tikpatz pi’ha … evil will close its mouth.’” We are asking Hashem to “shut the mouth” of evil so it is unable to speak. Apparently evil also gets its power from words!
How did the Evil One, Adolf Hitler ymak shemo, gain power? With words! He injected torrents of murderous, slanderous words into the world and with those words he created Gehenom on earth.
“Every word one speaks has an effect on the higher world…. every trivial conversation is stored away and never lost. The Zohar says: Every word a man speaks rises upward, splitting heavens to reach its destined place…. Beneficial speech enhances the forces of kedushah…. [But to the voice that speaks evil], large numbers of destructive angels attach themselves to [it] and take it to the Great Deep, where many charges are lodged against it. Woe to the person who speak evil.” (Nefesh ha Chaim, Judaica Press, 2009)
We have a friend in Monsey, a choshuve rebbetzin. Last spring, when my wife and I were speaking in Monsey, we had the honor to stay at the home of this rebbetzin and her distinguished husband. She was speaking to us and asking, “Why are evildoers allowed to spew their lies about Am Yisroel all over the world? Where are our brilliant leaders who are so adept with their powerful words? Why is no one speaking up for Am Yisroel? Why are the lies allowed to go unanswered?”
A good question! It seems that in our days the liars go unrestrained, their words of sheker echoing over the airwaves and the internet and in public forums, and it seems that the Voice of Yaakov is silent in the face of all these lies. The world is drowning in malicious falsehood which threatens our very lives, and the Kol Yaakov seems to have been silenced.
Let the evildoers’ mouths be sealed forever! Let the tzaddikim, the holy Children of Israel, open their mouths! Let words of Torah flood the world with kedusha! We should never be afraid to speak in the Name of Hashem!
My friends, this year the shofar was silent on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and the Arba Minim -- our powerful weapons! -- were absent on the first day of Sukkos! The challenge is huge! That is why it is so important for us to absorb the lesson of Beraishis: we can build worlds with words!
In Hallel, we say that, when our enemies surround us, we destroy them “b’shaim Hashem …. With the Name of G-d …. They encircle me like bees, but they are destroyed as a fire destroys thorns! B’shaim Hashem … with the Name of G-d … I cut them down!” The Name of G-d is a sword and a shield!
With Hashem’s Name on our lips, we can build a new world of Torah. Then evil will close its mouth forever! When we speak b’Shaim Hashem, we are imitating the Ribono shel Olam Himself, who created a world of purity!
May our words build a new Gan Eden and may we see it soon with our own eyes!
GLOSSARY
Arba minim: the Four Species of plants men hold in their hands during Sukkos prayers
B’Shaim Hashem: In the Name of G-d
Gan Eden: the Garden of Eden
Kedusha: holiness
Kol Yaakov: the voice of Jacob
Ribono shel Olam: The Master of the Universe, G-d
Shemoneh Esreh: the main Jewish prayer
Tefillos: prayers
Tzaddikim: holy people
Ymak shemo: may his name be ground to dust
