The Gemara in Avoda Zara says that what one of the halachos derived from the mitzvah of Lo Techaneim, what one of the components of the issur of Lo Techaneim is לא תתן להם חן. That a person is not supposed to praise and place on a pedestal an oveid avoda zara. The Sefer HaChinuch presents the shorshei hamitzvah, the taamei mitzvah for this din of Lo Techaneim. משורשי המצוה לפי שתחילת כל מעשה בני אדם היא קביעת המחשבה במעשים והעלאת הדברים על שפת לשון.
What ultimately manifests in the realm of action begins with thought and speech. A person entertains an idea, speaks about it, articulates it, talks to his chaveirim about it, and that combination of thought and speech generates a momentum, and it's a momentum ואחר המחשבה והדיבור בה תעשה כל מלאכה. And that's how a course of action emerges. ועל כן בהמנענו במחשבה ובדיבור ממצא בעובדי עבודה זרה תועלת וחן.
Therefore, when we abstain, when we avoid in thought and speech from finding favor with idolaters, הננו נמנעים בכך מלהתחבר עמהם ומלרדוף אחר אהבתם ומללמוד דבר מכל מעשיהם הרעים.
That's a crucial preventive precautionary measure that we shouldn't ultimately, rachmana litzlan, get involved with their ways. This lav in the Torah is one of many illustrations of the koach hadibbur which the Torah recognizes and which the Torah teaches us to be aware of. My generation grew up with this nursery rhyme. I'm a little bit of a dinosaur as time passes. I don't know whether it's still au courant, but sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me. Anyone familiar with that? Does that still part of people's girsah d'yankuta? And there's actually an element of a wrong attitude in that little saying, in that it sort of insinuates that there's a lack of reality or substance to speech. And the Torah certainly does not conceive of speech that way. The Torah very much conceives of speech as something which is very real and very potent. And again, we're not limited to the mitzvah of Lo Techaneim in terms of finding illustrations and... expressions, obviously all the dinim surrounding lashon hara, rechilus, שלשה לשון הרע הורגת, the ma'amar Chazal, many, many again, expressions and and the illustrations of the koach hadibbur which the Torah recognizes and underscores as is the case with with everything in the briah basically, it's something which can be understood and should be understood on on a natural level. There's there's a natural mechanism for koach hadibbur but there's also a metaphysical and and spiritual mechanism for koach hadibbur. On a natural level, so we know that that dibbur can be persuasive and in that sense when when a person speaks, he can he can be can effectively influence people, persuade people. We also know that that dibbur again on a natural psychological level certainly has the effect of of awakening and arousing emotions and triggering emotional reactions. And we understand very well on on a natural level that not only will sticks and stones break one's bones, but dibbur can as well. Witness the events of of two weeks ago. It it began with the not with sticks and stones, it culminated with sticks and stones, but it began with the with the with the with the dibbur. On a metaphysical level, again, the natural level is is reflecting and mirroring what what happens on a higher plane. On a metaphysical level, so בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם. Now, whatever ma'amar means in that context, however one one would translate ויאמר אלקים יהי אור, I think different meforshim would suggest different translations for that phrase. But the tsad hashaveh is that the Torah employs and and then Chazal following in in the footsteps of of the lashon haTorah, associate ma'amar with creating. The ultimate reality is that ma'amar, בדבר ה' שמים נעשו, right, with the word of Hakadosh Baruch Hu kivayachol, the the heavens were formed. There's a koach, a metaphysical koach that speech creates a reality, not just again not the way it is on the natural level that it sort of triggers a chain reaction. Then that's that's how things unfold and that's what the the natural process is. But the metaphysical process is that the koach hadibbur is a koach hayetzira. Maybe to to just read one or two lines from the Nefesh Hachayim: והענין ששער ד' פרק י' כי התורה הקדושה היא דיבור יתברך ובמאמר פיו יתברך במעשה בראשית נבראו העולמות כולם בכוח הדיבור זה כוח היצירה.
