Part II. Words Make Man
External and Internal Effects
Now, when people speak about the power of speech it’s usually discussed in the sense of its effect on others. They’ll talk about lashon hara and onaas devorim; they’ll talk about words of anger and not being פותח פה לשטן. They’ll talk about its positive effects too; about speaking kind words, encouraging words, and giving blessings to our fellow Jews. That’s how the power of words is generally understood – the effect it has on others.
And all of that is very important, absolutely, but tonight I wanted to speak about something else, something even more important than that. And that’s about how your words affect yourself; how you are made by your words. Like someone once made a play on words about the possuk in this week’s sedrah that we began with: ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה – What comes out of your mouth, makes you. It’s a play on words but the idea is true. By means of words, of dibbur, a person is capable of bringing out from within him or her an almost infinite greatness.
A Breath of Great Air
I’ll explain that. You remember, we said earlier that when Hakadosh Baruch Hu created Man by breathing into him, He gave him the power of speech. But it’s more than that because you know when you breathe into somebody, you’re breathing what your breath is. If you have onions on your breath, you’re breathing onions into him. If you have some sweet flavor in your breath, you breathe a sweet flavor into him. מאן מדיליה נפח דנפח – When a person blows, he’s blowing from inside, from himself.
So what does it mean that He blew into man the soul? Hashem has a breath? The Ramban says that it means that He blew from His wisdom into man. And he quotes a possuk on this: ׁ ֵ ם ִּ י הַ ש ּ כ ֵ ן חָ כְ מָ ה ּ יִ ת – Hashem gives wisdom, נָה ּ תְ בו ּ ַ עַת ו ּ מִפִּיו ד – from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding (Mishlei 2:6).
When Hakadosh Baruch Hu breathed something of Himself, man became possessed of Divine wisdom. Not like we think if a person tries to learn, Hashem helps him gain wisdom. No, we're not talking about wisdom that can be imported from the outside. We're talking about a native fountain of wisdom, something that’s already there inside him.
The Wisdom of Attitudes
Now, when we say ‘wisdom’ it doesn't mean a man has inherent knowledge of logarithms. It doesn’t mean he has the inherent knowledge of how to repair a television set. It's not talking about that. The fundamental wisdom that is deeply seated in a man's mind means the wisdom of attitudes, all the Torah principles and ideals.
In a man’s mind there is an Awareness of Hashem. How much? A tremendous amount! There is ahavas Hashem in a man’s mind. How much? An endless amount! There’s a deep well of bitachon, of emunah, of understanding Hashem’s ways, of ahavas Yisroel. All of the ideals that we came into this world to accomplish – the ideals we speak about right here all the time – are inside you. מים עמוקים עצה בלב איש – There are deep waters of wisdom within a man that seek to guide him, תבונות ידלנה ואיש – and the discerning person draws it forth (Mishlei 20:5). Hashem breathed it into you but it’s up to you to actualize it. You need to lower a bucket and bring it up.
And the best way to draw forth all of the greatness that Hashem breathed into us is by means of the koach hadibbur, the power of speech that He blew into us. That’s why it was given as one package: When Hakadosh Baruch Hu blew from Himself the potential for infinite greatness, along with that ‘breath’ came the power of speech. Man became a רוח ממללא, the one creation capable of speech, because it’s speech that helps you bring forth your greatness and to accomplish in this world.
Discover Life
In Mishlei it says ים הֵם לְמֹצְאֵיהֶם ּ י חַ יִּ כִ – The Torah is life for those who discover it (Mishlei 4:22). That means if you search, you'll discover Torah; you’ll find within yourself these principles. And it’s more than principles, knowledge. You're finding life.
It’s a tragedy that some people never think about achieving these attitudes. You’ll say ‘Awareness of Hashem’ and they look at you with a blank face. Gratitude to the Creator? A blank stare. Ahavas Hashem? It doesn’t register. If they’re polite they’ll nod, yes, yes. But they’re not doing it. Nodding, agreeing, is not enough. We have to work on discovering these attitudes because those who are מֹ צְ אֵ יהֶ ם, who find them, they’re finding life.
But on this the Gemara says אל תקרא למוציהם – don't read ‘for those who find it’, אלא למוציאהם – instead; ‘for those who utter them with the mouth’ (Eiruvin 54a). If you want to find these Torah attitudes, thinking is not enough. You have to verbalize them.
