The Power of Speech - Parshat Noach - Rabbi Avi Wiesenfeld

in this week's Parish no is informed that due to the corrupt behavior of his generation Hashem is bringing a flood to wipe most of it out and he's directed to build this huge tab to save himself his family and many of the animals and we're told the exact dimensions it needs to be 300 by 50 by 30 it has to have a chya it needs to have a skylight or some kind of sparkling Jewel to provide illumination now the word Tava means a box why do the tourists specifically choose to use the word Tava it could have chosen to use a word like onia or Spina which is more famously used as a boat why would it use the word Tava which means a box and why do we need to know the dimensions why is this important to us what is this mean for our lives the tells us that all of this has a much deeper meaning that can have real relevance in our lives he explains Tava can also mean a word and just like a box has no meaning but what it's carrying what it's containing so too Tava a word is conveying a message it has a deeper meaning if you look at the dimensions that the Torah said the Tava needs to be 30 by 300 by 50 the gatria of those numbers is lamad shin nun Lan says the a tongue because a tongue formulates words and the tah this week is hinting to us that when you formulate words when you speak when you use your Lush and your tongue make sure there's Aya make sure there's an Illuminating Light make sure you're lighting up other people our Story begins when schma was only 8 years old and he was diagnosed raham with cancer and it was a terrible bitter prognosis but he fought back day after day he fought and battled the illness and he made it till he got to B Mitzvah and he kept on fighting he combed his illness with resilience and he even got married at the age of 30 when he was finally told he's in remission he's now clear he was told by his reim to make a sud to make a s to thank the and those that helped him along the way for everything that he went through and he did so and he got up to speak at the age of 30 thanking of course the r his wife and many others and then he said I'd like to thank a specific doctor not for the medication that he gave me but for something else one day he said when things were looking really bad when life was really tough and things were just going in the wrong direction I overheard this doctor talking he was outside my room and he said that boy boy he's going to make it he's strong he's going to come out healthy and when I heard that even though I knew what I was going through but when I heard that the doctor had faith in me and he was positive I said that's it that gave me the kayak to fight and that got me to where I am today and I want to thank him all of a sudden the doctor said I'd also like to speak it was unscheduled but they said sure no problem he got up and he spoke and he said schom I want to tell you I wasn't even talking about you I was actually talking about a different boy that was in the next bed but you heard those words and they penetrated and the lesson you taught me was how careful we have to be with how we speak because we have the ability to lift people up we have the ability to help people fight whatever it is that they're going through and that's a wonderful gift and that is what the tah is telling us in this week's parisher the dimensions of the Tava a word hint to us in our own lives when we open up our mouths and we use our L and we use our tongue make sure there's a make sure there's an Illuminating Light that can light up other people's lives have an amazing Shas to Listen to More by Rabbi ABI weisenfeld visit [Music]