Positive Word Power

The Maharal teaches that every organ is designed to reflect its function. For instance, the eye is the only organ into which one can peer directly. One can see inside the eye because the eye’s purpose is to see. The speaking organs, on the other hand, are partly hidden and partly revealed. The lips are on the outside, but the teeth and tongue are hidden behind them. This expresses the fact that speech is the body’s way of revealing to the world the hidden thoughts generated by our minds, hearts and souls.

But not every word formulated inside one’s brain should be verbalized. The mouth is capable of opening, but it is capable of sealing itself shut as well. One of the types of speech that is not meant to be brought out into the world is that which hurts another person. Specifically, one is not permitted to reveal another person’s past sins, even if the person has become a complete baal teshuvah and renounced the sin.

 In some ways, this seems perplexing. What greater praise could there be for someone than to tell others about the challenges he has successfully overcome? This is born out by the well-known declaration of Chazal that not even a righteous man can stand in the place of a baal teshuvah.

However, if one were to consider the situation from a personal perspective, the wisdom of this prohibition becomes obvious. A person who has remade himself does not want to be reminded of what he used to be. Moreover, he certainly doesn’t want others to know him for the person he used to be. He may find this revelation embarrassing, and may worry that his image is lowered in other people’s eyes. In any case, bringing up the past forces the person to reconnect with it, even though he may have left it far behind.

A person could imagine the situation this way: What if there were a journal, sitting on the bookshelf in shul, that detailed all the sins of each member of the community? Even if those sins were long ago atoned for and forgiven, who would want others perusing the pages of his life, mulling over the foolish mistakes he had made? This is essentially what a person must endure when others mention his unflattering past.

There are, of course, many baalei teshuvah who are open about their past and even use it to help inspire others to change. However, the material of their life’s story belongs to them alone. It is their prerogative to reveal it where and when they feel it is appropriate.

The words that our mouths reveal should be those that cast light on other people’s good qualities, their potential and their achievements. That which is dark and casts shadows on their image should be kept in the spot Hashem provided, well hidden behind the lips, the teeth and the tongue.

In Other Words

Before I speak the thoughts that occur in my mind, I will consider whether revealing them serves a positive purpose.

Reprinted with permission from powerofspeech.org