And that's a koach which Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us as well. וכל שכן בפרק י"ב הנפש החיים כותב חידושין אמיתיים דאורייתא המתחדשים
al yedei adam, Chiddushei Torah, אין ערוך לגודל נוראות נפלאות עניינים מופלאים למעלה. It’s inestimable, the awesome effect that they have in the upper realms שכל מילה ומילה פרטית המתחדשת מפי אדם. Every word of an authentic chiddush beTorah, כביכול קודשא בריך הוא נשיק לה ומעטרה לה, כביכול הקדוש ברוך הוא
kisses it and crowns it. And let’s look at the next phrase here: ונברא ממנו עולם חדש בפני עצמו, and the new world is constructed. והן הן השמיים החדשים והארץ החדשה שאמר הכתוב. So the koach hadibbur is associated, not associated with, the koach hadibbur is a koach hayetzirah. And that’s the metaphysical analog to what we see in our world, what we experience in our world, of the effect of how speech impacts reality. It’s not just devarim haporeichim ba’avir, but that speech impacts reality. There’s a series of sefarim called Imrei Menachem from the Talner Rebbe in Yerushalayim. So in one of those volumes, he tells a story that he heard, I believe, from the Pnei Menachem. The Pnei Menachem was the Ben Zekeinim of the Imrei Emes. The Imrei Emes was the Gerer Rebbe after the Chiddushei HaRim, the Sfas Emes, then the Imrei Emes, and the Pnei Menachem was his Ben Zekeinim. Also ultimately served in that capacity as Gerer Rebbe. So the Pnei Menachem told him the Imrei Emes’ first wife died and then remarried, and the Pnei Menachem was from the zivug sheini. So in the yichud room, the Imrei Emes told the Pnei Menachem’s mother, he said to her, איך וויל רעדן זייער קורץ. He said, when I speak, he says, you should know I’m going to speak very clipped terms. I speak very little. He says because he was aware of the hold he had on his tens of thousands of Chasidim. He said because for one word of mine, I’m not sure whether I’m remembering accurately here, so don't quote this part, maybe look it up first and if need be correct, for one word of mine, he said, tens of thousands of Chasidim are ready to jump into the fire. A person who lived with a sense of achrayus for koach hadibbur. Again, he explained it on the natural level, but it’s true on a natural level, it’s true on a metaphysical level as well. Koach hadibbur. It’s relevant to all of us as well, not only to someone who is a giant like the Imrei Emes and appropriately commanded such a following. It’s appropriate to all of us as well. It’s relevant to all of us as well. To be aware and mindful of the koach hadibbur. And there were sort of at least two applications or contexts for this awareness of koach hadibbur. One is that we should be as concerned with reckless speech as with reckless behavior. Kemedumeh that we are influenced by that sticks and stones will break my bones mindset. Kemedumeh that we weigh our actions more carefully, we deliberate over a course of action much more conscientiously than we do over our words and speech. And the emes is that our words deserve the same caution. So the same way we need to weigh is what I'm about to do is it responsible? Is it not responsible? Is it responsible to speed? It's tempting to speed, I'll get to my destination quicker, I think that the roads are pretty empty, the odds are pretty good that I won't get ticketed. Is it safe? Is it appropriate to speed? So we weigh whether or not the course of action is responsible or reckless. So a person has to weigh words with the same koved rosh. But then there's an even more challenging application or context for this yesod, and it's especially now. Today, it's very, very challenging. Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where it's not only entirely responsible, but it's very much warranted and mandated to unequivocally condemn behavior, certain types of behavior. We've been living through such a tekufah for the past nine months or so. There's been behavior which needs to be condemned in the harshest and most unequivocal terms. And it needs to be condemned repeatedly because the condemnation from March and April, the effects of that wear off, and our exposure to the constant repetition, mind-boggling, mind-boggling, defying our exposure to the constant repetitions threatens to normalize that behavior if it's not constantly, if that condemnation is not consistently reinforced. And yet, and here's where the difficult, difficult challenge surfaces, it has to be done in a way that rachmana litzlan doesn't incite people. The condemnation needs, the condemnation of the zilzul of the sakanas nefashos of the virus and its unspeakable consequences. The condemnation needs to be unequivocal and very, very strong. And yet, it has to be done in a way that doesn't, that isn't incendiary and isn't inflammatory. It's not an easy balance to strike. But there's no tachlis, which is obviously a gross, a gross understatement and on the contrary, there's tremendous destructive potential in inflammatory and incendiary speech. And it's not easy. There are certain buzzwords which are, which I think we should have the sensitivity to realize we should not use. One of the shifting away from the correct and necessary condemnation of that behavior to different contexts, one of the deplorable developments in terms of the use of speech in amongst shomrei Torah u'mitzvos is the use of the term Nazi. The emes is that it's very, very difficult, if at all possible, to imagine any situation where use of that term is appropriate without totally distorting and diminishing the unparalleled magnitude of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis yimach shemam. It's hard to imagine, I don't know if anyone does exist, but maybe, maybe, you know, maybe when one talks about what Iran would do rachmana litzlan if it had a nuclear bomb, then maybe it's appropriate in such a context, you know, in really, really extreme contexts. And על אחת כמה וכמה, whatever differences Jews have with each other and whatever profound disagreements and differences there are between religious Jews and secular Jews, for one Jew to call another Jew a Nazi is absolutely deplorable. And there isn't a provocation in the world that can come close to justifying that. And it would be deplorable if dibbur were only what sort of the Western mindset considers dibbur to be, and על אחת כמה וכמה given the koach hadibbur that the Torah recognizes. The koach hadibbur is something which defines a person. And famously, Onkelos taitches, as you all know, in ויהי האדם לנפש חיה, ruach memalela. And one way to take the Measure of a person is to take the measure of his speech. And it's an important yesod for us to reflect upon. Everyone should be well, be safe, and a gut shabbos rabosai.