Shelach
735.635
As you have spoken – כאשר דברתם
In ‘Sipurei Maasiyos’ [stories] of Rav Nachman of Breslev, there is a story of a king who had an only daughter and he loved her very much. He once got angry with her and these words spouted from his mouth, “It would be better if you were taken away”, and that is what happened, his daughter disappeared, and the king was very upset about this. When the second to the king saw the great distress of the king, he went out to look for her. He traveled for years and went all over the world until he found her and took her out of the place where she was.
When the spies returned to the wilderness and gave a bad report about the land, HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted to wipe out the entire nation in the wilderness, and start a new nation from Moshe Rabeinu, but Moshe Rabeinu prayed and beseeched Hashem Yisbarach that He forgive them. HaKadosh Baruch Hu answered him, 'סלחתי כדבריך' – ‘I have forgiven as you have spoken’ (14:20), bust despite the decree being nullified, their punishment was not nullified, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu said (14:28), 'אמור אליהם חי אני... אם לא כאשר דיברתם באזני כן אעשה לכם' – ‘Say to them, “As I live... if I shall not do to you as you have spoken in My ears”’. And what was the punishment? 'במדבר הזה יפלו פגריכם' – ‘In this wilderness shall your carcasses drop’ (14:29), apparently, Am Yisrael requested this for themselves. Rashi explains, ‘As you have spoken – for you have asked of Me, “Or if only we had died in this wilderness”’, as we say nowadays, ‘You ask – you receive!’
Several decades ago, there was a group of ovdei Hashem, there was nothing in their world other than serving Hashem. There was a young boy from a good family, one of the distinguished families in Eretz Yisrael, who began to follow after that group. He began to go to their shiurim and he clung to their ways. The boy’s father did not understand why his son was specifically attracted to this group, and he tried every way to prevent his son from this new path, but nothing helped. One day, in the middle of an argument with his son the father said, “I would rather that you went to a kibbutz and not with that group”, Rachaman litzlan. Not many years passed and his daughter left the path of Torah and joined one of the kibbutzim.
The Gemara says (Berachos 19a), ‘One should never give the Satan an opening’, and this needs a careful teaching that one should never say a curse, not on himself or others, and who knows how much distress and evil people cause to themselves by their mouths. Shlomo HaMelech said (Mishlei 21:23), 'שומר פיו ולשונו שומר נפשו' – ‘One who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles.’
-Tiv HaTorah - Shelach
