The Power of Words - Strength and Courage - Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach

Skip Singing 10:23 Our words can be used to hurt others, But our words can also be used for good, to help build people up instead of to break them down. reb Shlomo Carlebach zt"l Words, they have the power to build people up, confine people to where they are, and break people down. Choose your words carefully before you utter them to others but most importantly the words you utter to yourself must be positive To Build or to Destroy What is mankind's unique advantage over the animal kingdom? Man is certainly not the fastest or strongest creature. Recent studies of dolphins and other animals suggest than man may not even be the most intelligent of creatures. Yet man possesses something that no other creature in the universe has – the ability to creatively communicate. While other animals can communicate as a survival mechanism, none but mankind can express a philosophical query. The Torah says that when God blew a soul into Adam, he became a "speaking being" (Genesis 2:7). The driving force of humanity is verbal interaction. This is why the Torah so strongly emphasizes the need to guard our unique attribute of speech. Speech is the tool of creation, as in: “And God said, ‘Let there be light’ “ (Genesis 1:3). Through speech we can build individuals – with praise and encouragement. By making others feel important, we build them up, as if to say, “Your existence is necessary.” This is life-giving and life-affirming. One of the great American rabbis of the past generation, Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld zt”l, was known to have brought a neighbor back to Torah observance simply by caring enough to say "good morning.” On the other hand, speech can also be used to destroy. Words like “you’re worthless” wipes out a person’s self-esteem. As King Solomon says, “Life and death are in the hands of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). The Talmud (Arachin 15b) explains that negative speech is even worse than a sword – since it kills many people, even at great distance. Remember the expression “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me”? This was clearly not said by a Jew! Beyond the individual destruction, we have all seen the power of gossip – a vicious rumor – to tear apart relationships, families, and even entire communities. From here we can understand an idea in Leviticus ch. 13, which describes the skin disease Tzarat (commonly mis-translated as “leprosy”), a physical manifestation of a spiritual deficiency. The Talmud (Arachin 16) says that Tzaratcomes specifically as a consequence of “Loshon Hara” – negative speech about another person. For example, we see that when Moses’ sister Miriam spoke Loshon Hara, she contracted Tzarat (Numbers ch. 12). The Torah says that when someone has been diagnosed as having Tzarat, they must go outside the boundaries of the city and shout “Contaminated!” to anyone who approaches. The punishment is measure-for-measure: If you promote divisiveness amongst others, then you will also suffer the divisiveness of separation from community.