Rabbi Shimshon Dovid Pinkus
There is a very important point that the Chafetz Chaim emphasized. It is written: “Your eyes are [too] pure to look upon evil” (Habakkuk, 1:13)... The Almighty, as it were, does not notice the sins committed by the Jewish people. Abraham asked Him for this, and He agreed.
Sins in themselves should not reach the Almighty, as it is written: “Evil shall not dwell with You” (Psalms, 5:5). It is as though the Almighty says, “I turn away; I do not want to know about your evil deeds.”
But the fact is that the Almighty created man “in His image and likeness,” bestowing on him abilities that He Himself possesses.
Every word a person utters comes before the Creator.
The Chafetz Chaim says: “Imagine that Jews never spoke lashon hara. Then they could—may the Almighty have mercy—violate all the commandments of the Torah, and the Almighty would not respond. There would be no exile, none of the severe trials and suffering that we have to endure. The moment someone speaks lashon hara, his words reach the Almighty, and then He cannot remain unresponsive!”
Let us explain this. When a misfortune occurs, G-d forbid, when someone becomes ill, there may be many reasons for it; it is not necessarily because of lashon hara. But without lashon hara, the sin committed simply would not have reached the Almighty, and punishment would not have followed. Lashon hara is the accuser who reports the Jewish people's sins to the Almighty.
There is no punishment, torment, suffering, or even minor trouble that has no connection whatsoever to lashon hara. And this is not punishment for lashon hara; lashon hara is simply the “supplier” of sins to the Almighty.
Jews may commit thousands of sins, but those sins can reach the Almighty only through a tiny opening—the mouth of some Jew. If the opening is closed, it cannot happen! This is like a funnel with a very wide mouth and a very narrow opening at the bottom. The funnel can hold a great deal of liquid, but if the opening at the bottom is blocked, everything will remain there, in the funnel. Our mouth is just such a tiny opening! It is not necessarily the cause of our misfortunes, but it is what allows the contents of the funnel to enter the bottle.
And the evil inclination's main task is to keep the opening from being sealed. Don't want to sin in this area? Fine, don't. You'll sin in another. The main thing is that the passage should remain open.
And this ability to remain silent contains the power of the 613 commandments.
Everything is concentrated in it, for our good deeds and the commandments we fulfill also reach Heaven through the words spoken by our mouths. And it is so hard to remain silent. A woman among her family is ready to give in on absolutely anything, provided she can say, “Remember, I gave in to you!” At least that much! But to remain silent… She feels she cannot remain silent! And yet she must understand that silence is everything!
“Who is like You among the silent, O L-rd!”
In essence, this remarkable ability, the ability to remain silent, is directly connected to the Almighty. It is one of His qualities.
It is not easy to say this, but you should know that, figuratively speaking, it is hard for the Almighty to remain silent.
And this is what our Sages say (Gittin, 56b): “Abba Chanan says: ‘Who is as mighty as You, Almighty?’ Who is as mighty and steadfast as You, for You hear the wicked man's blasphemy and abuse and remain silent. In Rabbi Yishmael's study hall they said: ‘Who is like You among the elim [gods], O L-rd [read not elim, but ilmim—the silent].’ Who is like You among the silent?”
When Titus entered the Holy of Holies and pierced the curtain of the Holy of Holies, when the Nazis, may their name be cursed, were burning Jews, we cried out to the Almighty, for His beloved sons were being killed, for, figuratively speaking, He feels the pain of every Jew. Had He not remained silent then, had He responded, we would not have been able to reach the wondrous goal known as “the days of Mashiach.”
For we ask: “Gladden us in proportion to the days You made us suffer, the years in which we saw only trouble” (Psalms, 90:15). Imagine that Mashiach had come two thousand years ago. How much joy, how much light and pleasure would there have been during those two thousand years? The Ramchal's words (“Derech Etz Chaim”) are well known: all this joy, which would have been spread over two thousand years, is stored in the Almighty's treasuries, and when Mashiach comes, it will all pour out at once, in a single instant. And then Israel will experience joy such as has never existed before.
All the years of exile will be concentrated in a single moment of unprecedented joy, and that moment will last forever!
And this future joy is possible only on condition that the Almighty, blessed be He, remains silent! For when the Jews left Egypt and stood beside Yam Suf, they saw in a prophetic vision how their suffering in Egypt had turned into a blessing, how much they had gained from the Almighty's silence. And they exclaimed, “Who is like You among the gods (elim), O L-rd!” Our Sages, of blessed memory, interpreted this as: “Who is like You among the silent (ilmim), O L-rd!” Master of the Universe, how could You remain silent?!
The prophet Elijah says: “And behold, the L-rd passes by. A great and mighty wind arose, tearing apart mountains and shattering rocks before the L-rd. The L-rd is not in the wind. After the wind—an earthquake. The L-rd is not in the earthquake. After the earthquake—fire. The L-rd is not in the fire. And after the fire—a voice of delicate silence” (I Kings, 19:11-12). A voice of delicate silence, a cry of stillness, a cry of silence—that is the Almighty!
Where there is silence, there is the Almighty!
All the good character traits we are commanded to cultivate are recorded in the Torah in a single verse: “You shall walk in His ways” (Deuteronomy, 28:9). “Just as He is merciful, so you too must be merciful…” When the Almighty reveals Himself to a prophet, He reveals Himself in a cry of stillness, of silence. He expects the same of us: “Rabbi Yitzchak said: ‘What is a person's trade in this world? To be like a mute’” (Chullin, 89a). And we must learn this trade, learn to remain silent.
In our generation, so much is said about the prohibition of lashon hara, as people try to determine what may and may not be said. And once they conclude that it is permissible to talk about someone, they talk and talk…