Now, the Gemara is telling us not that the thoughts are unimportant. Oh, the thoughts are very important! Like the Chovos Halevavos says, רוב ההפסד והתיקון – most of the injury that a man accomplishes in his life and most of the achievements that he accomplishes in his life are by means of his thoughts. Thoughts are supreme!
Talk Yourself Into Greatness
But now we are listening to the Gemara and it’s telling us how to sharpen our thoughts, how to give life to them. חיים הם למוציאהם – If you say it with your mouth then it’s life! Your ideas become alive. And because you are what you think so you become alive.
Speaking is the perfection of your mind because when you bring your thoughts forth in the form of speech it sharpens the thought. It brings the ideal into focus and it becomes that much clearer. And you hear it too! That makes an impression because instinctively your conscience reacts; your seichel says yes. ניכרים דברי אמת – The words of truth are recognized because they find an echo in your mind and in your soul.
And so the koach hadibbur, that's the great implement for achieving perfection in life, for accomplishing great things in life. The Torah is given to you to verbalize the highest aspirations of life and to build up in your mind the most noble ideals.
Talk Yourself Into Love
Now, this eitzah is good for all the Torah ideals that we seek to acquire. Suppose you’re ambitious to love your people. Isn’t everyone? It’s that time of the year so we read about it, we think about it a little. Very good. But we have to do something too! Ahavas Yisroel is included in the innate wisdom that was breathed into us but now you want to draw it forth.
The first step is to say, “I love my people, Yisroel.”
Don’t think it’s silly. It’s silly to disregard it because this is the way you train yourself.
You never said it once in your life? You know after a hundred and twenty years when your time is up and you’ll come to the Next World, they’re going to ask you, “Did you love your people?”
Attaining True Love
So you’ll hem and haw. You’ll scratch your head. “One time I was sitting in a shul in Flatbush and I heard someone speaking about it.” You don’t remember what happened after that.
No, that’s not going to be a good terutz and so you have to get busy speaking. Say it constantly and put in as much emotion as you can. It’s Tuesday afternoon, you’re walking on the street, or you’re eating breakfast Monday morning; say, “I love my people.” Say it until your eyes flow with tears.
Try that. You’ll see; the words will bring forth feeling. Your eyes begin to flow with tears of emotion. “I love my people. I love my noble people. I love my holy people. I love my people.” Again and again. Say it constantly. And little by little, המחשבה נמשכת אחר הדיבור – your thoughts begin to follow your words. Little by little, it enters your mind. You become an oheiv Yisroel. Not overnight but you change; gradually it changes you from the inside out.
Every Word, An Inch
Of course, you have to beware. Like we said, it’s a very powerful tool, the mouth. I once saw a woman standing in the street talking to her friend. Nearby was her baby in a baby carriage. The baby was climbing out of the carriage, falling over. The mother got so angry. She ran over to the baby, picked her up, and said, “I would kill you for that!”
Of course she didn’t kill her baby. She won’t. But these words are a destruction of her neshama. Just to say, “I would kill you,” – you don’t mean it but the words make a hashchasa. They ruin your neshama.
Up till now, she was a million miles away from killing her baby. Now she’s a million miles and one inch less, one inch closer to killing her baby.
“One inch,” you’ll say, “What does that mean?” It means she’s not the same person anymore.
Inching Towards Greatness
But we want to inch closer in the opposite direction, towards perfection. And once you understand that this is one of the most effective ways of changing yourself, new vistas, wide panoramas, suddenly are opened up before you. Because what you say becomes what you think. Just verbalizing Hashem echad. Verbalizing Hashem hu haElokim. Oh, that's a good idea! You can't say it in Hebrew? Say it in Polish. Say it in Russian. Hashem hu haElokim! Hashem is G-o-d! Hashem Elokei Yisroel – Hashem is the G-o-d of Yisroel!
We know all these great truths by instinct but if you don't formulate them in your mind and then say it with your mouth so life passes by and the opportunity goes lost. It’s only by dint of constantly drawing forth these great Torah ideals – the living waters of da’as – from ourselves, eventually a man can become extremely great. The great metamorphosis that we want to make in our minds, in our character, we’ll accomplish most easily by means of our words.
