Now, if people are around and they’re not supposed to hear it – let's say your wife will maybe ridicule you if you say that; she doesn’t come here so she doesn’t know what you’re doing. Or maybe you’re in the office and the people there will look at you. They’ll start tapping their heads when they see you.
So get up and walk out in the corridor where you're alone and say the words. Say it! By vocalizing these words you’re taking that thought and making it that much firmer in your mind. The previous thought is changed now and becomes real by saying it.
It doesn’t mean it’ll happen immediately but the way you talk, little by little will give life to your ideals. If you don't say it with words it becomes stifled eventually in the mind; but if you verbalize it so your words bounce back into your own ears and that changes you.
Words of Love
Now, this eitzah is good for all the Torah ideals that we seek to acquire, that we have to acquire. Suppose you’re ambitious to love Hashem. After all, it’s a commandment of the Torah to love Him. We say it every day, morning and evening. But how do you fulfill it?
So train yourself to say the right thing. You know, in the mezuzah it says, ואהבת את ה' אלקיך – you should love Hashem. So why not do it. When you pass a mezuzah – I’m telling you now something that’s worth money; it’s worth a thousand dollars to hear this – when you pass a mezuzah, stop and say, “I love You, Hashem.” Will you do it? I hope so because if you say nothing, you remain nothing. You kiss the mezuzah? Very good but it’s not enough. Say, “I love you, Hashem.” And little by little, that love becomes part of your thoughts. You’ll begin to love Hashem.
Love Learning
What about loving His Torah? It’s an important ideal that a lot of people are unaware of. You have to love the Torah. You have to train yourself to love the Torah. אני אהבי אהב –The Torah says, “I love those who love me” (Mishlei 8:17).
Here’s a yeshiva man who spends all day long in the yeshiva learning the Torah. Excellent! The yeshiva men, they’re the pride of our nation. The working men who learn in the morning before work, and then again in the evening, they too. The Torah learners, those are the ones we look up to.
But do they love the Torah?
So he says, “It’s silly. Sure I love the Torah.” And it’s true, he does. But he never brought it to life! He’s learns Torah – why? Maybe because it’s an obligation; he wants to do what’s right. Or he’s ambitious; that’s also good. And deep within him there’s mayim amukim of ahavas Torah too, no question about it. But how does he best bring it forth, that’s the question.
The answer is by saying it. Start saying it. Whenever you open a sefer, in the yeshiva, wherever you are, say, “I love the Torah.” Constantly. “I love Mesichta Bava Kama.” “I love Hashem’s Torah.” You’re walking to the beis medrash to learn with your chavrusa? Say it! “I’m going now to learn because I love the Torah.” And little by little, the love of the Torah begins to take shape in your mind.
Pleasure or Pain?
And then it becomes a pleasure to read the Torah. You’re in love with it. That’s why on Tisha B’Av when you can’t eat and you can’t bathe, you’re not allowed to study Torah either; because it’s a pleasure. People today are surprised. What’s the pleasure of learning Torah? On the contrary, just like we fast on Tisha B’Av we should also force ourselves to learn too. We afflict ourselves by learning Torah.
The answer is, because we don’t understand. Torah is a pleasure. It’s really a pleasure. And once you start saying it, you’ll realize it’s so. You’ll open the Gemara and it’s as if it’s printed not on paper but on pages made out of cake. And the margins would be chocolate icing. Imagine that; it could be, if you could have a good baker, he could print, let’s say, arba avos nezikin on a cake page. And while you’re learning from time to time, you take a little munch from the side. Not from the osiyos, but from the side, the margin. You can be sure that it would be an enjoyable shiur. That’s how it is when you talk yourself into loving the Torah.
One More of Thousands
Now, I only said a few examples but actually there are thousands. I would say ‘hundreds of thousands’ but you won’t understand – you’ll think I’m exaggerating – but actually it’s so because in a person’s mind there is an endless store of Torah idealism.
I can’t resist so I’ll say one more before I let you go. ׳שמחו צדיקים בה! All of you righteous people – it means all frum Jews – be happy in Hashem! (Tehillim 97:12). It means to be actually happy והודו לזכר קדשו – and grateful to the One Who is giving us the gifts of this world (ibid.).
A Happy Soul
Everyone has a deep store of happiness within him and the frum Jew has to draw it forth. There’s a deep well of happiness in us, but it’s bottled up. In a person’s mind there is an endless store of happiness; that’s included in ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים. It’s right here, inside you. There are thousands of things to be happy about only that you have to prime the pump. And we do that with the koach hadibbur.
Let’s say for example that you like the sunshine. Instinctively, you do; everyone has a reflexive reaction of happiness when the sun shines. Like it says, ומתוק האור – How sweet is the light, וטוב לעיניים לראות את השמש – how good it is, how pleasant it is, for the eyes to see the sunlight (Koheles 11:7).
Negligible Returns
But because you ignore it, your enjoyment is negligible. You only have a minimal pleasure, maybe like the pleasure of a cat sitting on the sidewalk and basking in the sun. It has very little effect on you.
But let’s say you have the good sense to use this lesson we’re speaking about now. As you’re walking down the avenue you decide, “Maybe I should finally try that thing Rabbi Miller was speaking about, about using the power of speech that Hakadosh Baruch Hu blew into me.”
Happy Bathing
And so you begin speaking. Not only do you formulate in your mind how beautiful it is to see the sunlight, but you say it with your mouth too: “How much fun it is, this cascade of gold that is pouring down on me.” You’re bathing in it; you’re actually bathing in it. “How sweet is the sunlight! How good it is to be bathing in this warm light!” Oh, that’s something different altogether! So now, because you're speaking about it, the pleasure increases a hundred fold.
And it’s like that with all the pleasures of life. Breathing and walking and seeing and everything. If you train yourself with the right chinuch to say it with your mouth too, then the happiness becomes much greater. You start enjoying life much more than otherwise! And like all the other Torah attitudes, you begin to live them.
And the more people begin to understand how valuable the tongue is, what a great opportunity it is to bring forth the greatness that’s in you, to develop the beautiful qualities that are hidden within you, the more you’ll live life to the fullest. You don’t need big money. You don’t need a big brain or big bank account. All you need is a tongue. A tongue and the knowledge that ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה, whatever you speak about, that’s what you’ll become.
Have A Wonderful Shabbos
