One important aspect of speech is to talk gently. This is particularly important when the person you are speaking to is angry with you about something. Respond to them in soft tones, as it states (Mishlei 15:1) יָשִׁיב רַּ ךְ מַע ֲנֶה חֵמָה, "A gentle reply turns away wrath." This counsel will eliminate machlokes. Even if your fellow man is tough like a stone, when you speak kind words to him, he will be turned around to respond to you kindly as well.
This is alluded to in the pasuk (20:8) וְדִבַּרְתֶּם מֵימָיו וְנָתַן לְע ֵינֵיהֶם הַסֶּלַע אֶל, "Speak to the rock... so that it will give forth its water." Speak soft words, and there will be good results.
Speech is also a powerful tool to influence and encourage people. Sometimes you meet someone who is hard like stone, it seems that he isn't interested in avodas Hashem, but words can turn him around.
When you speak to him with words of chizuk and encouragement, he will turn around and become inspired. This is also alluded to in the pasuk (20:8) הַסֶּלַע אֶל וְדִבַּרְת ֶּם מֵימָיו וְנָתַן לְע ֵינֵיהֶם, "Speak to the rock... so that it will give forth its water." The water represents Torah and good deeds. This can be accomplished with words of encouragement.
Stories of Kind Words and Miracles
The Gemara (Eiruvin 54a) states, כבי עלמא האי דמיא הלולא, this world is like a chasunah. This means that life is short, like a chasunah, and we have to take advantage of our time and use it in good ways. There is another Gemara that says (Brachos 6b) מילי הלולא דבי אגרא, the reward for a chasunah is words. This means that the primary reward at a chasunah is the kind words that one says to a chosson...
We can put both Gemaras together and explain that this world is like a chasunah, and we can accomplish a lot, particularly with our speech. Speech should be a person's activity in this world: to say many kind words to people, and to give them chizuk.
In Elul of ב"תשפ, the chaburah made a Shabbos together in Meron (התוועדות שבת). During the Shabbos, someone announced a miracle that occurred to one of the members of the chaburah. This person’s child had the "disease" in the pancreas (which is very dangerous). In addition to tefillos, the father, a very special yungerman, made a kabbalah that every day, he will say a kind word to a sad, lonely person.
This wasn't an easy kabbalah to keep. It is much easier to say a kind word to a friend, but to the lonely, broken people, no one pays attention to them, and it is hard to give them chizuk.
A short time after he made this kabbalah, the child had another checkup, and the disease disappeared. It was a miracle.
Reb S. Binyamin from Beis Shemesh was present at this Shabbos, and he heard about the miracle that occurred, due to the kabbalah tovah. Reb S. Binyamin needed his own salvation. He had his own issue that he was dealing with. He had only one sixteen-year-old son, and he yearned to have more children. He made the same kabbalah – that every day he will give chizuk to a broken, lonely person. Nine months later, he had his second child, after seventeen years of waiting!
