Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast. And now my dear friends, we resume with day number 142. Therefore, and we're on page 789 in the Gate of Slander in the Treasure of Life edition of the Yorh HaSaddiqim. So, a person who is accustomed to using his tongue for flattery, for levity, for slander, for deceit, for idle chatter, and he now wishes to humble himself and to refrain from this and to repent, he must build a very great strong fence against it.
And he now wishes to humble himself and to refrain from this and to repent, he must build a very great strong fence against it. What is this fence? What is this boundary that you have to create, that you have to erect from where you stand to committing those sins that were aforementioned? He says, you know what? Distance yourself from bad company. All those people that in their company, you would be drawn to engage in levity, flattery, slander, and falsehood, stay away from those guys.
Because if you keep them, their friendship, you're not going to be able to pull yourself away from this sin. Because that's their, that's what they do. That's what we do. Like I mentioned last week, this woman told me she would get together with her friends in Starbucks and all they would do is talk about people. That's what they did. That was their joy. They talked about people. So she asked me, what's the solution? The solution is don't go for coffee with them.
Stay away from that bad company, because it's inevitable that if you'll be with them, you're going to talk with them like you guys got into the habit of doing. And you're not going to be able to restrain yourself. That's the way you're, the habits you guys have, you're not going to be able to break that habit. A person has to be very, very, very careful to keep their mouth shut. Silence. It's a good thing, a good habit to remain silent. Minimize the words that you speak.
And a person should frequent and increase the time that they sit alone to study Torah. And be close to the people who all they talk about is Torah words and fear of heaven. And if he frequents this for a long time, he habituates himself in this for a while, for many days, and then he will find the cure for his ailment. In King Salmon's Proverbs, he writes as follows, Proverbs 18, verse 21,
death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love to use it will eat its fruit. There was a story that's told about the Persian king, current events, Persian king, who once took ill. He got sick. And the doctor said to him, there's no cure, there's no way, there's no medicine we have, there's no way, no path for your recovery. Until they're able to bring you milk of a lioness, which will cure you.
Upon hearing this, one of them called out, I will bring you the milk of a lioness, if you wish it. Just give me 10 goats. Give me 10 goats. So the king says, give it to him. He tells his servants, give him his 10 goats. He goes to the lion's den. And he sees this lioness feeding its cubs. He sends one of the goats into the lion. He stands in a distance, and he sends in the goat into the lion's den.
And she eats up this lion, the lion eats up the goat. He gets a little closer the second day, and he lets another goat in. And again, the lioness ate it, ate the goat. Until he came very, very close to the lioness. And now he's like best friends with the lioness. She trusts him because he keeps feeding her goats. And she feels comfortable. What happens? He was able to get close enough to get some milk from her, and started his return journey back to the king.
He says like this, he had a dream. On his way back, went to sleep. He had a dream. His limbs were fighting with one another. His feet said, there's nothing of all the limbs that compares to me. For if we haven't gone, I wouldn't have been able to bring the milk. His hand said, no, no one's like me. Because if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have been able to accomplish this. The heart says, none can compare to me.
Because if I had not suggested this idea, to what avail would this all be? Right? None of you would have had. Then the eyes kick in. And the eyes say, what are you guys talking about? There's nothing that you guys brought to the table. I showed you the way. I showed you the lion's den and the lioness. And then the tongue wakes up and the tongue says, ain't come on, there's no one like me. If I wouldn't have said it, who would have done it?
All of the organs responded. How do you even try to compare to us? He said, how do you compare yourself to us? The legs, the hands, the eyes, the heart. They're all yelling at the tongue. What's your deal? You have a double protection, right? Because we have the teeth and we have the lips. You're relaxing, you're resting. The Chavetz Chaim says that the tongue has the least excuse to be speaking evil. Because it's the most protected organ, right? Because first is it's resting.
Second, it has the teeth. And number three, it has the lips. So all three protecting it. It doesn't have to speak. Right? The tongue is right there sitting, resting on it in the mouth. It doesn't need to talk. You got to wake it up. You got to open up the lips. You got to open up the teeth and then it can speak. So they're saying, what are you talking? Lips, tongue, what are you talking about? What do you have to say?
You're double protected, triple protected. You're comparing yourself to us that we have bones like in our legs or in our arms. Okay, so what happened? The tongue then said to them, today you will acknowledge that I am your ruler. The messenger remembered the dream. When he came to the king, he said to him, my lord, the king, here is the milk of a female dog. The king got angry, the Persian king. He says, what are you doing? You wanted to hang him.
When he was about to get hung, all of the organs started getting terrified. And they started crying. The mouth, the tongue said to them, all the organs. I told you, you guys are not in charge. I'm in charge. I am the one who said dog instead of lioness. If I am able to save you with my words, will you admit that I am the king over you? Yes. So the tongue starts speaking to those executioners. Bring me back to the king.
I think he'll save my life. They bring him back to the king. Why did you command, why did you decree that I be, why did you command that I be hung? Because you brought me dog's milk. What do you care? It's going to be healing. He says, the lioness, they call it a dog. That's what they call it. They tried the milk and he saw that it was indeed, it was the milk of a lioness. And the king, God healed from his illness.
And the king commanded that not only they keep this person alive, but they give him great gifts. Then all of the organs admitted to the tongue. Now we admit to you, we agree. And this is what the verse states, that death and life are in the hands of the tongue. Therefore, David, King David says, I will heed my ways, not to sin with my tongue. Look at this. The tongue is better than the sacrifices. He says, I will praise the name of Hashem in song
and I will exalt him with thanksgiving. And it will be better to Hashem than a horned, hoofed bullock. So we see here in this drama, incredible story here, here towards the end of the gate of slander, where the author of the Yohas Sadiqim is telling us the power of the tongue. The tongue can literally change the world for a human being, for the good and for the no good. And a person has to always be cautious and concerned to ensure that he's using his words for the right purpose. This concludes day number 142.

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